“The only question is to determine who are Christians (those who start with the Gospel and interpret through it all other scripture) and who are not (those who start with other sources and work towards the Gospel, or ignore it most or all of the time).”
So Christianity started around 90 A.D. when John wrote his Gospel and the chief cornerstone of the church was leading those listening to Him astray, since He said, (Jhn 5:39) “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”, and Peter could not have been a christian since the Gospels were not completed until after his death and he taught from the Old Testament.
No wonder you need tradition and early church fathers to undergird the church; the Cornerstone and foundation mentioned by Paul are in reality shifting sand since they wrote the New Testament and taught based on the prophecies of the Old being accomplished in the New Era.
That is in the KJV version, which is a fraud. The grammatical form is not imperative (command), but simple present.
Imperative does not follow from the context (vs. 39-40) which you neglect to include.
"[You] search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life."
[notice the word unwilling].
Peter could not have been a christian since the Gospels were not completed until after his death and he taught from the Old Testament
Your logic escapes me. St. Peter taught the Gospel taught to him by Christ.
John 5:39 refers to the Old Testament. The NT wasn’t written and wouldn’t be for many years. They were told that their searching of the OT verses was in vain because they used them to attempt to gain eternal life and were ignoring Jesus, who was sent by the Father.
You guys really need the Magisterium more than you can possibly know.