My summary of Dr. Jeffrew Morrow's talk on Peter's Authority--Steubenville Applied Biblical Studies 2026

   This is my summary of Dr. Jeff Morrow’s speech on Peter’s authority in the Gospel of

Matthew and context. He pointed out that the genealogy in Chapter 1 shows the Davidic

roots of Jesus. He notes that Jesus deliberately set up the Church as the new Kingdom of

David. Jesus announces in Matthew 3:2: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven (God) is at 

hand”. This is His name for the Church. This phrase is hard to find in the Old Testament 

(OT), but 1 and 2 Chronicles refer to the Kingdom of Yahweh. This is one of the the keys

to the OT: The Davidic Kingdom is the high point of the narrative. 

     Surprisingly, Morrow starts with the Patriarch Joseph in Genesis. In Genesis 41, we 

see Joseph, a type of Christ. In Genesis 41:40, Pharaoh rewards Joseph, telling him,

“You shall be over my house”. He is putting Joseph in the position of Royal Steward 

(Al-Beti in Hebrew), which was a very common position in the Middle East. In verse 44,

Pharaoh says, “without your consent no man shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of

Egypt”. In Chapter 45, verse 7, Joseph tells his brothers, you intended evil, “but God 

sent here before you”, to save lives. In verse 8, he says God “has made me a father 

(Pope) to Pharaoh”.

     In Matthew 10, verse 2, Matthew reads off the names of the 12 Apostles. “The names

of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter…” Morrow clarifies

that this word in Greek is an adjective. It doesn’t mean first in the list. It means primacy. 

Jaroslav Pelikan was an esteemed Lutheran biblical scholar who converted to Eastern 

Orthodoxy late in life. However, this verse always bothered him. He knew the word didn’t

mean first in a line, but primacy of authority. 

     We turn again to the OT. In 1 Kings 4, we see that Solomon appoints 12 officers over 

all Israel, a number just like the 12 tribes of Israel. These men provided food for all of 

Israel, like Joseph before them. One of them was the Al-Beti, or Royal Steward. One 

could say they are a type, or foreshadowing, of modern priests who bring us the Eucharist.

     Another important OT passage for our theme is Isaiah 22. Hezekiah was king of Judah.

God announces He will replace the Royal Steward (Al-Beti), Shebna, with Eliakim. In 

verse 21, God tells him, “I will clothe him with your robe” (this refers to priestly clothing)...

“will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father (Pope), to the inhabit-

tants of Jerusalem..” In verse 22, “I will place on his shoulder the key of the House of 

David; he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open”. 

Note the themes of keys (the symbol of authority), and binding and loosing (open and 

shut), symbols of rabbinic authority.   

     Turning to the New Testament (NT), in Matthew 7, Jesus makes an interesting allusion.

In verse 24 and following, Jesus says if you obey His words, you be “will be like a wise 

man who built his house upon the rock”. Who is THE wise man in the OT? Solomon! It is

well known that Solomon built the Temple on what is now the Dome of the Rock. In 

Matthew 7:25, the “rains fell, the floods came”...etc, but the house “...did not fall, because

it had been founded on the Rock” (Petra). The Jewish legend is that the Temple rock held

down the floods of the gates of Hell. 

     Now we turn to the famous passage on Peter, Matthew 16:16-19. Because of Peter’s 

confession, in verse 18, Jesus says, “..you are Peter (rock), and on this rock I will build my 

Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. The Aramaic word for rock is 

Kepa. The Greek version of this is Cephas, the name Paul uses for Peter many times, 

such as 1 Corinthians 1:12. There is no change in gender for the two instances of rock

here in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. The Catholic church is the new Temple here, 

built on the Rock of Peter. 

     In verse 19, Jesus gives Peter the “keys of the kingdom of Heaven”, and the power of

binding and loosing. In Mt. 18, all the Apostles get the power of binding and loosing, but

here only Peter gets the keys. The Rabbis referred to binding and loosing as authority

over exorcisms, binding teaching, and excommunications. 

     In some older Jewish extra-biblical literature, called the Midrash, in this case 4 Baruch,

Jeremiah is depicted as taking the keys of the Temple, throwing the keys into the sky, and

saying take the keys, because we were false stewards. The keys never fell back down. 

Did they land in Peter’s hand?

     In Luke 22:31, Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you (plural you),

that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you (singular you)...and when you 

have turned again, strengthen your brethren”. So in response to Satan sifting all the 

Apostles, to Peter alone is entrusted the strengthening of his brethren. 

     In Matthew 17, verse 24, the tax collectors come up to Peter and ask, “Does not your

teacher pay the tax?” Even the tax collectors are aware that Peter is Jesus’ representative.

He is the Son of God, and Peter is his “son”, so he gives a shekel for Peter and Him, but 

no mention of the other Apostles. 

     There are other passages, such as the famous scene in John 21, where Jesus restores

Peter as chief shepherd in His stead, or Ezekiel 34, but I run out of space here. Let us pray

for the Pope in Rome, the successor of St. Peter!