Duff
Heitzman
wrote:
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Hi, guys —
In Matthew 16:18, it seems that this
rock refers to a third person noun. Jesus is
the first person noun of the verse, Peter is
the second person noun, and since this
rock is not capitalized, it does not
refer to Jesus or Peter. Who does
not appear to be an option here, so it must
be What.
- Could the answer be Peter's confession
of faith in verse 16?
The Roman Catholic Church has always interpreted
this verse to mean Peter is this rock.
This is the foundation of the
doctrine of Apostolic succession, which is
part of the fullness of the Faith.
- Would Jesus have built His Church on
a human being or on the confession of faith
of the human being?
If the latter is true, all Christian churches would
then have Apostolic succession based on
Peter's faith, not Peter, the first pope!
Duff
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{
Could Matthew 16:16-18 be interpreted as Peter's confession instead of Peter being the rock? }
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John
replied:
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Hi, Duff —
Thanks for the question.
The text is clear, no where in the text, be it in the English or the Greek,
does Jesus seem to be talking in
the third person. He specifically
gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom.
He gives them to no other person
in the Scriptures. Compare the text
in Matthew 16 with Isaiah 22:15-25 and you will see that Jesus is practically
quoting the passage.
Just as in Isaiah, where Eliakim
is given specific authority to act
as viceroy or prime minister, so
too, Jesus is doing the same with
Peter. Moreover, there are several
other texts and the weight of Tradition
that make this issue clear. Peter
was chief among the Apostles and
his successors share in his ministry.
Please search our data base of answers for further explanations.
John
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Duff
replied:
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John —
I agree, Jesus never speaks in the
third person but you have completely
missed my point.
Jesus is referring to a third person
noun, an impersonal noun (fifth grade
English class) when He says this
rock (uncapitalized). This
rock (small "r") is not
a person; it is a thing.
Plus He gives the command to bind
or loose to all the Apostles in Matthew
18:18. Finally, Peter never refers
to himself as head of the Apostles or
any other title other than:
Peter never considered himself:
- Pope
- Pontiff
- Vicar of Christ
- Holy Father, or
- Head of the whole Christian
Church
Duff
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John
replied:
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Duff,
I took three semesters of ancient
Greek. The entire New Testament was
written in upper case Greek and without
punctuation.
Yes, Christ gives all the Apostles
the authority to bind and loose.
Today that ministry continues in
the bishops of the Church which are
the successors of the Apostles, but keys were
only given to Peter. Further, when
Christ is speaking to Peter, the
form for the word you He
uses (I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of Heaven)
is singular. So Peter, was
given the authority to bind and loose with the keys. Hence we have this
particular Teaching Authority given
to him by Christ,
Our Lord.
Later, in Matthew
18, Jesus uses the plural for of you when
giving some of that authority to
the Apostles. (Truly, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth
. . . Matthew 18:18)
Of course, Peter called himself the
Servant. The primary title for the
Pope, which simply means "father",
is Servant of the Servants of God.
Now if you are here to lecture us,
save yourself the trouble; we are
not here to debate. If you want a
genuine dialogue and want to understand
what the Church teaches, then we'd
be happy to continue a dialogue.
Again, we are here to answer questions not get into debates.
God Bless,
John
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