Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan, III, 42

For the third conclusion, which is that St. Peter was monarch of the Church, he bringeth for his chief argument the place of St. Matthew, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church," etc. "And I will give thee the keys of heaven; whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." [Matthew, 16. 18, 19] Which place, well considered, proveth no more but that the Church of Christ hath for foundation one only article; namely, that which Peter, in the name of all the Apostles professing, gave occasion to our Saviour to speak the words here cited. Which that we may clearly understand, we are to consider, that our Saviour preached by himself, by John Baptist, and by his Apostles, nothing but this article of faith, "that he was the Christ"; all other articles requiring faith no otherwise than as founded on that. John began first, preaching only this, "The kingdom of God is at hand." [Ibid., 3. 2] Then our Saviour himself preached the same: [Matthew, 4. 17] and to his twelve Apostles, when he gave them their commission, there is no mention of preaching any other article but that. [Ibid., 10. 7] This was the fundamental article, that is the foundation of the Church's faith. Afterwards the Apostles being returned to him, he asketh them all, not Peter only, who men said he was; and they answered that some said he was John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets; [Ibid., 16. 13] then he asked them all again, not Peter only, "Whom say ye that I am?" [Ibid., 16. 15] Therefore St. Peter answered for them all, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God"; which I said is the foundation of the faith of the whole Church; from which our Saviour takes the occasion of saying, "upon this stone I will build my Church": by which it is manifest that by the foundation-stone of the Church was meant the fundamental article of the Church's faith. But why then, will some object, doth our Saviour interpose these words, "Thou art Peter"? If the original of this text had been rigidly the reason would easily have appeared. We are therefore to consider that the Apostle Simon was surnamed Stone (which is the signification of the Syriac word cephas, and of the Greek word petrus). Our Saviour therefore after the confession of that fundamental article, alluding to his name, said (as if it were in English) thus, "Thou art Stone, and upon this Stone I will build my Church": which is as much as to say, "This article, that I am the Christ, is the foundation of all the faith I require in those that are to be members my Church." Neither is this allusion to a name an unusual thing in common speech: but it had been a strange and obscure speech, if our Saviour, intending to build his Church on the person of St. Peter, had said, "Thou art a stone, and upon this stone I will build my Church," when it was so obvious, without ambiguity, to have said, "I will build my Church on thee"; and yet there had been still the same allusion to his name.

Traduco da Salomon Reinach, Orpheus (1925 ), pag. 330 : “ Gesù non ha designato Pietro come il capo della sua Chiesa, non ha “ istituito il papato “. Il passaggio di Matteo ( 16,18 ) : “ Tu sei Pietro e su questa pietra io fonderò la mia Chiesa … io ti darò le chiavi del regno dei cieli ecc. “ è una evidente interpolazione, fatta a un’epoca in cui c’era già una Chiesa separata dalla Sinagoga. Nei passaggi paralleli di Marco ( 8, 27-32 ) e di Luca ( 9, 18-22 ) non c’è una parola sul primato di Pietro, fatto che Marco, che viene detto discepolo di Pietro, non avrebbe potuto omettere se ne avesse avuto conoscenza. L’interpolazione parrebbe posteriore alla redazione del Vangelo di Luca. “