Ha ha, yo no bailo en la casa del trompo.
It’s not about you or me, although you seem to take our encounters that way.
You have about 70 or so passages in the NT to pull for Peter. This is not one of them.
Catholicism is not about Sola Petra, but about the Church through out the world. The Church, the successor of Peter is part of the Chruch, not the other way around. Our Pope will be the first one to say that.
Adios.
I was asleep and woke up thinking about this. Here is that thought.
Of course Paul is comparing himself to Peter. Peter was the original “rock” star. Thousands knew his name. He was an apostle, he lived with Jesus for three years, he walked on water, raised the dead, preached at Pentecost and called down judgment upon Ananias and Saphira. Even his shadow could heal. Peter had the keys of the royal steward. He was the vicar of Christ. Everyone wanted to see Peter, to touch Peter, to hear Peter speak.
And Paul, the greatest student of the greatest rabbi, Gamaliel, lived, worked and preached in the shadow of this Galilean fisherman called “Rock”.
Consequently, when people in Galatia or Corinth began to question Paul’s teachings or his credentials as an apostle or his abilities as an orator, who was Paul going to compare himself with? Thaddeus? Matthias?
:nope:
Paul was saying, “Look, I’ve seen the Lord, too, and I’ve worked just as hard, even harder for the gospel than all the others. I’ve been shipwrecked, imprisoned, flogged, left for dead. I’ve paid my dues as an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
But when Paul, the brilliant scholar, wanted to check his gospel, he compared it with the Gold Standard of the Christian faith. He went to Peter, and Peter “strengthened” his brother, Paul, by reassuring Paul and confirming the message that he was preaching.
Just as Jesus had commanded him to do. (cf. Lk. 22:32)
Spin that.
