Qestion about Matthew 16:18 from a new member

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english_matt

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Dear all.
This is my first question here, so please be gentle.
I’ve just been reading the ‘Peter The Rock’ article in the library here at catholic.com and have a question about Matthew 16:18.
Could that passage be phrased as Jesus saying to Peter -
‘Peter, I am giving you the task of continuing to establish My church’?
Sorry if this topic has been brought up times before, but I’ve been trying to understand this important verse.
All comments appreciated.

Matt
 
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english_matt:
Dear all.
This is my first question here, so please be gentle.
I’ve just been reading the ‘Peter The Rock’ article in the library here at catholic.com and have a question about Matthew 16:18.
Could that passage be phrased as Jesus saying to Peter -
‘Peter, I am giving you the task of continuing to establish My church’?
Sorry if this topic has been brought up times before, but I’ve been trying to understand this important verse.
All comments appreciated.

Matt
Click to expand...
It could be paraphrased as “Peter, through you I will build My Church, you will be My mouth piece , My hands and feet for all time, until the end”.
 
I take it as, “Peter, my loving and loyal servant, I choose you to start my Church…You and the Apostles will spread the word of the Gospels…There will be apostasy…whereas, there will be people, i.e. groups of people who claim to be the one true Church…yet you hold the keys to the one true Church and neither Satan or these apostasy heretics will prevail against you. You are my messenger and in you I trust completely.”
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english_matt:
Dear all.
This is my first question here, so please be gentle.
I’ve just been reading the ‘Peter The Rock’ article in the library here at catholic.com and have a question about Matthew 16:18.
Could that passage be phrased as Jesus saying to Peter -
‘Peter, I am giving you the task of continuing to establish My church’?
Sorry if this topic has been brought up times before, but I’ve been trying to understand this important verse.
All comments appreciated.

Matt
Click to expand...
 
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english_matt:
Dear all.
Matthew 16:18.
Could that passage be phrased as Jesus saying to Peter -
‘Peter, I am giving you the task of continuing to establish My church’?All comments appreciated.
Matt
Click to expand...
Probably not. Establish is a terminal verb. Just like born. One does not continue to establish any more than one continues to be born. One may advance the establised fact, or rule over it. That is the meaning

This verse is only of great meaning when all the other supporting verses are placed with it.
I’ll call this the preponderence of evidence.
Take a slow thoughtful read of John 21
See also:
cathinsight.com/apologetics/rock.htm
cathinsight.com/apologetics/adventism/peter.htm

God Bless
 
Jesus Gave him the name, Sephus? Which in greek or Aramaik means, Rock and translates to Peter? He said on this Rock, I will build my church and the Catholic church uses the history of sucsession as the bases of its Papal Authorty. Which the recognition of is not conditional of membership But it offers the tradition of successively passing on the installation of its members and clergy as the bases of its teachings the oral and written tradition and rites of the Roman Catholic church. Which is the Church that Jesus intentionaly started 2000 years ago.
 
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english_matt:
Dear all.
This is my first question here, so please be gentle.
I’ve just been reading the ‘Peter The Rock’ article in the library here at catholic.com and have a question about Matthew 16:18.
Could that passage be phrased as Jesus saying to Peter -
‘Peter, I am giving you the task of continuing to establish My church’?
Sorry if this topic has been brought up times before, but I’ve been trying to understand this important verse.
All comments appreciated.

Matt
Click to expand...
It does not mean that Peter is going to finish the task of building the Church, so that the finished Church will no longer need Peter. Jesus makes this clear by involving the language of the keys of the kindom. Just look back to the old testament book of Isaiah, chapter 22 (I think it’s in verse 22 or so) to see how the Jews would understand such an image.

The keys of the kingdom are a visible sign of the authority of rulership granted by the king (in Isaiah’s time this was the Davidic king, in our times this is Christ) to his prime minister (not a title the Jews would use I don’t think, but accurate enough).

So we see that Jesus is not handing authority to Peter to finish a task. He is setting Peter up in an office of authority. And an office is meant not for just one individual, but is meant to be perpetuated as part of the essential structure of an organization (in this case God’s kingdom on earth – the Church). This is why those other bishops of Rome (the place Peter died) accept this same office that we today call pope.
 
Hi Matt!

Thanks for your good question!

This passage ties in w/many other to get it all in the full context of the NT. Other verses that you should see that will help are:

Mt 10:2 (Note: In every list of the Apostles Peter is ALWAYS named first. The head dude always was back then and still is pretty much today. Think of corporate letterheads…)

Luke 22:31-32

Mt 16:19 These keys to the kingdom are critical. In the OT when a king gave those keys to any man that meant that from then on that man spoke with the same authority as the king.

John 21:15-17 Look at what Jesus tells Peter here.

1st Cor 1:12 Note that even St, Paul calls Peter “Rock”

1st Cor 3:11 Jesus made Peter the foundation of HIs church.

1st Cor 15:4-5 Christ appeared first to Peter to show his importance among the apostles.

Galatians 1:18 Paul says he went up to Jerusalem to confer w/Kephas so St. Paul is calling him “Rock”

These passages from Acts of the Apostles show Peter acting w/in his authority:

1:15
2:14
2:41
3:7
5:4 & 5
9:40
15:7 & 19-20

All of this is from a great little book called "What Does Scripture Say? by Tom Balboa (A GREAT guy!!!) and Joseph C. Bonadiman and available from The Catholic Society of Evangelists
saint-mike.org/cse/default.asp
 
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english_matt:
Dear all.
This is my first question here, so please be gentle.
I’ve just been reading the ‘Peter The Rock’ article in the library here at catholic.com and have a question about Matthew 16:18.
Could that passage be phrased as Jesus saying to Peter -
‘Peter, I am giving you the task of continuing to establish My church’?
Sorry if this topic has been brought up times before, but I’ve been trying to understand this important verse.
All comments appreciated.

Matt
Click to expand...

Can you unpack your question a bit more ?​

If you mean - among other things - can a mere human being get the Church “up and running” from day one, the answer is, “no”; the Church has to be invented, thought up, brought into existence by, God Himself: to found the Church, is an act of creation, an act only God can perform.

That said, once it has been brought into existence, it can be continued by men, sustained, fed, shepherded by men; but never ever begun by man. Men can only do those things - Peter can only do these things - because they are - and so, he is - constantly upheld by Christ the “Great Shepherd of the Sheep”. St Paul could only plant churches on his missionary journeys, because he was acting by a greater and more creative and life-giving power than his.

I hope that helps 🙂

To unpack that verse, would need a whole book - it is very rich in meaning 🙂 - but, there is a 5000-word limit on posting. 🙂 ##
 
Thanks for your replies. They were helpful.
I guess I should avoid taking one line out of context.

Matt
 
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