Question:
Orthodoxy religion and Acts 4:8-12 : My friend recently became an Orthodox. We are debating the Papacy. She is using Acts 4:8-12 to prove that Peter is not the rock, but that Christ is the rock spoken of. Please help. Thank you.
Answer:
It’s a both/and, not an either/or. Peter affirms that Jesus is the cornerstone (Acts. 4:11), and Jesus affirms the same about himself elsewhere (Matt. 21:42). There is no doubt that Jesus is God and thus the founder of the Church and the one without whom the Church could not exist.
And yet Jesus himself calls Peter “this rock” (Matthew 16:18) on which he builds his Church, and thus the chief apostle or Pope who alone possesses “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
For more on the biblical and other historical bases of the papacy, see our article on “Pentecost and the Papacy” and also our tract “Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth.”
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