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To: bondserv
Matthew 16:13-20
13.  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
 14.  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
 15.  "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
 16.  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,  the Son of the living God."
 17.  Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
 18.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades  will not overcome it.
 19.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be  bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
 20.  Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
 
In this episode, Jesus is talking to ALL of His disciples, but good ol' Peter rushes to give the answer that Christ had asked ALLof them.
The question is whether, in verse 19, the 'you' is a singular - directed to Peter only, or a plurality - direced to them all.
 
In light of past experience*, it seems to me that ALL is a better fit to the question. 
 
*Matthew 10
 1.  He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil  spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
 2.  These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
 3.  Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
 4.  Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
 5.  These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.
 6.  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
 7.  As you go, preach this message: `The kingdom of heaven is near.'
 8.  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,  drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

53 posted on 02/27/2004 7:44:07 PM PST by Elsie (When the avalanche starts... it's too late for the pebbles to vote....)
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To: Elsie
Peter was blessed to be the man that the Father chose to reveal this remarkable truth to, just as Mary was blessed to be the woman the Father chose to birth the savior of the universe.

I do give Mary credit for being a faithful handmaiden to God who maintained her virginity so that she was eligible to be chosen, as I give credit to Peter for laying aside his fishing lifestyle to follow Jesus. Without these two acts of obedience neither would have been eligible to be blessed as they were.

Not being a Calvinist, I thought it prudent to point these two significant details out. God giving us a new nature makes us no longer slaves to sin, and helps us to be motivated to repentance by His love.
54 posted on 02/27/2004 11:23:25 PM PST by bondserv (Alignment is critical!)
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