A Scriptural Dispute with Vatican I’s Claim of Perpetual Roman Primacy

Denzinger part 51

Denzinger 1824 and 1825, from Vatican I, Session IV, Chapter 2, titled “The Perpetuity of the Primacy of Blessed Peter among the Roman Pontiffs,” moves beyond the earlier claim that Peter personally received primacy from Christ. It now makes a second and even larger claim: that Peter’s supposed primacy over the universal Church continues perpetually in the bishops of Rome by divine right. This is a distinct question. Even if someone argued that Peter had a special apostolic role, it would still have to be proved from Scripture that this role was an ongoing office, that it had perpetual successors, that those successors were specifically the Roman pontiffs, and that every church must come to Rome because of that continuing Petrine authority.

That is precisely where the difficulty begins. The New Testament speaks clearly of Christ’s everlasting life, Christ’s unchangeable priesthood, Christ’s continuing intercession, Christ’s headship over the Church, Christ’s shepherding of His flock, and Christ’s presence with His people unto the end of the world. It does not clearly teach that Peter lives and presides in the bishops of Rome. It does not teach that the Roman pontiff is, by divine right, Peter’s successor in universal primacy. It does not teach that every church must come to Rome in order to be united to the one body. These are later ecclesiastical claims, not demonstrable apostolic doctrines.

Denzinger 1824 begins by saying: “Moreover, what the Chief of pastors and the Great Pastor of sheep, the Lord Jesus, established in the blessed Apostle Peter for the perpetual salvation and perennial good of the Church, this by the same Author must endure always in the Church which was founded upon a rock and will endure firm until the end of the ages.”

The language begins with Christ, and the titles belong to Christ. Scripture calls Christ the Shepherd. Peter himself writes, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). Hebrews says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20). These titles do not point the believer to an earthly line of Roman rulers. They point the believer to the risen Lord Himself.

This matters because Vatican I begins with Christ as “the Chief of pastors and the Great Pastor of sheep,” but then uses that truth to support a doctrine of perpetual Petrine government in Rome. Yet in Scripture, Christ’s own shepherdhood is the continuing reality. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He says, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:14). He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). The sheep are not commanded to hear Peter living through Roman successors. They are commanded to hear Christ. Their safety is not placed in the Roman chair. Christ says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

Denzinger 1824 then claims: “Surely no one has doubt, rather all ages have known that the holy and most blessed Peter, chief and head of the apostles and pillar of faith and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the human race; and he up to this time and always lives and presides and exercises judgment in his successors, the bishops of the holy See of Rome, which was founded by him and consecrated by his blood.”

This is one of the strongest and most revealing claims in the passage. It says that Peter “lives and presides and exercises judgment” in his Roman successors. This is not merely honouring Peter as an apostle. It is attributing an ongoing governing presence to Peter through the papal office.

The New Testament does not speak this way. Scripture says that Christ lives and intercedes. Hebrews says of Christ, “But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood” (Hebrews 7:24). It continues, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). The one who “ever liveth” for the Church is Christ. The one whose priesthood is “unchangeable” is Christ. The one who saves to the uttermost is Christ. The one before whom believers come to God is Christ. Vatican I says Peter lives and presides in his successors, but Scripture gives the continuing heavenly office to the risen Son of God.

Revelation also speaks this way. The risen Lord says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18). This is the living presence that governs the churches. In Revelation 2 and 3, Christ addresses the churches directly. He walks “in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks” (Revelation 2:1). He searches “the reins and hearts” (Revelation 2:23). He rebukes, warns, exhorts, promises, and judges. The churches are not directed to Peter’s Roman successor as the necessary centre of judgment. They are addressed by Christ Himself. He is alive for evermore, and He speaks by the Spirit to the churches: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 2:7).

The claim that Peter is “chief and head of the apostles” must also be tested. Scripture certainly shows Peter as prominent. He often speaks first. He preaches at Pentecost. He is used powerfully in the early chapters of Acts. But prominence is not the same as universal headship. In Galatians 2:9, Paul names “James, Cephas, and John” as those who “seemed to be pillars.” He does not name Peter alone as the pillar, head, and continuing foundation of the Church. In Revelation 21:14, the heavenly city has “twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” The apostolic foundation is corporate, and the apostles are “of the Lamb.” Scripture does not present Peter as the single continuing foundation whose authority is inherited by Roman bishops.

Nor does Peter speak of himself in the way Vatican I speaks of him. In 1 Peter 5:1, he says, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder.” He calls himself a fellow elder, not the supreme earthly head of the Church. He continues, “Feed the flock of God which is among you” (1 Peter 5:2). He then warns, “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3). This is the spirit of apostolic shepherding. It is humble, local, exemplary, and accountable to Christ. Peter does not tell the elders to derive their authority from his Roman chair. He tells them to serve under the Chief Shepherd, who will appear and reward His servants.

Denzinger 1824 next says: “Therefore, whoever succeeds Peter in this chair, he according to the institution of Christ himself, holds the primacy of Peter over the whole Church.” This is the central assertion. The passage claims not merely historical succession, but divine institution. It says that whoever succeeds Peter in this chair holds Peter’s primacy “according to the institution of Christ himself.” But where does Christ institute this continuing Roman chair in Scripture? Where does He say that Peter’s authority will pass to a bishop of Rome? Where does He command the apostles to recognize a future Roman pontiff as the visible head of the whole Church? Where does the New Testament define unity by communion with the Roman See?

The silence is significant because the New Testament is not silent about what matters for the Church. It tells us Christ is the Head of the body. Paul writes that God “hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:22). He writes, “Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). Colossians says, “He is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). The apostles do not teach that Christ’s headship is continued visibly by the Roman pontiff. They teach that Christ Himself is the Head, and that the body receives life from Him. Paul warns against “not holding the Head,” from whom “all the body” receives nourishment and increase from God (Colossians 2:19).

The Head the Church must hold is Christ.

The New Testament is also clear about the Church’s foundation. Paul writes, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Ephesians says the household of God is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20). Peter says believers come to Christ “as unto a living stone” and are themselves built up as “lively stones” into “a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4–5). Peter then identifies Christ as the “chief corner stone, elect, precious” (1 Peter 2:6). Therefore, even when the Church is described as a spiritual building, Scripture does not point to a perpetual Roman chair. It points to Christ as the cornerstone and to the apostolic witness as the once-laid foundation.

This is why apostolic succession must be handled carefully. The New Testament does show a kind of continuity in teaching. Paul tells Timothy, “The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). That is succession in doctrine, faithfulness, and teaching. Paul tells Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). He tells Titus to appoint elders and to hold fast “the faithful word as he hath been taught” (Titus 1:5–9). But this is not the same as a perpetual Petrine monarchy. The continuity required in Scripture is the faithful transmission of apostolic doctrine, not submission to a Roman office as the divinely instituted head of all churches.

The replacement of Judas in Acts 1 also does not create the doctrine Vatican I needs. Peter says that another must take Judas’s bishoprick, and the qualifications are specific: the replacement must be one who had companied with the apostles “all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,” beginning from John’s baptism “unto that same day that he was taken up from us,” so that he might “be a witness with us of his resurrection” (Acts 1:21–22). This shows the unique eyewitness character of the apostolic office. It does not establish a perpetual succession of apostles through Roman bishops. The apostolic foundation is laid by those chosen and commissioned as witnesses of the risen Christ. Later elders and teachers preserve their doctrine; they do not become apostles in the same foundational sense.

Denzinger 1824 continues: “Therefore the disposition of truth remains, and blessed Peter persevering in the accepted fortitude of the rock does not abandon the guidance of the Church which he has received.” Again, the continuing guidance of the Church is attributed to Peter in his successors. But Christ promised the continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). He said, “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things” (John 14:26). He said, “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). The New Testament points the Church to the Spirit of truth, not to Peter ruling through the Roman See.

Christ also promised His own presence. In Matthew 28:18–20, He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” He commands His disciples to teach all nations and to teach them to observe all things whatsoever He commanded. Then He says, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The one who remains with the Church until the end is Christ. The doctrine, therefore, must be carefully tested. Vatican I says Peter does not abandon the guidance of the Church through his successors. Scripture says Christ is with His people unto the end of the world, and the Spirit abides with them for ever. These are not minor differences. They reveal where the confidence of the believer is being directed.

The passage then says: “For this reason it has always been necessary because of mightier pre-eminence for every church to come to the Church of Rome, that is those who are the faithful everywhere, so that in this See, from which the laws of venerable communion emanate over all, they as members associated in one head, coalesce into one bodily structure.” This is a remarkable statement because it places Rome at the centre of communion and unity. The faithful everywhere are said to coalesce into one bodily structure by coming to the Roman See, “as members associated in one head.” But the apostolic writings identify the one Head of the body as Christ, not Rome.

Paul says, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ” (Romans 12:4–5). He does not say we are one body in Rome. He says we are one body in Christ. Paul writes, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). He does not say by one Roman jurisdiction we are organized into one body. He says by one Spirit we are baptized into one body. He says, “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27). The body’s unity is spiritual and Christ-centred. It is not created by compulsory communion with an earthly see.

Ephesians 4 gives the apostolic definition of unity: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:4–6). Rome is not named as the principle of unity. Peter’s chair is not named as the principle of unity. The Roman pontiff is not named as the visible head who gathers the members into one bodily structure. The unity is the unity of the Spirit in the one body under one Lord. Christ gives gifts to the Church, including pastors and teachers, but the purpose is that believers may “grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). The head into whom the body grows is Christ.

The language of “every church” coming to Rome must also be compared with the language of Scripture concerning where believers come. Peter says believers come to Christ: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone” (1 Peter 2:4). Hebrews says believers come boldly “unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). Hebrews also says, “Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). It continues that believers come “to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (Hebrews 12:24). Scripture does not say, “Ye are come unto Rome.” It says believers come to Christ, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the throne of grace, and to God through the blood of Jesus.

This does not mean that the church in Rome was unimportant. Paul wrote a magnificent epistle to the believers in Rome, and he longed to visit them. He addressed them as “beloved of God, called to be saints” (Romans 1:7). He thanked God that their faith was “spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8). Yet the epistle to the Romans does not present the Roman church as the mother and head of all churches. It does not identify Peter as reigning there over the universal Church. It does not teach that all churches must come to Rome because laws of communion emanate from that See. Instead, Romans proclaims the gospel of God concerning His Son, justification by faith, peace with God through Christ, life in the Spirit, and the mercy of God to Jew and Gentile.

Romans itself is one of the strongest witnesses against making Rome the doctrinal centre of Christianity. Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). He says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). He says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). He says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9). The centre of Romans is not Roman ecclesiastical supremacy. It is Christ, faith, grace, the Spirit, and the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel.

Denzinger 1825 then gives the canon: “If anyone then says that it is not from the institution of Christ the Lord Himself, or by divine right that the blessed Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in the same primacy, let him be anathema.” This canon does not merely propose a historical opinion. It binds consciences under anathema. It says that denial of perpetual Petrine succession in the Roman pontiff is a condemnable error. Therefore, the doctrine must be demonstrable from Scripture if it is to be imposed on the faithful as divine truth.

But where does Scripture say that Peter has perpetual successors in universal primacy? Where does Scripture say that the Roman pontiff is Peter’s successor by divine right? Where does Scripture say that Peter’s chair in Rome is the centre from which communion laws emanate over all churches? Where does Scripture say that the faithful everywhere must come to Rome? The New Testament gives detailed instruction on salvation, justification, the gospel, the work of Christ, the gifts of the Spirit, the qualifications of elders, the conduct of the churches, discipline, prayer, worship, and the hope of resurrection. Yet it does not give this doctrine. If the Roman pontiff’s universal primacy were necessary for the unity and salvation of the Church, the absence of clear apostolic teaching is a serious problem.

The apostolic warning goes in a different direction. Paul says that even if an apostle or an angel preached another gospel, he must be accursed (Galatians 1:8–9). This means the apostolic gospel stands above all later claims of authority. Paul rebuked Peter in Antioch when Peter’s conduct endangered the truth of the gospel, saying, “I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed” (Galatians 2:11). He did so because they “walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:14). This shows that Peter himself was subject to the gospel. The Church is not preserved by the unquestionable jurisdiction of Peter or his supposed successors. It is preserved by the truth of Christ.

The New Testament also rejects the kind of lordship that later ecclesiastical systems often imitate. Jesus said, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them” (Luke 22:25). Then He said to His disciples, “But ye shall not be so” (Luke 22:26). He taught them that the greatest must be as the younger and the chief as one who serves. Peter himself echoes this when he tells elders not to act “as being lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3). This is a profound apostolic correction. Leadership in the Church exists, but it is not to be Gentile-style domination. It is not to be a sacred empire. It is not to be a visible monarchy over the whole flock. It is service under Christ.

The true perpetuity of the Church is not the perpetuity of the papal office. It is the perpetuity of Christ’s life, Christ’s priesthood, Christ’s word, Christ’s Spirit, and Christ’s presence. Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The builder is Christ. He also said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). He promised, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). Hebrews says He has “an unchangeable priesthood” because He “continueth ever” (Hebrews 7:24). The Church endures because Christ endures. The Church is kept because Christ keeps His sheep. The Church is guided because the Spirit of truth abides with Christ’s people. The Church (God's people indwelt by the Holy Spirit) is built because Christ builds it.

This passage in Vatican I is therefore not merely repeating the first claim about Peter. It is extending it into a doctrine of Rome. The first claim says Peter received primacy. This second claim says that Peter’s primacy continues perpetually in the Roman pontiffs by divine right, and that the faithful everywhere must come to Rome because the bodily unity of the Church is gathered there. That is a much larger claim, and it requires much stronger proof. Yet the New Testament proof is absent. The doctrine depends on later ecclesiastical assertions, not direct apostolic teaching.

The faithful can honour Peter without accepting this conclusion. Peter was a blessed apostle, a witness of Christ, a preacher of the resurrection, a shepherd of Christ’s flock, and a fellow elder. But Scripture does not say that Peter lives and rules through Roman pontiffs. Scripture does not say that his supposed Roman chair is the necessary centre of communion. Scripture does not say that the Roman pontiff is the visible head of the Church by divine right. Scripture says Christ is the Head, Christ is the Shepherd, Christ is the Foundation, Christ is the Mediator, Christ is the High Priest, and Christ ever lives to intercede for those who come to God by Him.

Therefore, Denzinger 1824 and 1825 must be disputed on scriptural grounds. The titles that Scripture gives to Christ must not be transferred into a system that directs the believer’s confidence toward Rome. The guidance Christ promised through the Spirit must not be replaced by the claim that Peter guides the Church through papal successors. The unity of the body in one Spirit under one Lord must not be redefined as communion with the Roman See. The foundation once laid in Christ and the apostolic witness must not be turned into a perpetual earthly throne.

The Church’s hope is not that Peter lives and presides in Rome. The Church’s hope is that Jesus Christ is risen, alive for evermore, present with His people, interceding at the right hand of God, shepherding His flock, and building His Church until the end of the world. The believer does not come to Rome for life. The believer comes to Christ. Peter himself taught this when he wrote, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious” (1 Peter 2:4). That is where the Church must remain: not at the feet of a Roman throne, but upon Christ, the living Stone, the chief Cornerstone, and the only everlasting Head of His body.