881 The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the “rock” of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. “The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head.” This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church’s very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.Sure different than what Augustine and many OTHER Early Church Fathers taught; isn't it882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, “is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.” “For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.”
883 “The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, as its head.” As such, this college has “supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff.”
PART ONE
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO
THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
CHAPTER TWO
I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD
The Good News: God has sent his Son
422 'But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.'1 This is 'the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God':'2 God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted far beyond all expectation - he has sent his own 'beloved Son'.3
423 We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He 'came from God',4 'descended from heaven',5 and 'came in the flesh'.6 For 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.'7
424 Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'8 On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church.9
=========
But the Bible can, and is entirely consistent. Take note of the following:
Forty days before Jesus' peripatectic ministry began, He was baptized by his cousin John at Bethabara (Mt. 1:13, Jn. 1:28). That happened in mid-to-late 29 A.D., not long before John was jailed for his accusations of Herod. It was at that time that the sobriquet "Kayfahs" (in Aramaic language)was given to Simon Bar Jonah by Jesus when they first met. That is described in the volume "The Gospels: A Precise Translation"; the author Fred Wittman:
"40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John and followed Him. 41This one finds his own brother Simon. And he says to him,This shows that (1) Simon was already informed by his brother Andrew that he should consider Jesus to be the Messiah (Anointed One) prophesied in the Holy Scriptures (example: the Hebrew of Psalm 2:2, the last word ־משׁיחו pronounced "Messiach" translated as "anointed" in English); and (2) this is the time that Jesus gave him the title, or nickname "Kayfahs" in Aramaic, which was translated to the Greek "Petros" by John when he wrote this Gospel account (not "petra" the feminine inflection, having a different meaning, which is "a vast geological escarpment of rock extending perhaps for miles").We have found The Messiah (which being translated, The Christ).42And he led him to Jesus. Now when Jesus earnestly looked upon him. He said.You yourself are Simon. the son of Jonah. You yourself shall be titled Kayfahs* (which is being interpreted, A piece of a rock).----------
*Note: In Beloved John's Koine Greek manuscript, this is πετρος pronounced "peh-tross" which in the masculine is the definition of a stone or piece of rock perhaps up to the size of a human, but not much bigger. The definition given in the translation of this inflection of the base is very precise as to size.
Most people haven't learned this detail, for different causes; one is that it is a minor detail to the greater story inscripturated here, but a second is that its significance greatly detracts from the preferred (mis)interpretation by one deviate "Christic" cult of the passage that covers Jesus' declaration of the formal gathering of people called out to deliberate under leadership, the assembly (Anglicized as 'church') to worship and to be taught Bible truths.
That later occasion is described in Levi's Gospel (Matthew 16:15-19 and context, precisely translated in the volume cited above):
"15He says to them,In this second passage, the overall import is that it took place in the month Sivan (our June) of 32 A.D. two and a half YEARS later than when Simon first received his sobriquet "Kayfahs" = a piece of rock, precisely defined in plain-literal language, from Jesus, a precisely speaking kind of guy. That nickname was used by then all from their first meet, for the years of discipleship afterward. It was not a new thing at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus announced the building of His clutch of professing earthly believers, a village situated on just such a cliff of rock, upon which they were (standing or sitting?) at the time He was imparting this novel concept that embraces the New Covenant, another announcement to de given later once they got used to this one.But yourselves, Whom are you saying that Iam?16Then Simon Peter answered and said,You are continuously The Christ, The Son of The Absolutely Living God.17And Jesus answered and said to him,You are continually a blessed one, Simon Bar Jonah; because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father, namely The One in The Heavens. 18Now I Myself also say to you, "You yourself are Peter πετρος, and upon this rock ledgeτη πετρα I will build My Church. And Hell's gates shall not prevail upon it. 18And I will give to you the keys to the Kingdom of the Heavens. And what thing ever you bind upon the Earth shall be a bound thing in The Heavens. And what thing ever you loose upon the Earth shall be a loosed thing in The Heavens."---------
Note: In verses 17 to 19, Jesus is addressing Simon singularly, not here including the others at the moment.
Even many years later, Paul in his epistles calls Simon "Kayfahs" (the KJV gives it in English letters as "Cephas," which most readers (mis)pronounce it as "Seefuss" in their ignorance; the translators wanted the letter "C" to have the "K" sound, not the "S" sound).
The second thing deserving a remark is that the "Rock" being in the feminine gender, has a precise and very different meaning, and that is a NEW use of the sense, in comparison to the OLD use of reference to stone-like material (Simon's intellectual dullness? inflexiblity of opinion? unteachability?). What Jesus meant was the physical plain-literal term that suggested the figurative-literal totsl strength, solidity, and unchangeable concept that measured how His faithfulness and reliability in all things would size up as compared to any other touchstone (so to speak). Like Peter, who was wholly unreliable in his fidelity or reasoning aptitude, didn't even seem to be shaken by this comparison (?!).
Thirdly, one needs to come to realization that Simon DID execute the first application of use of "the Keys to the Kingdom of The Heavens," which would be a figurative-literal application of that phrase of the Keys to his first sermon on the day of Pentecost, in which over three thousand souls were admitted by immersion subsequent to their profession of faith in Jesus as one's Savior and Lord. But note: the sermon was addressed to humans tracing their heritage of Jewishness only, not Gentiles. Peter had not yet a concept of the churches' breadth, even from Jesus delegation of the Great Commission. Peter was not yet willing to admit Gentile into his concept of what Jesus' Church was all about.
There is more to discuss about this, but the concept of Jesus' Church being founded on Peter's person or example is totally false, when even lazily investigating the facts residing in the writings about him show the supposition's absolute incredible weakness, just a con trick.
The last and most important point we ought to take away from this is that the foundational concept did NOT come from Simon Bar Jonah's mentality or body of knowledge. It came from The Mighty God and Father of Jesus God's Anointed King of All, put on the lips of the unlearned fisherman much as a warning came from the mouth of Balaam's ass. The foundational Rock of Belief and its Originator in not just a concept to marvel at; it is a fearsome warning of what might happen to the human or fallen angel that might trifle with the Father's Only Begotten-in-the-flesh Son, and go away into eternity unforgiven. Remember, Judas Iscariot was right there and heard it all; only a hair's breadth difference between the standing of Judas and that of Simon. The difference is that of even a miniscule degree of unobliterated, perseverant, ineradicable preference of a human in commitment to The Christ above self or other, as fixed in Simon Bar Jonah, for whom Jesus effectively prayed for his faith not to fail, and informed Peter of it (Luke 22:32). Peter was not yet "saved," was he? Not "converted" from Judaism to complete trust in Jesus, though he professed otherwise. A very ticklish thing if you are of a miscatechized Christic cult, if you can "lose your salvation", eh?
What is the reader's position on the subject of this post? Eh?