Was Peter the first “Pope”?

Peter was NOT the first pope as is claimed by the Catholic hierarchy. In fact, Peter NEVER went to Rome. Instead, he followed Jesus’ instructions [Matthew 10:1-23] to “go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” – Israelites but not Jews.

It was from among those thousands of “sheep” in Babylon, a province of the Parthian Empire, that Peter wrote his epistles that bear his name.

Peter was joined in the Parthian Empire before 40 A. D. by at least 4 other apostles – Thomas, Bartholomew, Thaddeus and Simon Zelotes – for somewhere between 10 and 30 years. That is why they aren’t mentioned in the New Testament scriptures after the time of the first chapters of Acts. 

The Jews scattered across the Roman Empire – especially those in Palestine – mostly rejected Jesus but many of their Israelite brothers and sisters in the Parthian Empire gladly accepted the “good news”. This is verified by both secular history and the writings of the “church fathers”.

Hierarchy such as formed in the church as early as the beginning of the 2nd Century A. D. was anathema to Jesus and His disciples [; Mark 10:42–45].

⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42–45 (NIV84)  Also Matthew 23:8–12; Luke 22:25–26

With their eventual claiming to be following Peter’s example as the “first pope”, that hierarchy became more and more corrupt over the centuries resulting in such atrocities as the Inquisition. That corruption still haunts the Catholic church today. Its enforcement of the unnatural celibacy of its priests has resulted in today’s headlines with the tragedies of pedophilia among those who are supposed to be “men of God”. 

May God bless but inform our brothers and sisters in Christ who – many with a true love of Jesus and the Heavenly Father – follow that hierarchy today.