The most commonly cited scriptural defenses of St. Peter’s supreme authority in the Church are drawn from Matthew 16, Luke 22, and John 21 — passages where Christ explicitly confers upon Peter a singular and elevated role among the Apostles. Yet the letter to the Galatians, written by St. Paul to combat the Judaizing heresy, contains within it a remarkable and often overlooked confirmation of that same Petrine primacy. Fr. José María Bover, S.J., a 20th-century Spanish Jesuit, authored Teología de San Pablo, the first Catholic work of its kind in Spanish literature, and within its pages lies an exegesis of extraordinary depth that draws three distinct indications of St. Peter’s supreme authority from Paul’s own words.
Background: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
St. Paul composed his letter to the Galatians to confront and dismantle the Judaizing error — the false teaching that Gentile believers were required to observe the Mosaic Law, including circumcision, in order to be saved. This controversy was so serious that it prompted a formal gathering in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 15, where apostles and elders deliberated on the question. Against this backdrop, Paul establishes a foundational argument: his apostolic authority and the Gospel he preached came not from men but directly from Jesus Christ and God the Father (Gal 1:1). He is not dependent on any human teacher — not even the other Apostles.
First Indication: The Purpose of Paul’s Visit to Peter
Three years after his conversion, St. Paul made his first journey to Jerusalem. The stated purpose was singular: to visit Peter. “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother” (Gal 1:18–19). The Greek verb used for “visit” — ἱστορέω (historeō) — is deeply significant. It does not merely mean to travel somewhere, but carries the sense of seeking a personal acquaintance, of going to pay one’s respects and to converse at length with someone of recognized importance.
Fr. Bover highlights that Paul’s attitude toward the other Apostles in this account is strikingly indifferent. James, the bishop of Jerusalem — the Lord’s own brother — is mentioned almost as an afterthought. Paul had no intention of visiting James, nor any of the others. He was in James’s city and yet sought only Peter. This is a powerful datum. Peter was not the bishop of Jerusalem, and Paul explicitly denies that he went to receive doctrinal instruction. The only coherent explanation for Paul’s exclusive interest in Peter is Peter’s unique preeminence and jurisdictional superiority over the entire Church.
This reading is not merely a modern Catholic inference. Fr. Bover’s method was to explain Paul by Paul himself, finding in the whole of the Pauline writings parallels that illuminated each difficult phrase — until the thought of Paul, always logical and profound, became fully clear. That method, applied here, leads to one conclusion: Paul’s visit reveals what he already knew — that Peter stood above all the rest.
St. John Chrysostom Confirms It
This interpretation finds ancient and patristic confirmation in the writings of St. John Chrysostom. Commenting on Christ’s words “Feed my sheep” in John 21, Chrysostom asks why, of all the Apostles, Christ singles out Peter with this commission. His answer is direct: Peter was “the chosen one of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, the leader of the band.” He then explicitly references Galatians 1, noting that this is precisely why Paul went up to enquire of Peter rather than the others (Hom. 88 on John, n. 1, PG 59, 478). The patristic witness and Paul’s narrative thus converge on the same truth — Peter holds a place that demands to be reckoned with, even by an Apostle of Paul’s stature.
Second Indication: Peter as Apostle of the Universal Church
In Galatians 2, Paul speaks of a later Jerusalem visit and describes a formal division of apostolic labor: he is the Apostle to the Gentiles, while Peter is the Apostle to the Jews. At first glance, this may seem to place Peter and Paul on equal footing — two men, two missions. But Fr. Bover draws a crucial distinction. Paul’s mission to the Gentiles is geographically and culturally boundless, extending across the Roman world and beyond. Peter’s mission to “the circumcision,” however, refers not to a mere territorial assignment but to the covenant people of God — the original root from which the Church herself grew.
To be the Apostle to the Jews was to be entrusted with the mission to the very heart of salvation history. It was a commission that carried with it a unique theological weight, one entirely consistent with Peter’s identity as the rock upon which the universal Church is built (Matt 16:18). The division of labor does not diminish Peter; it reveals that his responsibility extends to the foundational community from which all other missions flow.
Third Indication: Paul’s Public Confrontation Presupposes Peter’s Authority
The famous rebuke of Peter at Antioch — “I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Gal 2:11) — is often wielded as an argument against Petrine primacy. If Paul can rebuke Peter publicly, the argument goes, Peter cannot hold supreme authority. But Fr. Bover’s exegesis turns this objection on its head. The very fact that Peter’s conduct at Antioch had the power to draw even Barnabas into hypocrisy, and that it threatened to undermine the very Gospel Paul preached, presupposes that Peter’s behavior carried extraordinary weight. Only a man of supreme standing could cause such far-reaching scandal.
Paul did not rebuke Peter the way one colleague corrects another. He rebuked him precisely because Peter’s example — given his position — was catastrophically consequential. A man of no authority can mislead only a few. A man of supreme authority can mislead the whole Church. Paul’s very urgency in confronting Peter publicly is itself an implicit recognition of why Peter’s actions mattered so greatly. The rebuke confirms the primacy rather than refutes it.
Conclusion: Galatians as an Unexpected Witness
What Fr. Bover’s exegesis reveals is that Galatians, far from being a text that undermines Petrine primacy, actually reinforces it from an unexpected angle. Paul’s choice of whom to visit, whom to name as head of the Jerusalem church, and whom to confront as a matter of gospel urgency all point to the same man — Peter. Fr. Bover organized the principal themes of Pauline preaching with a method uniquely suited to draw out Paul’s deepest thought, and he was recognized as a profound scholar of St. Paul. His reading of Galatians deserves far wider attention among students of Scripture and defenders of the faith.
The Church has always taught that Peter’s authority was not merely functional or honorary but real, jurisdictional, and divinely instituted (cf. CCC 880–882). Galatians, read carefully and honestly, does not contradict this — it confirms it. St. Paul, the great champion of apostolic independence, nonetheless considered it essential to seek out Peter above all others. That choice speaks volumes.
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