"Upon These Thousands of Pebbles I Will Build My Churches"

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Are you telling me that Jesus is saying the rock is Peter in the parable of the builder? The context is clear that Jesus Christ is the rock, even Peter himself understood this by evidence in his Epistle.
I’m not talking about the parable of the builder. Stay on topic.
You all can ignore the overwhelming context that shows Christ as the rock if you want, but the Word of God is clear on the subject.
Ignoring verses you don’t like, and then taking others out of context isn’t very convincing. How do you explain the passage we’ve been talking about all along?
 
I’m not talking about the parable of the builder. Stay on topic.

Ignoring verses you don’t like, and then taking others out of context isn’t very convincing. How do you explain the passage we’ve been talking about all along?
The passages I quoted is obvious context to the the confession Peter made, and the statement Jesus made about the Rock. Peter later confirms his understanding of Jesus being the Rock. Paul knows this as well. And Jesus re-illustrates Him being the rock in the parable of the builder.
 
We are one Body in Christ.
No matter what denom, we are one Body. All that is left is to reconcile our differences! 🙂 Anything is possible with God.
Reconciling our differences would be to come together in the ONE, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that Christ built on Peter the Rock.

There is only ONE Church, not thousands and thousands of different churches as there are many different denominations. Satan loves that Protestants are all scattered. Satan also loves that there are some Catholics who refuse to obey EVERYTHING that the Catholic Church teaches. Catholics don’t have to agree at first as long as you do obey. After that you can do research to see why the Catholic Church teaches certain things you don’t agree with.
 
He was a perfect example of faith at that time. hug Didn’t read all of what I said, did you? Jesus was using Peter as an example. It’s very important to look at what was said right before Jesus made that proclamation. Taking a verse out of context is very easy to do.
Yuo also have to understand that immediately after he makes the “Rock” statement, he then goes on to say he will give peter “the keys to the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”. In other words he knows he will be leaving soon(as he says so immediately after wards) and leaves the power to proclaim the gospel and forgive sin with, specifically Peter. He was very clearly setting up a church on earth with Peter as it’s spiritual guide. To say it is not so is to fly in the face of what scripture actually says.

You can look to other verses of the bible for evidence to back up your opinion but they are not referring to the specific topic at all so are not in fact valid arguments, they are referring to Jesus being the theological cement for the Church, which of cause no one will argue about, he certainly was. But this passage is talking about the leadership of the flock when Jesus is gone to heaven. They are two different rocks, the theological holy rock upon which the church draws it’s spiritual strength and the current living leadership which must be as a rock in it’s faith.

Even so in the grammatical sense why the heck would Jesus say “you are rock” to peter and then be suddenly talking about himself? why does the bible not say “and then Jesus pointed to himself and said ‘on this rock’”? That simply does not make sense at all. Why choose to read it metaphorically like that when it grammatically is NOT the right interpretation?

Because It is PETER he is bestowing the leadership role on because Jesus knows he will not be around much longer and needs a rock on earth to guide his sheep.
 
Yuo also have to understand that immediately after he makes the “Rock” statement, he then goes on to say he will give peter “the keys to the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”. In other words he knows he will be leaving soon(as he says so immediately after wards) and leaves the power to proclaim the gospel and forgive sin with, specifically Peter. He was very clearly setting up a church on earth with Peter as it’s spiritual guide. To say it is not so is to fly in the face of what scripture actually says.

You can look to other verses of the bible for evidence to back up your opinion but they are not referring to the specific topic at all so are not in fact valid arguments, they are referring to Jesus being the theological cement for the Church, which of cause no one will argue about, he certainly was. But this passage is talking about the leadership of the flock when Jesus is gone to heaven. They are two different rocks, the theological holy rock upon which the church draws it’s spiritual strength and the current living leadership which must be as a rock in it’s faith.

Even so in the grammatical sense why the heck would Jesus say “you are rock” to peter and then be suddenly talking about himself? why does the bible not say “and then Jesus pointed to himself and said ‘on this rock’”? That simply does not make sense at all. Why choose to read it metaphorically like that when it grammatically is NOT the right interpretation?

Because It is PETER he is bestowing the leadership role on because Jesus knows he will not be around much longer and needs a rock on earth to guide his sheep.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I do not agree with your line of reasoning here. Peter exemplified the faith that Christ wished to birng to our attention. I absolutely do not believe that the Catholic Church is the one true church. The Body of Christ, made up of all Christians, as the Scriptures say, is.

As of today, I have dropped out of RCIA. Mainly due to the words of Catholics on this forum. I don’t know where that leaves me, but as always, when God shows me Truth, I have to make the right decision instead of the easy one.

The message I heard in church was vastly different from the message I heard here. In church, we learned about our Lord and Savior, Christ…here, we learn about somewhat else. The focus is almost entirely off of Christ and on men, on their rules, and on things superficial to the salvational message of God.

No matter what church I attend, I belong to the one true church–Christ. Of which all Christians are members. 🙂
 
The passages I quoted is obvious context to the the confession Peter made, and the statement Jesus made about the Rock. Peter later confirms his understanding of Jesus being the Rock. Paul knows this as well. And Jesus re-illustrates Him being the rock in the parable of the builder.
“You (Peter) are ROCK and on this ROCK I shall build my church.”

So again, do you have ANY way to explain why Jesus would say this? Ignoring the verse will not make it go away.
 
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I do not agree with your line of reasoning here.
Peter Kreeft put it best:
Arguments are like eyes: they see reality. The arguments in this book demonstrate that the essential Christian doctrines are true, unless they are bad arguments; that is, ambiguous, false or fallacious. To disagree with the conclusion of any argument, it must be shown that either an ambiguous term or false premise or a logical fallacy exists in that argument.
Otherwise, to say “I still disagree” is to say “You have proved your conclusion true, but I am so stubborn and foolish that I will not accept this truth. I insist on living in a false world, not the true one."
(Handbook of Christian Apologetics, p.18)
 
Dear IanS,
Salvation is an individual experience, while the corporate body of the Church is a place where people of like minded faith gather for fellowship. Jesus said, “Where one or more are gatehred in My name, I am in the midst of them”. He gave us the gospel, and His love, and commandments to guide us. Protestants beleive a teaching is true because of what is said, not who says it.
Are you saying you joined your church to fellowship with one another, what happened to worship? Was that a typo, or did you reveal something about your faith?

Also the “Corporate Body of the Church”, what’s that?
 
No matter what church I attend, I belong to the one true church–Christ. Of which all Christians are members. 🙂
The lost sheep is no less “lost” from his shepherd by virtue of just being a sheep.
 
The word “heretic” elicits a very strong negative emotional response from me.
Mozart, you are absolutely right, and those of us that use that term on you should be ashamed. Church teaching on your situation is clear! I know it’s hard for you to do, but you must ignore them and forgive them they know not what they are doing!
It is just that from where I sit, Catholicism has been giving me very mixed messages on what exactly I am. All I know I am somewhere on this continuum.
Two points, Catholicism is not doing that to you, but some Catholics surely have, and are not helpful in your journey to the “Truth”. But remember every group of humans has its small Knucklehead Club, including the vast array of protestant churches too.

May God be with you on your journey and may His grace soften the impact from the potholes you find in the road to Truth.
 
The message I heard in church was vastly different from the message I heard here. In church, we learned about our Lord and Savior, Christ…here, we learn about somewhat else. The focus is almost entirely off of Christ and on men, on their rules, and on things superficial to the salvational message of God.

No matter what church I attend, I belong to the one true church–Christ. Of which all Christians are members. 🙂
How is this an argument on men? we are talking about a teaching of Jesus, not “men and their rules”, but Jesus and his rules…

How is it superficial to argue over the holy scriptural authority of the Catholic Church?
 
Peter Kreeft put it best:

Oh, my. I really wish you didn’t feel that I was being stubborn and foolish. I feel that you are being stubborn, but foolish? No. May God’s blessings be with you. hug
 
“You (Peter) are ROCK and on this ROCK I shall build my church.”

So again, do you have ANY way to explain why Jesus would say this? Ignoring the verse will not make it go away.
You are Petros, and on this Petras I shall build my church were the terms used in the original writing. Very similar to Jesus saying He will build this temple in 3 days. He meant Himself.

**
John 2:18-20

18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

**

I have showed Peter understood this meant the church would be built on Jesus. Since they all knew the Messiah would reign forever.

Nonetheless, if you insist on this meaning Peter, Jesus did not say, that you are Rock and on the Office of this Rock I will build my church.
 
This is one of the most unscriptural doctrines taught among Christians today. Scripture teaches exactly the opposite over and over again. To maintain your opinion, you have to ignore or explain away the entire Epistle to the Ephesians for starters. Ephesians does not speak of an individual experience but rather of God restoring all creation through Christ, and through the Church which is Christ’s Body and the fullness of the one who fills all things.

Individual salvation is not Christian salvation. It’s sheer Gnosticism.

Edwin
Why do you say this?

Isn’t the decision to put one’s faith in Christ an individual decision? And isn’t it true that just because I am a member in good standing in a local assembly, it does not necessarily mean that I have put my faith in Christ?

The command of Peter to “repent and be baptized” in Acts 2:38…was to each of you. 3000 individuals repented, were baptized, and were added to the church. Peter did not make the command to join this church that Christ was building. By repenting and being baptized, they by default were joining this church.
 
You are Petros, and on this Petras I shall build my church were the terms used in the original writing.
I don’t know how may times we have to point out, the original Gospel written by Matthew was in Aramaic, not Greek! It was later translated into Greek by someone else! You are wanting to mince “words” and are missing the “WORD”, who warned against this “gnat straining”!
 
I don’t know how may times we have to point out, the original Gospel written by Matthew was in Aramaic, not Greek! It was later translated into Greek by someone else! You are wanting to mince “words” and are missing the “WORD”, who warned against this “gnat straining”!
Then why did the Greek writer interpret it that way. Nonetheless, the context shows otherwise, based on other scripture I have cited, including Peter calling Jesus the rock. Paul calling Jesus the rock, the parable of the builder, building His house on Rock, the foundation being Christ, Old Testement verses.

**

1 Peter 2

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

**

Is Peter only talking to Priests in this verse? He says we are all rocks, built on Christ, not him. Why didn’t he say build your rocks on the church. Why don’t you agree with Jesus, Peter, Paul, and Scripture writers who clearly tell you Jesus is the Rock.

How do you explain these other verses that are in context.
 
Why do you say this?

Isn’t the decision to put one’s faith in Christ an individual decision?
Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. But in the first place, my decision is not what saves me–God’s grace saves me. And in the second place, that grace–which I must decide to accept, sure enough, but that isn’t really the most important factor–brings me into the Body of Christ.
And isn’t it true that just because I am a member in good standing in a local assembly, it does not necessarily mean that I have put my faith in Christ?
Sure. Hypocrisy is always a possibility. But on the other hand, just because you haven’t passed through some moment of decision doesn’t mean that you haven’t put your faith in Christ. And the fact that you have so decided doesn’t make you a Christian. If the Christ in whom you have put your faith is a Christ you have made up for yourself, then your faith isn’t Christian faith.

A person who has grown up in a Christian home and a Christian society and has never thought to make a decision about the matter can still be a person of profound, vibrant faith. And a person who has gone to the altar and wrestled with God can wind up believing in a God who is a reflection of the believer’s own inflated ego.

You are putting the emphasis on our decision, rather than on the One of whose gracious calling our decision is only the echo.
The command of Peter to “repent and be baptized” in Acts 2:38…was to each of you.
Actually, in Greek the command to “repent” is in the plural and “each of you” is clearly the subject of “to be baptized” not “repent.” I’m not sure how important this is.
3000 individuals repented, were baptized, and were added to the church.
But if you look at the entire passage it’s clear that Peter is not speaking to them as a collection of individuals but as representatives of Israel. In v. 39: “For the promise is to you and to your children and to all those who are far off, whomever Yahweh our God may call.” As throughout the Bible, the Gospel is presented as God’s gracious election of human beings (and no, I’m not a Calvinist) which incorporates them into His People. True, human beings have to respond to this call. I’m not disputing that. I’m saying that the dominant Scriptural way of speaking is of incorporation into the People of God and (in the NT) the Body of Christ. That’s the primary theme in Scripture–not how an individual is to be saved, but how God is reconciling broken creation to Himself through the calling of a people in Jesus Christ. Individual salvation is part of the picture, of course. But that is not, first and foremost, what salvation is.
Peter did not make the command to join this church that Christ was building.
What is the promise he offers them in v. 39? Surely the same promise he cites from Joel in vv. 17-21–the promise of being part of the redeemed people of God, the true Israel who will be saved in the Day of the Lord. The entire book of Joel is speaking of the judgment and salvation of Israel.
By repenting and being baptized, they by default were joining this church.
No disagreement there.

I’m not denying the importance of personal choice. Even a person brought up in the faith has to choose every instant to remain in it. But the word “individual” often implies isolation from a community, and that’s clearly what servus was saying. Please do not take my remark out of context of the post to which I was replying. Servus was saying in effect that Ian’s challenge was irrelevant because salvation and the church were unrelated–salvation is individual, and the church is merely a place where like-minded people gather.

Don’t take my word for it–he really said this in post #7. Go back and read it. That is what I’m describing as Gnosticism–not the assertion that personal experience is important, but the assertion that it has nothing to do with being incorporated into the Church, which is merely the collection of people who have undergone individual experiences.

I see no such thing in Acts 2. The entire logic of the narrative points away from individualism–Pentecost is the undoing of Babel, the gathering together of the peoples who had been dispersed by sin.

In Christ,

Edwin
 
I don’t know how may times we have to point out, the original Gospel written by Matthew was in Aramaic, not Greek! It was later translated into Greek by someone else!
First of all, there is no consensus on this point. It’s true that many early Christians said that the original Gospel of Matthew was in “Hebrew” (i.e., Aramaic), and this may well be true. But we can’t be sure just what this Gospel entailed. It may simply have been one of the documents on which the Greek author drew.

More to the point, the Holy Spirit chose to give us the Greek Gospel, not the Aramaic version (if such a thing ever existed). Your argument is an oddly Protestant–even liberal Protestant–one. You are going back behind the version inspired by the Holy Spirit and behind the version the Church approved to a hypothetical Aramaic original. This is a very shaky kind of argument.

The irony is that the Petros/Petra point doesn’t blunt the Catholic argument that much. Clearly the point of the play on words is the similarity between petros and petra, not the difference. The whole linguistic argument is pointless IMHO.

Edwin
 
Then why did the Greek writer interpret it that way.
The Greek was a translator, not a writer. It is believed the translator was trying to be nice and not tag Peter with a femine sounding name in the Greek for Cepha. The Holy Spirit protects the “Message” of scripture but not each and every word in scripture. Heck, I read recently that since its writing/translating there have already been over 200 corrections made to the KJV alone.
How do you explain these other verses that are in context.
Mannyfit75 did that very well in another post which I believe was the Matthew 16: Thread, I think #24:

"The Easton’s bible dictionary (Protestant) tells us “Jesus at once recognized Simon, and declared that hereafter he would be called Cephas, an Aramaic name corresponding to the Greek Petros, which means ‘a mass of rock’ …It is he who utters that notable profession of faith at Capernaum (John 6:66-69), and again at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-20). This profession at Caesarea was one of supreme importance, and our Lord in response used these memorable words: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”

2)The Pocket Bible Dictionary ©1996 (Protestant) says “Peter (Rock), Syriac, CEPHAS (Rock)… His original name was Simon or Simeon but when he was called to the apostleship the Lord gave him the name Peter (CEPHAS) Matthew.16:18, with a prophetic reference to what he should do and be for the church.”

3)The Bible Encyclopedia ©1941(Protestant) tells us, note that Christ did not speak to the disciples in Greek. He spoke Aramaic, the common language of Palestine at that time. In that language the word for rock is Cepha, which is what Jesus called him in every-day speech (note that in John 1:42 he was told, “You will be called Cephas”). What Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 was thus: “You are Cepha, and upon this Cepha I will build my Church.”

4)The Bible Cyclopedia, 1914 (Protestant) says"Peter. Of Bethsaida on the sea of Galilee. The Gr. For Heb. Cephas, “rock.”… As “Simon” he was but a hearer; as Peter or Cephas he became an apostle and the foundation rock of the Church. (Matt. 16:18-19)"

5)The Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible (Protestant), ©1962, Vol. II, p. 1815 says"The Aramaic word for ‘rock’ is Cepha, and this is without a doubt the word that Jesus used in reference to Peter. In the early Aramaic-speaking Church P. (Peter) was not doubt called ‘Cephas.’…Abundant evidence in the New Testament shows that Peter acted as the head of the apostles during the earthly life of Christ as well as after Christ’s ascension into Heaven;" …He is the first to publicly profess his faith in Christ, and on this occasion, at Caesarea Philippi, Christ promises him the primacy in His Church (Mt 16:16-19), a promise fulfilled after Christ’s resurrection when Peter makes a threefold protestation of his undying love for Him (Jn 21,15ff), to atone for his three-fold denial of Him (Mt 26:69-75)."

“Where the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” -St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans (107-110 AD)

Emmanuel
US Army"

Pax Vobiscum
 
Protestants:

Do you think it matters whether or not you go to church, or is it okay to just accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior in private?

If it is important to be involved in a church, does it matter which one you go to?

If it does matter, how do you know you are going to the right one?

If it doesn’t matter, how do you explain why so many Protestant churches teach so many different doctrines that contradict one another when God cannot contradict Himself? Yet they all claim to be teaching what Christ really intended.

Not trying to start an argument, just curious.🙂
I feel it is very important to go to church.I feel it doesn’t matter what church you go to, as long as the church you choose follows God and His word. They are all follow God and His word and if they do not, they shouldn’t be called a christian church.
 
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