Peter Is Not The Rock!

[namericanboy]

I guees because the RCC has so many contestable issues from when it came into being>

 

[Anglian]

Have you ever noticed how most every thread steers to Catholicism?

I did a thread on Sola Scriptura asking for only SS posts. Do you knwo that by the 2nd page it was on the RCC. I wonder why?

Dear Jack,

I suspect that it may be because, globally, the Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church and witnesses to the Faith in every part of the globe.

My daughter is just back from 6 months working up the Amazon on a wildlife conservation project; the only priest she came across was a Catholic one who visits his parishioners by speedboat. That's spreading the word

peace,

Anglian

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Dear Jack,

I suspect that it may be because, globally, the Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church and witnesses to the Faith in every part of the globe.

My daughter is just back from 6 months working up the Amazon on a wildlife conservation project; the only priest she came across was a Catholic one who visits his parishioners by speedboat. That's spreading the word

peace,

Anglian

Greetings.....Our church also has missionaries in other countries.......it is all about bringing people to JESUS...........

Progress in Nkhotakota

The first week in August a ministry team from Northplace Assembly of God Church, Sachse, Texas, arrived in Malawi. This team held a medical outreach and conducted a crusade for four nights. The first night there were over 1,000 people present, and by the third night there were over 3,000 in attendance. Between three and four hundred people accepted Christ as Savior during this event.

 

[Anglian]

Greetings.....Our church also has missionaries in other countries.......it is all about bringing people to JESUS...........

Dear LLOJ,

Indeed it is. My point was simply that there are more Catholic Christians than any other sort - and when I heard that right down the Amazon there was a priest operating by speedboat, I thought to myself - that's mission - and rather wished my own Church had the resources to do that - but we're on the defensive against increasingly Muslim attacks, alas.

peace,

Anglian

 

[JacktheCatholic]

Greetings.....Our church also has missionaries in other countries.......it is all about bringing people to JESUS...........

Dear LLOJ,

Indeed it is. My point was simply that there are more Catholic Christians than any other sort - and when I heard that right down the Amazon there was a priest operating by speedboat, I thought to myself - that's mission - and rather wished my own Church had the resources to do that - but we're on the defensive against increasingly Muslim attacks, alas.

peace,

Anglian

Increasing Muslim attacks? Like what?

Sorry for my ignorance.

 

[Anglian]

Dear Jack,

More details here:
http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=960&Itemid=1

and here:
http://www.britishorthodox.org/113d.php

peace,

Anglian

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Greetings.....Our church also has missionaries in other countries.......it is all about bringing people to JESUS...........



Increasing Muslim attacks? Like what?

Sorry for my ignorance.

The Muslims have their own version of the Bible

http://home.att.net/~a.f.aly/bible.htm

Revelation [19] describes a final leader of religion and state who will defeat the forces of evil and make the Word of God supreme: "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.

The Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet. He rode horses and waged war on the enemies of Islam. He was known as "the Honest" long before he started receiving the Qur'an. His face was compared to the sun. His tent and favorite coat were red. The red coat was passed on to those who followed him in leading the Muslim Nation and became an article of succession,

 

[JacktheCatholic]

Dear Jack,

More details here:
http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=960&Itemid=1

and here:
http://www.britishorthodox.org/113d.php

peace,

Anglian

Wow!

I can feel their hate towards Christianity. They are obviously creating lies to stir things up. I am sorry that it is like that...

My prayers for those being persecuted in your church that they stay strong in Christ.

The early Christian Church spoke very highly of those that die for Christ's sake. 2,000 years later and people are still dying for Christ.

 

[Anglian]

Wow!

I can feel their hate towards Christianity. They are obviously creating lies to stir things up. I am sorry that it is like that...

My prayers for those being persecuted in your church that they stay strong in Christ.

The early Christian Church spoke very highly of those that die for Christ's sake. 2,000 years later and people are still dying for Christ.

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your prayers. We have suffered thus since the seventh century, and yet there are still more than 12 million Coptic Christians in Egypt. Truly, the Gates of Hell have not prevailed.

It takes courage to confess Christ in Egypt, and for me, safe in the UK, it is something to admire, and to support in whatever way I can. Here, our rock is Christ.

peace,

Anglian

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your prayers. We have suffered thus since the seventh century, and yet there are still more than 12 million Coptic Christians in Egypt. Truly, the Gates of Hell have not prevailed.

It takes courage to confess Christ in Egypt, and for me, safe in the UK, it is something to admire, and to support in whatever way I can. Here, our rock is Christ.

peace,

Anglian

Wait until Obama gets in and Muslims start getting elected to Congress

http://christianforums.com/showthread.php?t=5615012&page=36
Jesus Christ, was he sent for all mankind?

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Originally Posted by Fireinfolding Its a spiritual rock

lol

Peace
Fireinfolding

YOU WIN!

The weight of that rock is crushing!

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Originally Posted by MrPolo

Early Church Fathers on Peter as Rock:

Tertullian (220 A.D.):

"Was anything hid from Peter, who was called the Rock, whereon the Church was built; who obtained the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the power of loosing and of binding in heaven and on earth?" (Tertullian, De Praescript Haeret).

Tertullian thereafter writes to criticize Pope Callistus I by saying ....

"I now inquire into your opinions, to see whence you usurp the right for the Church. Do you presume, because the Lord said to Peter, 'On this rock I will build my Church ...[Matt 16-19]' that the power of binding and loosing has thereby been handed over to you, that is, to every church akin to Peter? What kind of man are you, subverting and changing what was the manifest intent of the Lord when He conferred this ***personally on Peter****? 'On you,' He says, 'I will build my Church; and I give to you the keys'...." (Tertullian, On Modesty 21:9-10)

The Apocryphal Letter of St. Clement of Rome to St. James (C. 221 A.D.)

"Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon [Peter], who, for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be the foundation of the Church, and for this end was by Jesus Himself, with His truthful mouth, named Peter" (Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221])

The Clementine Homilies (C. 221)

"[Simon Peter said to Simon Magus in Rome:] For you now stand in direct opposition to me, who am a firm rock, the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]" (Clementine Homilies 17:19 [A.D. 221]).

St. Hippolytus (225 A.D.):

"Peter, the Rock of the Church ..." (Hippolytus in S. Theophan, n. 9, Galland, ii. p. 494). "Peter, the Rock of the Faith, whom Christ our Lord called blessed, the teacher of the Church, the first disciple, he who has the Keys of the Kingdom." (Hippolytus, Ex Fabricio, Op. Hippol. tom. ii. De Fine Mundi et de Antichristo, n. 9).

Origen (230-250 A.D.):

"See what the Lord said to Peter, that great foundation of the Church, and most solid Rock, upon which Christ founded the Church ..." (Origen, In Exodus. Hom. v. . 4 tom. ii).

"Look at [Peter], the great foundation of the Church, that most solid of rocks, upon whom Christ built the Church [Matt. 16:18]. And what does our Lord say to him? 'Oh you of little faith,' he says, 'why do you doubt?'" [Matt. 14:31] (Homilies on Exodus 5:4 [A.D. 248]).

"Upon him (Peter), as on the earth, the Church was founded." (Origen, Ep. ad. Rom. lib. v.c. 10, tom iv.)

"Peter, upon whom is built Christ's Church, against which the gates of hell will not prevail." (Origen, T. iv. In Joan. Tom. v.)

St. Cyprian (246 A.D.):

"For first to Peter, upon whom He built the Church, and from whom He appointed and showed that unity should spring ..." (Cyprian, Ep. lxxiiii ad Fubaian).

"God is one, and Christ is one, and the Church is one, and the Chair (of Peter) is one, by the Lord's word, upon a Rock ..." (Cyprian, Ep. xl. ad Pleb).

"Peter, also to whom the Lord commends His sheep to be fed and guarded, on whom He laid the foundation of the Church ...." (Cyprian, De Habitu Virg).

St. Ephream the Syrian (350-370 A.D.):

"Simon my follower, I have made you the foundation of the Holy Church. I betimes called you Peter because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for Me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head and fountain from which all My teaching flows." (Ephraem, Homilies 4:1).

"Peter, who was called Kephas, he who was captured on the sea shore, and who received testimony from the great Shepherd, that 'Upon this Rock I will build my Church.'" (Ephraem T. iiii. Gr. De Sacred).

"That Rock which He set up that Satan might stumble thereon, Satan, on the other hand, wished to put this Rock in the way of the Lord that He might stumble upon it, when Peter said, 'Far be it from Thee, Lord.' [Matt 16:22-23] (Ephraem, Sermo de Transfig. Dom., Sec. IV).

St. Hilary of Poitiers (356 A.D.)

"Blessed Simon who, after his confession of the Mystery, was set to be the foundation-stone of the Church and received the Keys of the Kingdom." (Hilary, De Trinitate, 6:20).

"Peter, the first Confessor of the Son of God, the Foundation of the Church, ..." (Hilary, Tract in Ps. cxxxi.)

"And in truth Peter's confession obtained a worthy recompense ....Oh! in thy designation by a new name, happy Foundation of the Church, and a Rock worthy of the building up of that which was to scatter the infernal laws of the gates of hell!" (Hilary, Comm. in Matt. c. xvi.)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (363 A.D.):

"Our Lord Jesus Christ then become man, but by the many He was not known. But wishing to teach that which was not known, having assembled His disciples, He asked, 'Who do you say that I the Son of man am?' ...And all being silent, for it was beyond man to know, Peter, the Foremost of the Apostles, the Chief Herald of the Church, not using language of his own finding, but having his mind enlightened by the Father, says unto Him, 'Thou art the Christ,' and not simply that, but, 'the Son of the living God.' And a blessing follows the speech. ....' ....and upon this Rock I will found my Church ...' " (Cyril, Catech, xi. n. 3).

"He said to Peter, 'And upon this Rock I will build my Church.' " (Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, 18:25).

Optatus (367 A.D.)

"You cannot deny that you are aware that in the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head - that is why he is also called Cephas ["Rock"] - of all the apostles; the one chair in which unity is maintained by all" (The Schism of the Donatists 2:2 [A.D. 367]).

St. Gregory Nazianzen (370 A.D.):

"See thou that of the disciples of Christ, all of whom were great and deserving of the choice, one is called a Rock and entrusted with the foundations of the Church." (Gregory Naz., T. i or xxxii).

"Peter, the Chief of the disciples, but he was a Rock ... (Gregory Naz., T. ii.)

"[Peter], that unbroken Rock who held the keys." (Gregory Naz., Sect. ii Poem Moral. tom. ii.)

St. Gregory of Nyssa (371 A.D.):

"Peter, with his whole soul, associates himself with the Lamb; and, by means of the change of his name, he is changed by the Lord into something more divine. Instead of Simon, being both called and having become a Rock, the great Peter did not by advancing little by little attain unto this grace, but at once he listened to his brother (Andrew), believed in the Lamb, and was through faith perfected, and, having cleaved to the Rock, became himself Peter." (Gregory of Nyssa, T. i. Hom. xv. in C. Cantic).

"Peter ...that most firm Rock, upon which the Lord build His Church." (Gregory of Nyssa, Alt. Or. De. S. Steph.)

St. Basil the Great (371 A.D.):

"The house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the foundations of which are on the holy mountains, for it is built upon the Apostles and prophets. One also of these mountains was Peter, upon which Rock the Lord promised to build His Church." (Basil, T. i. Comment. in Esai. c. ii.).

"The soul of blessed Peter was called a lofty Rock ..." (Basil, Sermon 1 De Fide I.13).

St. Epiphanius (385 A.D.):

"Blessed Peter, who for a while denied the Lord, Peter who was Chief of the Apostles, he who became unto us truly a firm Rock upon which is based the Lord's Faith, upon which Rock the Church is in every way built." (Epiphanius, Adv. Haeres).

"Holy men are therefore called the temple of God, because the Holy Spirit dwells in them; as the ***Chief of the Apostles*** testifies, he who was found worthy to be blessed by the Lord, because the 'Father had revealed unto him.' .....This was befitting in that the ***First of the Apostles***, that ****firm Rock*** upon which the Church of God is built, and 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' 'The gates of hell' are heretics and heresiarchs. For, in every way, the faith confirmed in him who received the Keys of Heaven; who looses on earth and binds in heaven. For in him are found all subtle questions of faith ....And He heard from the same God, Peter, 'feed my lambs;' ***to him was entrusted the flock***; he **leads the way admirably in the power of His own Master***. (Epiphanius, T. ii. in Anchor., 9).

St. Ambrose of Milan (385 A.D.):

"Peter is called the Rock because, like an immovable rock, he sustains and joins the mass of the entire Christian edifice." (Ambrose, Sermon 4).

"Christ is the Rock, 'For they drank from that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ, ' and He did not refuse to bestow the favor of this title even upon His disciple, so that he too might be 'Peter,' in that he has from the Rock a solid consistancy of firm faith." (Ambrose, Expos. in Luc.).

"[Christ] made answer: 'You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church . . . ' Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]?" (The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379]).

"It is to Peter that he says: 'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church' [Matt. 16:18]. Where Peter is, there is the Church. And where the Church, no death is there, but life eternal" (Commentary on Twelve Psalms of David 40:30 [A.D. 389]).

St. Asterius of Pontus (387 A.D.):

"Peter went not away unrequited and unrewarded; but was declared "blessed" by the truly Blessed, and was called the Rock of faith, the foundation and substructure of the Church of God." (Ambrose, Hom. in Apost. Pet. et Paul, tom ii.).

St. John Chrysostom (387 A.D.):

"...and when I name Peter, I name that unbroken Rock, that firm foundation, the Great Apostle, the First of the disciples ..." (Chrysostom, T. ii. Hom. iii. de Paednit).

"Peter, the leader of the choir, that Mouth of the rest of the Apostles, that Head of the brotherhood, that one set over the entire universe, that Foundation of the Church." (Chrysostom, In illud. hoc Scitote).

"Peter, ... that Pillar of the Church, the Buttress of the Faith, the Foundation of the Confession." (Chrysostom, T. iii. Hom. de Dec. Mill. Talent)

St. Jerome (393 A.D.):

"Christ is not alone in being the Rock, for He granted to the Apostle Peter that he should be called 'Rock'. " (Jerome, Comm. on Jerimias 3:65).

"For what has Paul to do with Aristotle? Or Peter to do with Plato? For as the latter (Plato) was prince of philosophers, so was the former (Peter) prince of Apostles: on him the Lord's Church was firmly founded, and neither rushing flood nor storm can shake it." (Jerome, Against the Pelagians 1:14a).

"'But,' you [Jovinian] will say, 'it was on Peter that the Church was founded' [Matt. 16:18]. Well . . . one among the twelve is chosen to be their head in order to remove any occasion for division." (Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393]).

"I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not in the ark on Noah will perish when the flood prevails" (Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]).

St. Augustine (410 A.D.):

"These miserable wretches, refusing to acknowledge the Rock as Peter and to believe that the Church has received the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, have lost these very keys from their own hands." (Augustine, Christian Combat).

"...Why! a [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth] that is cut from the vine retains its shape. But what use is that shape if it is not living from the root? Come, brother, if you wish to be engrafted in the vine. It is grievous when we see you thus lying cut off. Number the bishops from the See of Peter. And, in that order of fathers, see whom succeeded whom. This is the Rock which the proud gates of hades do not conquer. All who rejoice in peace, only judge truly." --St. Augustine, Psalmus Contra Pertem Donati.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (424 A.D.):

"He suffers no longer to be called Simon, exercising authoriy to rule over him already as having become His own. But by a title suitable to the thing, He changed his name into Peter, from the word petra (rock); for on him he was afterwards to found His Church." (Cyril T. iv. Comm. in Joan.).

" 'Blessed art thou ...,' calling, I imagine, nothing else the Rock, in allusion to his name (Peter), but the immovable and stable faith of the disciple upon whom the Church of Christ is founded and fixed without danger of falling." (Cyril, On the Holy Trinity).

"He promises to found the Church, assigning immovableness to it, as He is the Lord of strength, and over this He sets Peter as Shepherd." (Cyril, Comm. on Matt., ad. loc.)

Sechnall of Ireland (A.D. 444)

"Steadfast in the fear of God, and in faith immovable, upon [St. Patrick] as upon Peter the [Irish] church is built; and he has been allotted his apostleship by God; against him the gates of hell prevail not" (Hymn in Praise of St. Patrick 3 [A.D. 444]).

Pope Leo I (C. 445)

"Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the apostles . . . He wished him who had been received into partnership in his undivided unity to be named what he himself was, when he said: 'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church' [Matt. 16:18], that the building of the eternal temple might rest on Peter's solid rock, strengthening his Church so surely that neither could human rashness assail it nor the gates of hell prevail against it" (Letters 10:1 [A.D. 445]).

Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.)

"Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod, together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, has stripped him [Dioscorus] of the episcopate" (Acts of the Council, session 3 [A.D. 451]).
​

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Or Chrysostom who said:

"At all events the master of the whole world, Peter, to whose hands He committed the keys of heaven, whom He commanded to do and to bear all, He bade tarry here [Antioch] for a long period. Thus in His sight our city was equivalent to the whole world. But since I have mentioned Peter, I have perceived a fifth crown woven from him, and this is that this man [Ignatius of Antioch] succeeded to the office after him. For just as any one taking a great stone from a foundation hastens by all means to introduce an equivalent to it, lest he should shake the whole building, and make it more unsound, so, accordingly, when Peter was about to depart from here, the grace of the Spirit introduced another teacher equivalent to Peter, so that the building already completed should not be made more unsound by the insignificance of the successor." (Homily on St. Ignatius, 4)

Here it looks like Chrysostom is saying that Ignatius succeeded to the office after Peter.

What about here:

"Peter, James, and John, were both first called, and held a primacy among the disciples" (Commentary on Galatians, 1, vv. 1-3)

"Wherefore doth He take with Him these only [Matthew 17:1]? Because these were superior to the rest. And Peter indeed showed his superiority by exceedingly loving Him; but John by being exceedingly loved of Him; and James again by his answer which he answered with his brother, saying, 'We are able to drink the cup'; nor yet by his answer only, but also by his works; both by the rest of them, and by fulfilling, what he said. For so earnest was he, and grievous to the Jews, that Herod himself supposed that he had bestowed herein a very great favor on the Jews, I mean in slaying him." (Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, 56:2)

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Petra percieved is petra achieved.

Only I don't percieve it, and never did. Even as a Catholic grade schooler, I spotted this as a phony rock.
It was as obvious to me as the wealth & power of Rome, and every bit as ironic for a religion about a Messiah who disparages riches. It was in 4th grade I stopped Father Blackwell & asked him if he realy believed transubstantiation, his eyes glazed over & he looked up beatificaly, answering "Yes." This was the coolest priest at the parish, and all the kids trusted him. I decided at that moment they were were indeed, all crazy as loons.

Throughout the Bible, Jesus is The Rock.

It is a gross distortion to say Peter started the church.
Don't the very words have Jesus saying "I will build"?
You have to read the Bible "with one eye closed"

I think this thread was a great idea.

I can't even remember that far back but then some of generally were "gullible" as kids, even believing in Santa Clause and the tooth fairy.
Thank God some of us eventually grow out of fables and myths.

2 Timothy 4:4 And from indeed the Truth the hearing of them they shall be turning away, upon yet the fables/myths shall be being turned aside to.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Copied from another thread...............

Peter and the Papacy

There is ample evidence in the New Testament that Peter was first in authority among the apostles. Whenever they were named, Peter headed the list (Matt. 10:1-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, Acts 1:13); sometimes the apostles were referred to as "Peter and those who were with him" (Luke 9:32). Peter was the one who generally spoke for the apostles (Matt. 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41, John 6:68-69), and he figured in many of the most dramatic scenes (Matt. 14:28-32, Matt. 17:24-27, Mark 10:23-28). On Pentecost it was Peter who first preached to the crowds (Acts 2:14-40), and he worked the first healing in the Church age (Acts 3:6-7). It is Peter’s faith that will strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:32) and Peter is given Christ’s flock to shepherd (John 21:17). An angel was sent to announce the resurrection to Peter (Mark 16:7), and the risen Christ first appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). He headed the meeting that elected Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:13-26), and he received the first converts (Acts 2:41). He inflicted the first punishment (Acts 5:1-11), and excommunicated the first heretic (Acts 8:18-23). He led the first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15), and announced the first dogmatic decision (Acts 15:7-11). It was to Peter that the revelation came that Gentiles were to be baptized and accepted as Christians (Acts 10:46-48).

Peter the Rock

Peter’s preeminent position among the apostles was symbolized at the very beginning of his relationship with Christ. At their first meeting, Christ told Simon that his name would thereafter be Peter, which translates as "Rock" (John 1:42). The startling thing was that—aside from the single time that Abraham is called a "rock" (Hebrew: Tsur; Aramaic: Kepha) in Isaiah 51:1-2—in the Old Testament only God was called a rock. The word rock was not used as a proper name in the ancient world. If you were to turn to a companion and say, "From now on your name is Asparagus," people would wonder: Why Asparagus? What is the meaning of it? What does it signify? Indeed, why call Simon the fisherman "Rock"? Christ was not given to meaningless gestures, and neither were the Jews as a whole when it came to names. Giving a new name meant that the status of the person was changed, as when Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Gen.17:5), Jacob’s to Israel (Gen. 32:28), Eliakim’s to Joakim (2 Kgs. 23:34), or the names of the four Hebrew youths—Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Dan. 1:6-7). But no Jew had ever been called "Rock." The Jews would give other names taken from nature, such as Deborah ("bee," Gen. 35:8), and Rachel ("ewe," Gen. 29:16), but never "Rock." In the New Testament James and John were nicknamed Boanerges, meaning "Sons of Thunder," by Christ, but that was never regularly used in place of their original names, and it certainly was not given as a new name. But in the case of Simon-bar-Jonah, his new name Kephas (Greek: Petros) definitely replaced the old.

Look at the scene

Not only was there significance in Simon being given a new and unusual name, but the place where Jesus solemnly conferred it upon Peter was also important. It happened when "Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi" (Matt. 16:13), a city that Philip the Tetrarch built and named in honor of Caesar Augustus, who had died in A.D. 14. The city lay near cascades in the Jordan River and near a gigantic wall of rock, a wall about 200 feet high and 500 feet long, which is part of the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. The city no longer exists, but its ruins are near the small Arab town of Banias; and at the base of the rock wall may be found what is left of one of the springs that fed the Jordan. It was here that Jesus pointed to Simon and said, "You are Peter" (Matt. 16:18).

The significance of the event must have been clear to the other apostles. As devout Jews they knew at once that the location was meant to emphasize the importance of what was being done. None complained of Simon being singled out for this honor; and in the rest of the New Testament he is called by his new name, while James and John remain just James and John, not Boanerges.

Promises to Peter

When he first saw Simon, "Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas (which means Peter)’" (John 1:42). The word Cephas is merely the transliteration of the Aramaic Kepha into Greek. Later, after Peter and the other disciples had been with Christ for some time, they went to Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made his profession of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). Jesus told him that this truth was specially revealed to him, and then he solemnly reiterated: "And I tell you, you are Peter" (Matt. 16:18). To this was added the promise that the Church would be founded, in some way, on Peter (Matt. 16:18).

Then two important things were told the apostle. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). Here Peter was singled out for the authority that provides for the forgiveness of sins and the making of disciplinary rules. Later the apostles as a whole would be given similar power [Matt.18:18], but here Peter received it in a special sense.

Peter alone was promised something else also: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 16:19). In ancient times, keys were the hallmark of authority. A walled city might have one great gate; and that gate had one great lock, worked by one great key. To be given the key to the city—an honor that exists even today, though its import is lost—meant to be given free access to and authority over the city. The city to which Peter was given the keys was the heavenly city itself. This symbolism for authority is used elsewhere in the Bible (Is. 22:22, Rev. 1:18).

Finally, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" (John 21:15-17). In repentance for his threefold denial, Peter gave a threefold affirmation of love. Then Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14), gave Peter the authority he earlier had promised: "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17). This specifically included the other apostles, since Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me more than these?" (John 21:15), the word "these" referring to the other apostles who were present (John 21:2). Thus was completed the prediction made just before Jesus and his followers went for the last time to the Mount of Olives.

Immediately before his denials were predicted, Peter was told, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again [after the denials], strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:31-32). It was Peter who Christ prayed would have faith that would not fail and that would be a guide for the others; and his prayer, being perfectly efficacious, was sure to be fulfilled.

Who is the rock?

Now take a closer look at the key verse: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" (Matt. 16:18). Disputes about this passage have always been related to the meaning of the term "rock." To whom, or to what, does it refer? Since Simon’s new name of Peter itself means rock, the sentence could be rewritten as: "You are Rock and upon this rock I will build my Church." The play on words seems obvious, but commentators wishing to avoid what follows from this—namely the establishment of the papacy—have suggested that the word rock could not refer to Peter but must refer to his profession of faith or to Christ.

From the grammatical point of view, the phrase "this rock" must relate back to the closest noun. Peter’s profession of faith ("You are the Christ, the Son of the living God") is two verses earlier, while his name, a proper noun, is in the immediately preceding clause.

As an analogy, consider this artificial sentence: "I have a car and a truck, and it is blue." Which is blue? The truck, because that is the noun closest to the pronoun "it." This is all the more clear if the reference to the car is two sentences earlier, as the reference to Peter’s profession is two sentences earlier than the term rock.

Another alternative

The previous argument also settles the question of whether the word refers to Christ himself, since he is mentioned within the profession of faith. The fact that he is elsewhere, by a different metaphor, called the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:4-8) does not disprove that here Peter is the foundation. Christ is naturally the principal and, since he will be returning to heaven, the invisible foundation of the Church that he will establish; but Peter is named by him as the secondary and, because he and his successors will remain on earth, the visible foundation. Peter can be a foundation only because Christ is the cornerstone.

In fact, the New Testament contains five different metaphors for the foundation of the Church (Matt. 16:18, 1 Cor. 3:11, Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:5-6, Rev. 21:14). One cannot take a single metaphor from a single passage and use it to twist the plain meaning of other passages. Rather, one must respect and harmonize the different passages, for the Church can be described as having different foundations since the word foundation can be used in different senses.

Look at the Aramaic

Opponents of the Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16:18 sometimes argue that in the Greek text the name of the apostle is Petros, while "rock" is rendered as petra. They claim that the former refers to a small stone, while the latter refers to a massive rock; so, if Peter was meant to be the massive rock, why isn’t his name Petra?

Note that Christ did not speak to the disciples in Greek. He spoke Aramaic, the common language of Palestine at that time. In that language the word for rock is kepha, which is what Jesus called him in everyday speech (note that in John 1:42 he was told, "You will be called Cephas"). What Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 was: "You are Kepha, and upon this kepha I will build my Church."

When Matthew’s Gospel was translated from the original Aramaic to Greek, there arose a problem which did not confront the evangelist when he first composed his account of Christ’s life. In Aramaic the word kepha has the same ending whether it refers to a rock or is used as a man’s name. In Greek, though, the word for rock, petra, is feminine in gender. The translator could use it for the second appearance of kepha in the sentence, but not for the first because it would be inappropriate to give a man a feminine name. So he put a masculine ending on it, and hence Peter became Petros.

Furthermore, the premise of the argument against Peter being the rock is simply false. In first century Greek the words petros and petra were synonyms. They had previously possessed the meanings of "small stone" and "large rock" in some early Greek poetry, but by the first century this distinction was gone, as Protestant Bible scholars admit (see D. A. Carson’s remarks on this passage in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Books]).

Some of the effect of Christ’s play on words was lost when his statement was translated from the Aramaic into Greek, but that was the best that could be done in Greek. In English, like Aramaic, there is no problem with endings; so an English rendition could read: "You are Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church."

Consider another point: If the rock really did refer to Christ (as some claim, based on 1 Cor. 10:4, "and the Rock was Christ" though the rock there was a literal, physical rock), why did Matthew leave the passage as it was? In the original Aramaic, and in the English which is a closer parallel to it than is the Greek, the passage is clear enough. Matthew must have realized that his readers would conclude the obvious from "Rock . . . rock."

If he meant Christ to be understood as the rock, why didn’t he say so? Why did he take a chance and leave it up to Paul to write a clarifying text? This presumes, of course, that 1 Corinthians was written after Matthew’s Gospel; if it came first, it could not have been written to clarify it.

The reason, of course, is that Matthew knew full well that what the sentence seemed to say was just what it really was saying. It was Simon, weak as he was, who was chosen to become the rock and thus the first link in the chain of the papacy.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Originally Posted by Uphill Battle

when cutting and pasting, you're supposed to attribute.
​

A link would be nice

Here it is http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_the_Rock.asp

It was running around at Catholic Answers but I got ahold of it.

 

[JacktheCatholic]

LLoJ are you trying to bring this back from the dead? LOL

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

LLoJ are you trying to bring this back from the dead? LOL

Nah. Just put posts here that concerns Peter to this thread.

But then there about 70 threads on Peter to choose from

http://christianforums.com/search.php?searchid=2926115

Showing results 1 to 25 of 69
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[JacktheCatholic]

Nah. Just put posts here that concerns Peter to this thread.

But then there about 70 threads on Peter to choose from

http://christianforums.com/search.php?searchid=2926115

Showing results 1 to 25 of 69
Search took 0.14 seconds; generated 7 minute(s) ago

Only 70?

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Only 70?

The Pope has that beat though

http://christianforums.com/search.php?searchid=2926134

Showing results "pope" 1 to 25 of 109
Search took 1.14 seconds.