I know you non-Catholics have a bad time with this and you try to twist Jesus's words, but you can't. Your preachers try very hard to convince you, but........
Jesus ASCENDED into heaven.....SOMEONE HAD TO BE THE HEAD CHEESE HEre on EARTH TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL!!!!
Really, now,if you would take 2 quiet seconds to reflect on this, you would accept this.
Hello, even GM's CEO PICKS his REPLACEMENT TO CARRY ON THE BUSINESS........geesh.
Why?
even GM's CEO PICKS his REPLACEMENT TO CARRY ON THE BUSINESS....
Peter replaced Christ?
Isaiah 44:8, "Is there any God besides Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none."
I would suggest that you cannot definitively prove that Christ was talking about Peter in that verse. The verse states:
But even if Peter is referred to as a rock (actually "pebble") you don't WHICH rock Christ was referring to. There are other verses which refer to Christ as the rock including one by Peter:
1Co_10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
1Pe_2:8 and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
Isa_51:1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Isa_30:29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
Isa_17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
Isa_8:14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Psa_144:1 Of David. Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
Psa_89:26 He shall cry to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.'
Psa_92:15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Psa_94:22 But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
Psa_95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
and others...
The Early Church Fathers believed Christ was the Rock (and his disciples in the church):
"Christ is the Rock, 'For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ,' and He did not refuse to bestow the favour of this title even upon His disciple, so that he, too, might be Peter [or, Rock], in that he has from the Rock a solid constancy, a firm faith." (Expos. in Luc.)-Ambrose
"Let no one then foolishly suppose that the Christ is any other than the only begotten Son. Let us not imagine ourselves wiser than the gift of the Spirit. Let us hear the words of the great Peter, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Let us hear the Lord Christ confirming this confession, for 'On this rock,' He says, 'I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.' Wherefore too the wise Paul, most excellent master builder of the churches, fixed no other foundation than this. 'I,' he says, 'as a wise master builder have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' How then can they think of any other foundation, when they are bidden not to fix a foundation, but to build on that which is laid? The divine writer recognises Christ as the foundation, and glories in this title..." Theodoret Bishop of Cyr [Cyrus] (396-466)
"And this is the rock of confession whereon the Church is built. But the perceptive faculties of flesh and blood cannot attain to the recognition and confession of this truth. It is a mystery, Divinely revealed, that Christ must be not only named, but believed, the Son of God. This faith it is which is the foundation of the Church; through this faith the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. This is the faith which has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever this faith shall have loosed or bound on earth shall be loosed or bound in heaven. (...) The very reason why he is blessed is that he confessed the Son of God. This is the Father's revelation, this the foundation of the Church, this the assurance of her permanence. Hence has she the keys of the kingdom of heaven, hence judgment in heaven and judgment on earth." Hilary of Poitiers (ca. 315-367/368)
"The one foundation which the apostolic architect laid is our Lord Jesus Christ. Upon this stable and firm foundation, which has itself been laid on solid ground, the Church of Christ is built...For the Church was founded upon a rock...upon this rock the Lord established his Church; and the apostle Peter received his name from this rock (Mt. 16.18)." Jerome (ca. 347-419)
Jesus said that Peter was *petros*(masculine) and that on this *petra*(feminine) He would build His church.
Greek: 4074 Pétros (a masculine noun) properly, a stone (pebble), such as a small rock found along a pathway. 4074 /Pétros ("small stone") then stands in contrast to 4073 /pétra ("cliff, boulder," Abbott-Smith).
"4074 (Pétros) is an isolated rock and 4073 (pétra) is a cliff" (TDNT, 3, 100). "4074 (Pétros) always means a stone . . . such as a man may throw, . . . versus 4073 (pétra), a projecting rock, cliff" (S. Zodhiates, Dict).
4073 pétra (a feminine noun) "a mass of connected rock," which is distinct from 4074 (Pétros) which is "a detached stone or boulder" (A-S). 4073 (pétra) is a "solid or native rock, rising up through the earth" (Souter) a huge mass of rock (a boulder), such as a projecting cliff.
4073 (petra) is "a projecting rock, cliff (feminine noun) . . . 4074 (petros, the masculine form) however is a stone . . . such as a man might throw" (S. Zodhiates, Dict).
It's also a strange way to word the sentence that He would call Peter a rock and say that on this I will build my church instead of *on you* as would be grammatically correct in talking to a person.
There is no support from the original Greek for the idea that Jesus meant Peter to be that which He was going to build His church on.
No, nobody have to be the *head cheese* to spread the gospel. That is the responsibility of EVERY believer, not just a select few.
Jesus is the head of His church.
Ephesians 5:23-24 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Jesus gave us the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to carry out His directive and to guide us into all truth.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Power = dynamin
Definition: (a) physical power, force, might, ability, efficacy, energy, meaning (b) plur: powerful deeds, deeds showing (physical) power, marvelous works.
1411 dýnamis (from 1410 /dýnamai, "able, having ability") properly, "ability to perform" (L-N); for the believer, power to achieve by applying the Lord's inherent abilities. "Power through God's ability" (1411 /dýnamis) is needed in every scene of life to really grow in sanctification and prepare for heaven (glorification). 1411 (dýnamis) is a very important term, used 120 times in the NT.
Not really. The Bible CLEARLY indicates that SIMON was ALREADY known as Peter before Jesus mentioned it.
You might want to learn a bit more about what you've so boldly stated...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEO_succession