We do have one very important document from those early years just after the death of the apostles. The letter is from a church leader in Rome called Clement. A Roman Christian named Clement is actually mentioned in chapter four of Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians\u2013a letter which was written from Rome. There Paul refers to Clement as a fellow worker. It could be the same Clement who wrote a letter to the Church at Corinth about the year 95\u2013just thirty years after Peter\u2019s death. There Clement tells how the apostles travelled around and appointed new leaders who bore the same authority they had received from the Lord himself. Listen to what this voice says, and remember it was written by someone who may have been taught by the apostles themselves. Clement says, \u2018Now the Gospel was given to the Apostles for us by the Lord Jesus Christ; and Jesus Christ was sent from God. That is to say, Christ received his commission from God and the Apostles theirs from Christ\u2026\u2019 later in the letter he claims Peter and Paul as the apostles of the Roman church and goes on to say, \u2018Our apostles also knew through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife on the question of the bishop\u2019s office. Therefore, for this reason, since they had complete foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid persons and later made further provision that if they should fall asleep other tested men should succeed to their ministry.\u2019<\/p>\n
Because the question of leadership was important, the Christians in Rome were careful to record who their own leaders were after Peter and Paul were killed. So we have a list of the first leaders of the Roman church after Peter. The list says that a man called Linus was the next leader after Peter, and a person with this name appears in 2 Timothy 4.21. This epistle was written from Paul\u2019s prison in Rome, and Paul says to Timothy that Linus sends greetings. The second leader after Peter was Cletus, about whom we know very little. The third man was Clement\u2013the one who wrote the famous letter to the Church at Corinth, and who may also have been mentioned by Paul.<\/p>\n
These documents show us that Peter\u2013the one Jesus appointed as leader of the apostles, did end up in Rome, and that he was the leader of the church there. These early writings also tell us that the apostles appointed successors in the different churches, and that the successors were considered the rightful inheritors of the apostolic authority\u2013an authority given to them directly by Jesus. Peter may have been the leader of the Apostles, and he may have ended up as the leader of the Church of Rome, but does that mean he was considered leader of the whole church? and did his successor as the leader of the Roman Church continue to seen as the leader of the whole church? If so, then we can see how the idea that the Bishop of Rome continues to be the Prime Minister of Christ\u2019s Kingdom on earth might have developed. Jesus commanded Peter to be in charge of his flock as the head pastor in his place, but did that job of overall leadership pass on to those who stepped into Peter\u2019s shoes?<\/p>\n
Scripture and the historical record show that Peter ended up as the leader of the Roman church, but did he exercise an authority over the whole church? Certainly in the Acts of the Apostles he emerges as the key spokesman and authoritative teacher. When the whole church met in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 15, it was Peter\u2013under the guidance of the Holy Spirit\u2013 who decided that they should accept non-Jewish Christians. Even Paul tells us in Gal.1.18 and 2.22 that he went to Peter to validate his own teaching and authority. We know that Peter took on missionary travels, and we know from his epistles\u2013written from Rome\u2013that he felt confident to write authoritatively to Christians throughout the known world. In other words, even in his lifetime, Peter\u2013based in Rome was the spokesman and leader of the whole church.<\/p>\n
This authority of the Roman Church over other churches continued after Peter\u2019s death. The letter of Clement written from Rome to the church at Corinth. Written just thirty years after Peter\u2019s death, Clement speaks for the elders of the Roman church when he calls the Corinthian church into order and exercises authority over them. Writing just sixty years later Irenaeus\u2013a French bishop who had studied in Rome says, \u2018We will point to the tradition of the greatest and oldest church, a church known by all men, which was founded and established at Rome by the most renowned apostles Peter and Paul\u2026 For this church has a position of leadership and authority and therefore every church, that is the faithful everywhere, must needs agree with the church at Rome for in her the apostolic tradition has ever been preserved by the faithful.\u2019\u00a0Continue Reading<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We do have one very important document from those early years just after the death of the apostles. The letter is from a church leader in Rome called Clement. A Roman Christian named Clement is actually mentioned in chapter four of Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians\u2013a letter which was written from Rome. There Paul refers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19877","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n