Primacy of Peter

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On this faith check let’s talk about our first pope, St. Peter.  I remember well a conversation I once had with a Protestant pastor who told me that if Peter were truly the first pope, he thought he’d see him exercising his papacy more in the Bible.

Peter was no ordinary apostle.  Peter’s name appears more than all of the other apostles combined and in every list of the apostles’ names, Peter comes first, while Judas Iscariot is last.  Peter pays the temple tax on behalf of Jesus and the apostles in Matthew 17.¹

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is the one chosen by God to take the Gospel first to the Jews in Acts 2,² to the Samaritans in Acts 8 ³ and to the Gentiles in Acts 10.⁴ Peter performs the first miracle in Acts 3,⁵ pronounces judgment on Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 ⁶ and gives the decisive teaching at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. ⁷

Every team needs a coach and every company needs a CEO.  Yes, Jesus is our King, but he also left Peter to be the head pastor of his flock on earth.

1 – vv. 24-27

2 – 2:14-40

3 – 8:14-24

4 – 10:1ff

5 – 3:1-10

6 – 5:1-6

7 – 15:7ff