St. Jerome On Peter’s Primacy At The Council Of Jerusalem

Feb 12, 2026

In Letter 75 to Augustine, St. Jerome makes some powerful statements about St. Peter’s primacy at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. He says that Peter stood up and the multitude kept silence (as is recorded in Acts 15). He says that James and all the elders gave consent to Peter’s position. He says that Peter was the prime mover in issuing the decree, and that he was of such great authority that Paul went up to see Peter to have his own preaching confirmed. He also says Peter was the “author” of the rule laid down in Acts 15.

St. Jerome, Letter 12 To Augustine, On Peter Presiding At The Council of Jerusalem: “Peter rose up, with his wonted readiness, and said, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knows the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you tempt God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence; and to his opinion the Apostle James, and all the elders together, gave consent.

These quotations should not be tedious to the reader, but useful both to him and to me, as proving that, even before the Apostle Paul, Peter had come to know that the law was not to be in force after the gospel was given; nay more, that Peter was the prime mover in issuing the decree by which this was affirmed. Moreover, Peter was of so great authority, that Paul has recorded in his epistle: Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. In the following context, again, he adds: Then, fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles; proving that he had not had confidence in his preaching of the gospel if he had not been confirmed by the consent of Peter and those who were with him… No one can doubt, therefore, that the Apostle Peter was himself the author of that rule with deviation from which he is charged.”