Despite clear testimony from Scripture pointing to Peter’s leadership of the early Church in a perpetual office established by Jesus himself, some still try to challenge it by appealing to several somewhat surprising arguments.
They claim, for instance that Peter, the first Pope and Bishop of Rome, was never actually in Rome, insisting there is no Biblical or historical evidence.
Yet in 1 Peter 5:13 we have clear evidence from Peter’s final greeting: “The church here in Babylon … sends you her greeting.”
Babylon was first-century Christian code for pagan Rome. Virtually every Church Father who has commented on this passage understands Babylon as such. The early Church historian Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, noted, “(Peter) came to Rome, and was crucified with his head downwards”, adding, “Peter’s first epistle … was composed at Rome … referring to the city figuratively as Babylon.”
The Book of Revelation refers to Babylon on at least six different occasions. The only other viable meaning is Jerusalem, but Rev 11:8 clearly mentions Jerusalem as “the great city which is allegorically called Sodom and Egypt (i.e. not Babylon), where their Lord was crucified.”
Ample confirmation of Peter’s presence in Rome also comes through historical testimony and the writings of the Early Church Fathers. There is not a single ancient writer, Christian or pagan, that records Peter dying anywhere but Rome.
Our earliest reference comes around 70 A.D. from St. Clement of Rome. He was the fourth Pope and Bishop of Rome, ordained to the priesthood by St. Peter himself. As pope, he addressed a strongly authoritative letter to the Church in Corinth, noting that Peter died in the same place Paul did – “among ourselves”, i.e. in the Church community at Rome.
Around 200 A.D., the great Christian theologian Tertullian wrote, “How happy is that church (Rome) … where Peter endured a passion like that of the Lord,” and adding Rome was “where Clement was ordained by Peter.”
Perhaps the most powerful testimony comes from St. Irenaeus, the greatest theologian of the early post-apostolic era. Writing in 189 A.D., he said, “Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church.”
Also writing in the second century, St. Clement of Alexandria noted, “ Peter preached the Word publicly at Rome,” while the greatest Scripture scholar of the first millennium, St. Jerome, records: “Simon Peter … chief of the apostles … pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years … he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground.”
Finally, St. Augustine: a towering theologian and highly regarded by Catholics and Protestants alike, wrote, “the chair of the Roman church in which Peter sat, and in which Anastasius (the Pope of Augustine’s time) sits today.”
Even respected Protestant scholar, D.A Carson in his highly acclaimed An Introduction to the New Testament acknowledges that Peter was “in Rome about 63 A.D. (the probable date of 1 Peter). Eusebius implies that Peter was in Rome during the reign of Claudius, who died in 54.”
Additionally, John Evangelist Walsh’s book The Bones of St. Peter provides fascinating corroborating testimony, adding powerful archaeological confirmation of Peter’s presence at Rome as well.