elvisman
**I see you have listed what you may call proof of Peter’s primacy over the rest of the apostles but I believe we should consult Scripture to see what the truth is.
We must go to the Scriptures to show that this is a false claim. There was no supremacy given to Peter or any of the other apostles, on the contrary,** it was made quite clear that they were all equal in stature. **** It is true Peter was the first apostle, could be called the “chief” apostle and some might say the “greatest” but in terms of authority,
he was equal in every respect to the others and they all knew it. Peter did as well. That’s why nothing appears in Scripture that places anything special upon Peter.
Christ expressly prohibited lordship among the apostles; that no apostle should have any supremacy over the rest. Read Luke 22, 25. This was the very question that was being disputed among the apostles when Christ spoke of His passion. They wanted to know who would be their head and **Christ removed their error and taught that there shall not be lordship or superiority among them, but that they should be sent forth as equals to the common ministry of the Gospel. ** His disapproval is very obvious here as holds these matters against one another.
In Matthew 18:2, the same message is taught by the parable, when Christ, in the same dispute concerning the kingdom, places a little child in the midst,
signifying that among ministers there is not to be sovereignty, just as a child neither takes or seeks sovereignty for himself. How strange that the very thing the RCC has done is violate this teaching and principle of Christ.
John 20:21-23.
“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22) And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23)
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
Here Christ sends forth His disciples on an equality, without any distinction so that no one of them was to have more or less power than any other. When He says,* “As my Father hath sent Me, even so I send you.”* Nothing can be plainer than these words. It takes a great deal of deception to completely ignore them, but then if you don’t study the Scriptures, you won’t know they are there.
Notice that He grants to no one a prerogative or lordship above the rest. Also he gives them full power as the RCC claims was given only to Peter.
In Galatians 2:7, we find that
Paul is manifestly affirming that he was neither ordained nor confirmed, or endorsed, by Peter, nor does he acknowledge Peter to be one from whom confirmation should be sought. He expressly contends on this point that his call does not depend
upon the authority of Peter. But surely he would have acknowledged Peter as a superior if Peter was superior by divine right, i.e., if he had indeed received such supremacy from Christ. Paul also states that he had** at once preached the Gospel freely for a long time without consulting Peter.**
“Of those who seemed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man’s person). And: “they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.”
B]Paul teaches that the authority of the ministry depends upon the Word of God, and that Peter was not superior to the other apostles, and it was not from this one individual Peter that ordination or confirmation was to be sought. The office of the ministry proceeds from the general call of the apostles.
In the following verses,
Paul makes ministers equal, and teaches that the Church is above the ministers, therefore superiority or lordship over the Church or the rest of the ministers is not ascribed to Peter in preference to the other apostles.
1Cor 3:5 “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7) So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
Further on in 1 Cor 3, Paul says, **“All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," **i.e., let neither the other ministers nor Peter assume for themselves lordship or superiority over the Church; **let them not burden the Church with traditions; **
let not the authority of any avail more than the Word of God; let not the authority of Cephas be opposed to the authority of the other apostles, as they reasoned at that time: “
I will also show historically that the early church did not recognize any special authority of any one church. But space will not allow it here. In a later post.
Who is doing that? 