The Apostle Peter

In view of the assumption of some to be Peter's successors, it would be well to examine Peter's last letter to the Church. Here we should find a mention of his successors, if it were ever to be found. In the Second Epistle of Peter he says, "Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle [his body], even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me." Chapter 1:14.
He was here looking forward to his martyrdom which he knew was not far distant. This, then, was the place to speak of committing the saints to his successor, if there were to be such. He said: "Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." vv. 15,16. Nothing new was to be given them, but simply what he had already taught them. This they were to keep in memory.
In the second chapter, Peter describes the moral corruption that would come in at the end, into the very place of profession. Then he says, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior" Chap. 3:1, 2.
The resource of the faithful would be a constant remembrance of what was given at the beginning by Peter and the other apostles, as well as what was written by the "holy prophets.”
One has only to read the rest of this last chapter of his last writing to see how incongruous the thought of a successor is with the whole tenor of this inspired writing. It looks forward through all of the Church age to the "day of the Lord," even through it, on to its end, and the beginning of "the day of God"—the eternal state. He makes references to Paul's apostolic writings as an integral part of the "Scriptures" which were for their edification, and closes with: "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen." v. 18.