Proof of Pope

[susanj19]

Menorrah,
Sorry, but you got it wrong. James, the “brother” of the Lord, is not the son of Joseph. You probably assume this because of the word “brother” or “brethren”. If you combine the verses that mention the “brethren” of the Lord, Mt 27:56 “…the mother of James and Joseph”, Mk15:40 “…the mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome”, Jn19:25 “And meanwhile his mother(Jesus’), Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen had taken their stand beside the cross”, Thus, the mother of James and Joseph must be the wife of Cleophas. But in Mt10:3, James is the son of Alphaeus, which would mean this Mary, whoever she was, was the wife of both Cleophas and Alphaeus. One solution is that she was widowed once, then remarried. More probably Alphaeus and Cleophas (Clopas in Greek) are the same person, since the Aramaic name for Alphaeus could be rendered in Greek in different ways, either as Alphaeus or Clopas. If the testimony of Hegesippus, a 2nd century historian is believed, Cleophas was the brother of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.–taken from Fragment in Eusebius Pamphilius, Historia ecclesiastica 4,22,4;3,11,1. James would thus be Joseph’s nephew and a cousin of Jesus. In the bible, “brother” or “brethren” can mean blood-brother (Andrew, the brother of Phillip), close relative (Mt 12:46), kinsman (Dt 23:7, 2 Esd5:7, Jer 34:9 2Kings10:13-14), even friend (2 Sam1:26, 1Kings9:13, 1Kings20:32) or ally (Amos 1:9). Thus, the 4 “brothers” of Jesus, being James, Joseph (or Joses), Simon, and Jude, are the cousins of Jesus. Karl Keating explains further reasoning on how it is impossible for them to be blood-brother or even half-brothers of Jesus in his book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism. But we know from the Bible itself that they are not the half or blood brothers of Jesus. And the word, “until”, did not have the same meaning as today when used in the bible. It had no implication of future action, as in the vs. “Mary and Joseph had no relations until the birth of Jesus.” That means they had no relations before the birth, to emphasize Mary’s virginity. Proof of this is in the following verses (2Sam 6:23, Gen8:7, Deut 34:6, and my favorite 1Macc5:54 which ways “And they went up to mountZion with joy and gladness, and offered holocausts, because not one of them was slain TILL they had returned in peace.” Were they slain after they returned in peace by their own people? NO.
Peace of Christ be with you.

 

[NotWorthy]

In the account of the gospel writers, yes, indeed Peter was the leader of the apostles. However, Jesus was still with them at the time.

In the book of Acts, things have changed. It became “James and the apostles…”; “Tell James and the others…”; Paul “went to see James…”: In Pauline writings, Paul blamed Peter and went to see James.

James even said “It is my judgment…” to settle a dispute. In the Church History Book II of Eusebius, James was named as the first bishop of the church in Jerusalem.

Papacy started in Rome, not in Jerusalem.

So, after Christ, it wasn’t Papacy yet. Papacy started many years after James and maybe even after the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

This is interesting… post what you want, and ignore the rest. Good strategy.

BTW, didn’t you have a “Pope of Alexandria” signature? If so, why did you remove it?

 

[Menorrah]

Menorrah,
Sorry, but you got it wrong. James, the “brother” of the Lord, is not the son of Joseph. You probably assume this because of the word “brother” or “brethren”. If you combine the verses that mention the “brethren” of the Lord, Mt 27:56 “…the mother of James and Joseph”, Mk15:40 “…the mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome”, Jn19:25 “And meanwhile his mother(Jesus’), Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen had taken their stand beside the cross”, Thus, the mother of James and Joseph must be the wife of Cleophas. But in Mt10:3, James is the son of Alphaeus, which would mean this Mary, whoever she was, was the wife of both Cleophas and Alphaeus. One solution is that she was widowed once, then remarried. More probably Alphaeus and Cleophas (Clopas in Greek) are the same person, since the Aramaic name for Alphaeus could be rendered in Greek in different ways, either as Alphaeus or Clopas. If the testimony of Hegesippus, a 2nd century historian is believed, Cleophas was the brother of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.–taken from Fragment in Eusebius Pamphilius, Historia ecclesiastica 4,22,4;3,11,1. James would thus be Joseph’s nephew and a cousin of Jesus. In the bible, “brother” or “brethren” can mean blood-brother (Andrew, the brother of Phillip), close relative (Mt 12:46), kinsman (Dt 23:7, 2 Esd5:7, Jer 34:9 2Kings10:13-14), even friend (2 Sam1:26, 1Kings9:13, 1Kings20:32) or ally (Amos 1:9). Thus, the 4 “brothers” of Jesus, being James, Joseph (or Joses), Simon, and Jude, are the cousins of Jesus. Karl Keating explains further reasoning on how it is impossible for them to be blood-brother or even half-brothers of Jesus in his book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism. But we know from the Bible itself that they are not the half or blood brothers of Jesus. And the word, “until”, did not have the same meaning as today when used in the bible. It had no implication of future action, as in the vs. “Mary and Joseph had no relations until the birth of Jesus.” That means they had no relations before the birth, to emphasize Mary’s virginity. Proof of this is in the following verses (2Sam 6:23, Gen8:7, Deut 34:6, and my favorite 1Macc5:54 which ways “And they went up to mountZion with joy and gladness, and offered holocausts, because not one of them was slain TILL they had returned in peace.” Were they slain after they returned in peace by their own people? NO.
Peace of Christ be with you.

Read this:

Eusebius: Church History Book II, Chapter 1

1. Then James, whom the ancients surnamed the Just on account of the excellence of his virtue, is recorded to have been the first to be made bishop of the church of Jerusalem. This James was called the brother of the Lord because he was known as a son of Joseph, and Joseph was supposed to be the father of Christ, because the Virgin, being betrothed to him, was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came together, Matthew 1:18 as the account of the holy Gospels shows.

 

[NotWorthy]

Read this:

Eusebius: Church History Book II, Chapter 1

1. Then James, whom the ancients surnamed the Just on account of the excellence of his virtue, is recorded to have been the first to be made bishop of the church of Jerusalem. This James was called the brother of the Lord because he was known as a son of Joseph, and Joseph was supposed to be the father of Christ, because the Virgin, being betrothed to him, was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came together, Matthew 1:18 as the account of the holy Gospels shows.

There is no unanimous consensus on who “James, the Brother of the Lord” is. Most of the Church believe it to be James the lesser. Some, like Eusebius and Heggesippus (?) hold that its someone else, maybe a son of Joseph from his previous marriage (it is believed he was a widower).

My question to those who hold that he is James, the Apostle (the lesser), why is James the Apostle never called “James, the brother of the Lord” in any of the Gospels?

I think that, in order to better marry the Jewish Pharisees to the new Christian Church, James was a Pharisee who converted to Christianity.

Here’s two early accounts on “Ya’akov, Servant of God” (James the Just):

The man known to history as Flavius Josephus was born in 37AD, just seven years after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, to a prominent Judean family and was given the Hebrew name Joseph. He was born into a priestly family and was himself trained for priestly service in the holy Temple in Jerusalem. When St. Paul visited the Temple with St. James in what was probably the spring of 58AD, Josephus/Joseph would have been about 20 years old. Certainly when Josephus began to serve as a Jewish deacon in the Temple at age 25 in 62AD he would have heard and probably seen the saintly St. James, first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem who was such a controversial figure among the Jews as he led more and more Jews out of the Old Covenant faith and into the New Covenant faith that embraced Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah.

St. James was martyred sometime between 64 and 69AD on the orders of the Jewish High Priest Ananus: *‘Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the Law, he delivered them to be stoned; but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assembly a Sanhedrin without his consent; whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months, …” Antiquities of the Jews, 20.9.1. *

It is interesting the scandal that James’ death caused among the Jews. Stephen’s death and the Apostle James death did not cause such a scandal. Was it because James the Just had been revered among the Jews as a man of holiness before his conversion to the New Covenant and his seeming defection had not lessened the respect for holiness that this Nazirite had enjoyed in the Jewish community?

The most complete description of James the Bishop of Jerusalem is found in the writings of Hegesippus, a man who lived within the shadow of the Apostolic Age of the Church. Hegesippus writing between c.155-180AD (although some scholars date his writings earlier in the 2nd century), was one of the Church’s earliest chroniclers.

As a Jewish Christian his view of early Christian Church history is unique since he looks at the Church from the same vantage point as the Jewish first Bishop of Jerusalem. Hegesippus seems to have traveled widely and therefore must have visited many of the apostolic churches in the Eastern and Western Roman Empire. The majority of his work has not survived the ravages of time but what does survive gives witness to his Catholic spirit of orthodoxy and his understanding of the obligation of the New Covenant Church to carry the message of salvation beyond the people of the Old Covenant and out to the Gentile nations.

His sketches of the fathers of the early Church from surviving fragments from his five books of commentaries titled The Acts of the Church are descriptive and intriguing, like his description of James, brother of the Lord and the first Bishop of Jerusalem in which he not only identifies James the brother of Jesus as the first Bishop of Jerusalem but also provides the information that James, like John the Baptist was “holy from his mother’s womb” and like John abstained from both eating meat and drinking wine: *“James, the Lord’s brother, succeeds to the government of the Church in conjunction with the Apostles. He has been universally called ‘the Just,’ from the days of the Lord down to the present time.
*

*For many bore the name of James; but this one was holy from his mother’s womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating liquor, nor did he eat flesh’ no razor came upon; his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, nor make use of the bath. He alone was permitted to enter the Holy Place: for he did not wear any woolen garment, but fine linen only. He alone, I say, was wont to go into the Temple: and he used to be found kneeling on his knees, begging forgiveness for the people—so that the skin of his knees became horny like that of a camel’s, by reason of his constantly bending the knee in adoration to God, and begging forgiveness for the people.
*

*Therefore, in consequence of his pre-eminent justice, he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek ‘Defense of the People,’ and ‘Justice,’ in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him” *[fragments from Hegesippus’ *Five Books of Commentaries on the Acts of the Church, Ante-Nicene Fathers,

volume 8, page 762*. *Also see: Eusebius, Church History, 2.23.5 quoted in The Early Church Fathers volume I page 79].
From Agape Bible Study

 

[KingAlfred]

Note Acts 12:1-5 Why did the Church pray for Peter but not for James

I believe James was too Jewish. He didn’t want to extend the faith to gentiles. The Church would’ve remained Jewish, and slowly died, if left under his command.

 

[NotWorthy]

I believe James was too Jewish. He didn’t want to extend the faith to gentiles. The Church would’ve remained Jewish, and slowly died, if left under his command.

I’m not sure if that’s the case so much as the thought that James had to play a balancing act between the Old School and the New.

 

[mercygate]

Alright, so when it mentioned “church of God” many times and ZERO for “Roman Catholic Apostolic Church”; that should say something?

That is childish and I don’t buy it…

Actually “counting” is an extremely instructive way of getting a grasp on what is important in Scripture.

Try counting the number of times you find the word “water” in the Bible. It sheds tremendous light on the way Jesus presented His message and Himself as “living water.” Comparing the incidence of “love” or “faith” is also very revealing.

 

[susanj19]

James, the “brother” or “adelphos” (in Hebrew meaning brother, cousin, kinsman, even friend or ally *see 2 Kings 10:13-14, 2 Sam1:26, Amos 1:9) of the Lord is the same as James the Just. It is impossible for them to be blood brothers since James the Just was a priest in the Jewish temple(even the Holy of Holies-high priest only) and therefore, must have been a Levite. Only those from the tribe of Levi were priests. Although Jesus was “a priest like Melchizadek” to fulfill the prophecy, he was not a Jewish priest who could serve in the temple because he was of the tribe of Judah, not Levi.
This is not the same person as James the Less, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles. The cousin of Jesus, James the Just, was not a believer in Jesus according to scripture and even tried to restrain him saying, “He must be mad” Mk 3:21. We know Jesus had no younger brothers because a younger would never give advice or try to control an older brother in the Hebrew culture. And “if” he was an older half-brother by a former marriage of Joseph, then why did Jesus put his mother Mary in the care of St. John “if” he had four older brothers who could care for her. Yet we know that St. John took Mary into his home; not just a spiritual mother/son relationship.

 

[BRB]

James the Just was a priest in the Jewish temple(even the Holy of Holies-high priest only) and therefore, must have been a Levite. Only those from the tribe of Levi were priests. .

Actually, its more likely he was a Nazirite … had taken lifelong vows, and was allowed access to the lesser holy portions of temple like the Levites.

But, not the Holy of Holies … this area which formerly housed the Ark … could only be accessed once / year by the High Priest.

 

[susanj19]

BRB,
Yes, he was a Nazirite.Jerome’s documentation says that James the Just was a priest who had access to the Holy of Holies. ONLY Levites were allowed this role. Perhaps this is false??
Rome, De Viris Illustribus, quotes Hegesippus’ account of James from the fifth book of his lost Commentaries:
“After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his mother’s womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed.HE ALONE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF ENTERING THE HOLY OF HOLIES, since indeed he did not use woolen vestments but linen and went alone into the temple and prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees were reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels’ knees.”
I got this info on Jerome’s writing about James the Just on Wikipedia, clicked on James the Just Orthodox Wiki. As far as I can find, the list of High priests goes to Caiaphas. Was there another after him before Jerusalem was destroyed??? I know only the high priest entered the Holy of Holies only once a year.

 

[NotWorthy]

James, the “brother” or “adelphos” (in Hebrew meaning brother, cousin, kinsman, even friend or ally *see 2 Kings 10:13-14, 2 Sam1:26, Amos 1:9) of the Lord is the same as James the Just. It is impossible for them to be blood brothers since James the Just was a priest in the Jewish temple(even the Holy of Holies-high priest only) and therefore, must have been a Levite. Only those from the tribe of Levi were priests. Although Jesus was “a priest like Melchizadek” to fulfill the prophecy, he was not a Jewish priest who could serve in the temple because he was of the tribe of Judah, not Levi.
This is not the same person as James the Less, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles. The cousin of Jesus, James the Just, was not a believer in Jesus according to scripture and even tried to restrain him saying, “He must be mad” Mk 3:21. We know Jesus had no younger brothers because a younger would never give advice or try to control an older brother in the Hebrew culture. And “if” he was an older half-brother by a former marriage of Joseph, then why did Jesus put his mother Mary in the care of St. John “if” he had four older brothers who could care for her. Yet we know that St. John took Mary into his home; not just a spiritual mother/son relationship.

Thanks for that information!!! I’m glad somebody else believes that James the Just was not one of the Apostles.

 

[Pons]

I read somewhere online (can’t find where) that Jerome, the source of “James as cousin” as opposed to “stepbrother”, may be more credible than other sources (Eastern Fathers) since Jerome was more exposed to Jews and would have known how their concept of family worked. The others tended to distance themselves from Jews if I recall correctly. However the Eastern “stepfather” tradition is apparently older though.

Here’s my related thread on the Eastern Catholicism forum, which produced these nuggets:

The Coptic tradition states that James accompanied [the Holy Family] to Egypt as is depicted in their icons of the flight into Egypt.

John

Salome, the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John, is one of Joseph’s daughters and older step-sister of Jesus. Matthew 20:20-21 makes a lot more sense when you understand that only an older sister would have the boldness to ask what she does.

John

Regarding

And “if” he was an older half-brother by a former marriage of Joseph, then why did Jesus put his mother Mary in the care of St. John “if” he had four older brothers who could care for her. Yet we know that St. John took Mary into his home; not just a spiritual mother/son relationship.

The ultimate snubbing? Or perhaps they weren’t obliged to care for her? Or just that God knows best?

 

[NotWorthy]

BRB,
Yes, he was a Nazirite.Jerome’s documentation says that James the Just was a priest who had access to the Holy of Holies. ONLY Levites were allowed this role. Perhaps this is false??
Rome, De Viris Illustribus, quotes Hegesippus’ account of James from the fifth book of his lost Commentaries:
“After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his mother’s
womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed.HE ALONE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF ENTERING THE HOLY OF HOLIES, since indeed he did not use woolen vestments but linen and went alone into the temple and prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees were reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels’ knees.”
I got this info on Jerome’s writing about James the Just on Wikipedia, clicked on James the Just Orthodox Wiki. As far as I can find, the list of High priests goes to Caiaphas. Was there another after him before Jerusalem was destroyed??? I know only the high priest entered the Holy of Holies only once a year.

Jerome mis-quoted Hegessipus’ rendering of James the Just.

Here’s what Hegessipus wrote:

“James, the Lord’s brother, succeeds to the government of the Church in conjunction with the Apostles. He has been universally called ‘the Just,’ from the days of the Lord down to the present time. For many bore the name of James; but this one was holy from his mother’s womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating liquor, nor did he eat flesh’ no razor came upon; his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, nor make use of the bath. He alone was permitted to enter the Holy Place:

Here’s what Jerome wrote:
*

Hegesippus who lived near the apostolic age, in the fifth book of his Commentaries, writing of James, says, ‘ After the Apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was holy from his mother’s womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed. He alone had the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies,

I also love the last thing Hegessipus said about James the Just:

He alone, I say, was wont to go into the Temple: and he used to be found kneeling on his knees, begging forgiveness for the people—so that the skin of his knees became horny like that of a camel’s

*that’s quite a reputation to be passed on through the ages… “James the Just - or ‘camel-knees’ to his friends”!
*

 

[NotWorthy]

I read somewhere online (can’t find where) that Jerome, the source of “James as cousin” as opposed to “stepbrother”, may be more credible than other sources (Eastern Fathers) since Jerome was more exposed to Jews and would have known how their concept of family worked. The others tended to distance themselves from Jews if I recall correctly. However the Eastern “stepfather” tradition is apparently older though.

Here’s my related thread on the Eastern Catholicism forum, which produced these nuggets:

Remember, this is the same Jerome that mistakenly placed James in the Holy of Holies, something only the high priest could do.

Here’s what I found on Jerome’s calling James, the son of Alpheus. this is from Agape Bible Study.com

Unfortunately the great Jerome does not leave us his reasons for coming to the conclusion that the Apostle James son of Alphaeus was the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem. It is interesting that he does mention that his was not the prevailing opinion. It is true that the fathers of the Church who preceeded him did not agree with Jerome’s identification of James “the Just” as one of the 12 Apostles, and a number of modern Catholic Biblical scholars in reassessing the evidence also disagree with Jerome.

 

[NotWorthy]

As far as I can find, the list of High priests goes to Caiaphas. Was there another after him before Jerusalem was destroyed??? I know only the high priest entered the Holy of Holies only once a year.

Here’s a list:
I’ve started with Annas who served from 6-15AD, just to show how influential he was in Jesus’ time, for many of the subsequent high priests are related to him:

• Annas son of Seth + (in Greek = Ananus) 6-15AD
  -Ishmael son of Phabi 15-17
  -Eleazar & Simon sons of Annas+ 17-18
  -Caiaphas son-in-law of Annas+ 18-36
  -Johathan, son of Annas+ 37
  -Theophilus, son of Annas+ 37-41
  -Matthias son of Annas+ 41-48
  -Ananias son of Nebedaeus 48-59
  -Ishmael son of Phabi 59-61
  -**Annas **son of Annas+ 62-70

It was this Annas (son of Annas) who had James the Just, bishop of Jerusalem, thrown off the temple and then stoned to death (yes, the temple descent did not kill him - wow!). The Christian community and the Jewish Community were so upset with this killing, that they both appealed to Rome and Annas was removed from his priesthood!

BTW, the source for this was Agape Bible Study.Com

 

[NotWorthy]

Oh, one more thing:
James, the bishop of Jerusalem, head of the local Church most in charge of bring old Israel into the New Israel… James’ Hebrew name would have been Ya’akov, what we translate to Jacob!!!

That is so cool!!!

 

[w_stewart]

Wrong post. sorry

 

[susanj19]

James, the “brother of Jesus” is NOT a blood-brother but rather a cousin (if the testimony of records of the times are to be believed).
The Bible, not me, teaches this: That the mother of James, Simon,
Jude and Joseph is Mary, wife of Clopas. Read the following verses of the Bible and put them together.

Matt. 13:55 (the 4 “brothers”-Hebrew/Aramaic had no word for cousin/ Greek does but the copiers of Bible used the same word brother, which acc. to scripture can mean kinsman(Dt23:7, Jer34:9) or EVEN NON-RELATED friend(2 Sam 1:26, 1Kings 9:13) Or ALLY (Amos 1:9)
Matt 27:56 (Mary the mother of James and Joseph) NOTE-the last mother mentioned, the mother of the sons of Zebedee who are James and John, is a different mother than the mother of James the “brother” of the Lord. The father of the Apostles James & John is Zebedee, The father of the 2nd James the less, also one of the 12 Apostles is Alphaeus)

Mk 15:40 Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses,
Jn 19:25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother(Virgin Mary), and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Here we see that the Virgin Mary is NOT the same as Mary the wife of Clopas and that if she is the sister of the Virgin Mary(or perhaps cousin since there was no word for cousin), then the “brothers” are Jesus’ cousins. They are not blood or half-brothers because we know the “brothers” mother is a Mary, the wife of Clopas.

 

[susanj19]

Also, there seems to be much confusion about the all thedifferent James. Author of the Book of James is not either of the two James included in the 12 apostles. The two James apostles are James, the son of Zebedee/ brother of John, and James the Less. The author is this “brother of the Lord” James the Just who became a believer in his relative, JesusChrist, after Jesus died. He was not a believer earlier on as Jesus said, “Who is my mother and brothers?” And the “brothers said, ‘He must be mad’”.

The “brothers” can’t even be half-brothers, as some thought Joseph had a prior marriage and was widowed, because this Mary, the wife of Clopas or Cleophas, who is the mother of these 4 brothers, obviously had not died if she was standing by the cross along with the Virgin Mary and Mary of Magdala.

 

[Mea_Culpa]

Peter and John ran to the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning. Even though John arrived first, out of deference he waited for Peter and let him enter first. John 20:3-8

Also in John 21:15-19, Jesus tells Peter “Tend my sheep” and “Feed my sheep.” He only says this to Peter.

From the Ignatius Study Bible, on Peter in the Book of Acts:

1. Soon after Jesus ascended into heaven, it was Peter who initiated and oversaw the replacement of Judas Iscariot with another longtime disciple, Matthias, to complete the number of the Twelve (Acts 1:15-26)
2. When the Spirit rained down upon the apostles at Pentecost, it was Peter who delivered the inaugural sermon of Church history to the throngs in Jerusalem (Acts 2:14-36)
3. When the crowds accepted his testimony and wondered how to respond, it was Peter who urged them to repent and receive Baptism (Acts 2:37-41)
4. It was Peter who performed the first recorded healing in Church history (Acts 3:1-10)
5. When Peter and John were arrested and asked to account for their actions, it was Peter who addressed the Sanhedrin and gave powerful witness to the gospel (Acts 4:5-12)
6. It was Peter who handled the first recorded case of ecclesial discipline exercised in Church history (Acts 5:1-22)
7. When the gospel first spread beyond Judea into the neighboring region of Samaria, it was Peter who brought the Spirit to endorse this new missionary development (Actus 8:14-17)
8. When God arranged for the first Gentile conversions in Church history, he sent Peter to preach and administer Baptism (Acts 10:1-48)
9. Lastly and most importantly, when the first recorded council in Church history convened in Jerusalem, it was Peter who stood up to end the debate with a solemn proclamation of Christian doctrine (Acts 15:6-11)