Brief Notes

Peter and
“the True Grace
of God” (1)

Grace is not found in
taking “the sacraments”
or in other religious practices,
but in submitting to
the will of God

At the end of his first letter, the apostle Peter tells us,

This is the true grace of God. Stand firm within it!
— 1 Peter 5:12

This is a Bible verse every devout Catholic needs to consider very seriously before the Lord. It should cause them to ask, Why does Peter tell us that in his letter he has written of “the true grace of God,” while in it he mentions nothing at all of the rituals of the Roman church?…
 
Of course, Catholics proudly declare that Peter was “the first pope,” and that the current pope is his successor today. And yet, if that really is the case, why does Peter not say anything in his letter about the mass? After all, he is speaking of “the true grace of God,” and the mass is the central ritual of the Roman church. According to the teaching of that church, taking the mass is one of the primary ways the faithful can receive grace; yet, “the first pope” does not so much as mention it as having anything to do with genuine grace.

And moreover, why no mention of appeals to Mary to intercede on our behalf? Or of praying to the so-called saints and seeking to draw from their supposed “treasury of merit”? Again, these are some of the main ways Catholics seek to obtain grace, but Peter is once again completely silent regarding them when he tells us of “the true grace of God.”

And why does he make no mention of a sacramental priesthood, and of the need for confessing your sins to a priest? (To the contrary, when Peter does mention the priesthood, he makes it clear that all the believers, not just a few, are priests before God; 1 Peter 2:5, 9.) How can Catholics possibly obtain grace without access to their priest and to confession? Nonetheless, Peter assures us that he has in fact spoken of “the true grace of God,” without any reference at all to these pillars of the teaching and practice of the Roman church.

The answer to all of these questions is very simple: Peter does not mention any of these things in his letter because, in reality, none of these things has anything to do with “the true grace of God.”

Rather, Peter makes it clear that genuine grace is not found in any man-made religious system or ritual, but in obeying God and submitting to His will.

That is what we see all throughout his first letter, and that is what we will consider in the next Note in this series.

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—  8 November 2025 —