Tackling Tradition 21: Petrine Primacy & the Key of David

It’s not unusual to find Roman Catholics arguing for Petrine Primacy by way of Isaiah 22.   Arguing from Matthew 16, so they say, Christ gave the keys to Peter who is, in turn, the faithful steward prophesied in Isaiah 22. Here is the text. 

15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. 19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And 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. 23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

There are a few problems with the Roman Catholic  application of this text to Peter. 

1.  For starters, the key in Isaiah is the key of David — not the key of Judah or any other key.  As such the key of David is associated with generally prophetic & particularly kingly power & authority - **not** ecclesiastical authority.

2. As to his heritage, Peter is likely of the tribe of Judah —  but not the House of David.   In addition, the Bible depicts him as an ecclesiastical & prophetic leader — but not a civil/civic leader.  

3. The text prophesies the change of stewardship from that of Shebna, an unfaithful individual (who carved a dwelling in the rock & who hewed out a tomb in the rock) to that of a faithful servant who corresponds to the unfaithful steward.   In the Gospels, tombs are associated with the majority of the Sanhedrin, who were unfaithful stewards whom Yeshua accused of building tombs for the prophets their fathers persecuted (Luke 11:47).

4, The New Testament depicts Peter as a teacher & governor in & of the Church — not a lawyer, judge, &/or governor with civil (ie secular or quasi-secular) authority.  Therefore, in order to properly determine the New Testament analogue for Isaiah 22’s faithful steward, instead of reading Petrine primacy into the text, we need to look for a candidate who: exercises civil/civic authority, is of the tribe Judah (preferably both figuratively & literally), & is someone associated with a tomb or tombs.  

That would be Joseph of Arimathea, not Peter. 

The Gospels inform us that Joseph of Arimathea was a faithful steward among the Pharisees. He was a lawyer who was part of the reform movement (a position of both civil/civic & ecclesiastical authority) and he donated his tomb for Yeshua’s burial.  He was also the man who had the courage to go to Pilate & request a burial for Yeshua’s body. Isaiah 22 is about Christ & Joseph of Arimathea — not Peter. 

May God bless us all, each & every one, and “Go and sin no more.”