Matt. 16:16-19
16 "Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Alright. Jesus said you are Peter, which, from my studies, meant a small pebble, rock, or stone, and he follows with upon this rock I will build My church, which is a play on words. This rock is the truth that he is the Christ, as per peter’s answer in verse 16.
Catholics say that the rock was in reference to Peter himself, thus the reason Christ used the name Peter, but to say that is to totally disregard the conversation started in verse 13 by Jesus when he said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” And the disciple replied, Some say John the Baptist(For he had already been beheaded by this time, if I am not mistaken), some Elijah, and other Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Christ returns with, “But who do you say that I am?” And then we arrive at verse 16, shown above.
Are we to ignore verse 13-15?
So, returning to the play on words, it was the fact that this rock, that truth that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, came from the mouth of a pebble, a small stone such as Simon Peter.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
So, what is Christ building his church on? The rock, the foundation, the rock bed(to be exact), the truth, the fact that He -is- the Christ, the Son of the living God. Is that not the foundation of our faith? If Christ had been Elijah or John the Baptist, sent back to us, would it be sufficient to build the church of the living God upon? Not at all.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
This is the one you really wanted me to get to.
Alright. Papal Succession. The Authority given to Peter, as the first Bishop of Rome, and head of the Church. Let me quote from two chapters over…
Matt. 18:15-19 -Christ is speaking the whole time, to the disciples concerning church discipline-
15 Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established’ (quoting Deut. 19:15)
17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
18 Assuredly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concering anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
Did you catch verse 18? Exact words of Matt 16:19, thus, in my mind, demolishing any claims that Peter alone held the power to loose and bind things on Earth, yet it was given to the church as a whole.
That ends my response to dbacks, I hope it was more insightful than it was entertaining.
As for Church Militant’s post, well, if you’re here for refuting purposes, and to have fun tossing around intellectual religious discussion and beating down other people then I don’t think you and I have much to talk about. I am here to keep myself refreshed on Catholic doctrines, as well as my own, and to help others. I think you may be here for a debate. I apologize, perhaps I read your post wrong, but that is how it seemed to me.
