Luke 22:32

Luke 22:32. But I. Emphatic. In the consciousness of greater power than that of Satan and greater faithfulness than that of Peter.

For thee. Peter is now spoken of alone, as in the greatest danger.

That thy faith fail not, i.e., cease altogether. Our Lord prays, not that Peter be not tried, but that his faith should not utterly fail. It was only through this prayer that Peter's faith did not fail altogether. An Apostle's faith would become extinct, did not Christ intercede for His own.

When once thou hast turned again. Peter's sin and repentance are both implied here. ‘Converted'(so E. V.) is unfortunate; there is no reference to the experience with which Christian life usually begins. Peter had been ‘converted,' in that sense.

Stablish thy brethren. The others were his brethren in weakness; hence the form chosen. Peter's prominence is recognized, and the part he should take in the establishment of the Church prophetically intimated.

This is the one and only proof text for the Vatican dogma of papal infallibility (1870), on the assumption that the promise given to Peter applies to all the popes as his successors. But (1) this assumption can never be proved; (2) ‘faith' here as usual means personal trust in our Lord, not a system of doctrine to be believed; (3) if the passage proves anything for the popes, it would prove also that they deny their Lord, need conversion, and must strengthen their brethren which is much more than history warrants and papal infallibilists would be willing to admit.