No we wouldn’t.
You’d argue your case and you’d be wrong because you fail to understand the meaning of the text.
Understand that Jesus didn’t speak Greek to his Apostles - he spoke Aramaic.
He didn’t say, "You are Petros and on this Petra I will build my church."
Jesus says - in Aramaic - “You are kepha (massive rock) and upon this kepha (massive rock) I will build my church.”
It is transliterated into Greek using the masculine Petros because using the feminine Petra to describe a man would be silly.
Wrong.
Either that or you have absolutely no understanding of the Scriptures.
Lev 19:17 states:
"You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him."
**Whereas this passage is about not falling into sin **Matt. 18:15-18 speaks about what to do if somebody sins against you. He gives the Apostles the power to forgive or retain sins.
And in the end - he tells them that the Church has the final say - the final authority - not the Scriptures.
Huh???
You can approach it any way you want *(and it appears that you are) *but if you’re not taking Jesus at his word - you’re just plain wrong.
In John 16:12-15, Jesus is telling the Apostles that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church into ALL truth and will take from what is Jesus’ and declare it to the Church.
In John 20:21-23 - he is again giving the Apostles the power to forgive or retain sins. He tells them that what they forgive and retain will be so in heaven as on earth.
Douay-Rheims John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you.
The Holy Spirit does this for all who repent and accept Christ.
Matt 16:19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
John 20:23 whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
The power of binding and loosing was shared Mt 18:18 Jn 20:23 by the other disciples. That it did not involve the determination of the eternal destiny of souls is clear from Rev 1:18. The keys of death and the place of departed spirits are held by Christ alone.
Rev 1:18 And alive, and was dead, and behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell.
Rev 3:7 And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, write: These things saith the Holy One and the true one, he that hath the key of David; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth:
As first in confessing Christ, Peter got this commission before the rest; and with these “keys,” on the day of Pentecost, he first “opened the door of faith” to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.
A metaphor taken from stewards who carry the keys: and here is set forth the power of the ministers of the word, as Isa 22:22 says, and that power is common to all ministers, as Mt 18:18 says, and therefore the ministry of the gospel may rightly be called the key of the kingdom of heaven. The gospel itself could be considered the key.
Isa 22:22 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.
The ability to forgive sins is in a declaritive sense as relating to the Great Commision. Only Christ has the ability to forgive sins.
Mat 16 we’ll disagree. Yes they spoke Aramaic, but the gospel was written in Greek. It would not be silly to describe Peter in such manor. Jesus spoke figuratively frequently. Christ is the chief cornerstoner.
