Matthew 16:17 The first Pope

Anonymous asked this question on 8/27/2000:

I do not understand why Roman Catholics on the board keep giving false testimony on many issues. In Matthew 16:17 his correct name was used as Simon Bar-jo-na. In verse 18 the word "Peter" is actually "Petros" which means stone. The next word "rock" is actually "Petra" which means very large rock. This is in no way trying to state that Jesus appointed Peter as THE leader to his church. If anyone has any knowledge of what the ROCK is then they will know that it is God, the Father of Jesus, he was talking about. This was a sound theme throughout the OT and the NT.

Now if anyone wants a little more proof, keep reading down to verse 23 when he says to Peter: GET BEHIND ME, SATAN... Now does this sound like language that our Lord would be using to the person who he so-called made the leader of his church. I think it is very clear!

Now, for my question...Why do the Roman Catholics keep spreading this propaganda among the common people? It has been refuted for many, many years. Do they not understand the strict warnings of Jesus on this subject?

This question is open for all to answer if the plain English of the Bible can be refuted.

mscperu gave this response on 8/27/2000:

Greetings.

I see you are back and even using expressions in your follow-up remark that you have read recently in an experts' answers. Go on reading you will find true faith.

It has ever been like that. You have to copy in order to have material and then you use it as putty in your hands to give it an other form don't you? I can give you instances of it in the NT. But I better send them privately because it might embarrass you.

The answer why we go on teaching the true interpretation because it's God's will and we are bound to Christ's teaching in the Bible!

And:

Why do I answer your question knowing by your follow-up and rating that you�re not interested in the answer. Others will read it brother and get an earful of real Bible interpretation. So here it goes. It's from an very scientific book. Do you like science?

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18. you are Peter: Jesus then gives Simon bar-Jona a new name and a commission, which is set forth in the most vigorously, discussed passage of the Gospel. (For a full discussion see O. Cullmann, Peter [rev. ed.; London, 1962]; O. Karrer, Peter and the Church [QD 8; N.Y., 1963].)

Simon gets the name by which he is usually known in the NT; and those who doubt that Jesus spoke these words forget that the NT has no other passage in which the change of name is explained. ...

"Peter" comes from the Gk petros, the masculinized form of the fem. noun petra, "rock," which represents the Aram ke�pha�, The Aram name occurs once in the Grecized form Ke�phas in Jn 1:43; 1 Cor 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Gal 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14; Paul uses Petros only in Gal 2:7,

8. upon this rock: That Peter is the rock upon which the ekkle�sia is to be built is clear; but in what sense he is the foundation is not. The word ekkle�sia is used only here and 18:17 in all the Gospels...

Whether Jesus used the word has nothing to do with whether the primitive community understood him correctly when they believed that he intended to form an enduring community. (Tradition, brother!)

In the context the reason why Peter is called the rock is the faith that he has just shown in his confession. He has made vocal the faith of the disciples; and it is upon faith in Jesus as the Messiah that the group Jesus has formed will endure. (Uninterrupted Tradition guided by the Spirit of Christ!)

Peter is the speaker and the example of this faith. As long as this faith endures, "the gates of Sheol" will not have power over the group. gates of hell: The common translation is misleading; the phrase means not the powers of evil but the power of death; for Sheol is the biblical abode of the dead.

115 19. the keys of the kingdom: The conferring of the keys is a clear statement of a position of leadership and authority. The phrase echoes Is 22:22, in which Eliakim receives the keys of the royal palace. The key was the symbol of the office of master of the palace, the highest of the officers of the Israelite court; and Peter is thus declared master of the palace in the ekkle�sia.

The phrase "kingdom of heaven" is used here not in its usual sense of reign, but of the community established by the reign, practically synonymous with ekkle�sia.

whatever you bind�you loose: The meaning of the office conferred is further specified in the conferring of the power to bind and loose. This phrase is obscure; it has no background in biblical language, and in rabbinical Judaism it signifies rabbinical decisions; to bind is to give a decision that imposes an obligation, and to loose is to give a decision that removes an obligation.

If this is the sense in which the phrase is used, it does not mean that Peter becomes chief rabbi in the Church; for his decisions are accepted in heaven. The same phrase is used of the Church as a whole in 18:18; there it refers to expulsion from the Church.

The phrase certainly signifies the exercise of authority; but the nature and use of the authority are not specified.

That Peter had a special position in the early Church is clear from other passages in the NT; see Lk 22:31-32; Jn 21:15-19; Acts 1-12.

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Scripture. You have your work cut out if you want to rebut every text cited.

If you go on having trouble with the Pope than I will offer you the passage of John.

Again:

The answer why we go on teaching the above because it's God's will and we are bound to Christ's teaching in the Bible!

vale

mscperu