The problem becomes when one community claims infallibility ,even over another. When one community claims rule over all other sources of truth, be it scripture,tradition magisterium, infallibly…The key word is infallible , or as Myst posts, “unimpeachably correct”.
Perhaps a bit like we see now thru a glass darkly, or let every man be a liar, only God is true.
Finally, every man must account for himself before God and you can not get away from personal revelation on a matter, working it out in fear and trembling in answering the question (and others) , “who do you say that I am ?”.
.Not sure how it ties in to Incarnation, but yes, “for God so chose that by the foolishness of preaching should men be saved”, and by hearing by the word of God, and salvation was of the Jews then and thru the Church now…This is universal. What is not is what is the church, or what is salvation, what is the word? etc… You can not escape what do you say?
Interesting you would choose that passage.
Let’s place the emphasis on that passage where it should be
Who do you say that I am?
What “you say” must be in context of who “
I am”.
And please note the setting of this question. This question is posed to
the community, not to individuals in an exclusively personal sense. He is not asking Peter for his individualist expression of who Jesus is. When Jesus asks for “your” affirmation of faith, he is addressing the small community of disciples. This becomes the setting for Christ’s appeal to authoritative expression of truth.
When Peter takes Christ aside to rebuke him with his private understanding, Christ rebukes him
while gazing on the community!
And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. *33But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter *and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s
Who is the “I Am” of Jesus’ question?
He is the way, the truth, the life.
He is the source of a community. Christ asks Peter to give truthful expression to His person, but only in the context of His community, not his personal ramblings.
We cannot know who Christ is outside his Mystical Body. (this is not a mandate to be explicitly Catholic, but an observation that Christ acts through His Body, by definition of his Incarnation).
Christ reveals himself
incarnate,
in the flesh. To become flesh is to become part of the human community. Christ becoming part of the human community propels us toward unity even while we are scattered.
All authority must be seen in this context, and this is the way he Catholic Church sees it. Authority is not a rigid and literalist claim to arbitrary human whim, or the exercise of master/slave contracts, or an individualist wielding of earthly power. Authority is servant leadership modeled on the life of Christ, who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Authority is a charism based in the Incarnation of Christ, who becomes one of us to form a community out of disparate parts. The Incarnation is God’s fullest revelation of himself to us. Authority is exercised in the context of His Body which accepts this unique charism as his grace, not the yoke of slavery.
