Posted on 02/04/2002 12:55:13 PM PST by Sir Gawain
Was Peter the "Rock"?
Question: Was Peter the "rock" on which Jesus will build His church?
Answer: Here is the passage that you are referring to:
Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
Matthew 16:14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."
Matthew 16:15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it."
The Greek word for Peter is petros, meaning "a pebble." The Greek word for rock is petra, meaning "a massive rock" such as bedrock. Jesus is the Rock, petra. Everyone who receives this revelation from the Father like Peter received it—that Jesus is the Son of God (Lord and Savior)—becomes a part of His Church.
Christ used the word petra when He told the parable of the man building a house upon a rock to illustrate its size.
Matthew 7:24-25 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock (petra). And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock (petra)."
Jesus was talking about building upon bedrock, not a pebble.
The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is the foundation upon which we build our lives:
1 Cor. 3:11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
The apostle Peter also informed up that every believer is a "stone" and that Jesus Christ is the "cornerstone" or foundation.
1 Peter 2:4-6 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed."
Every believer is a stone in Christ’s Church. Peter was not the rock, but just one of many who are a part of this spiritual house of worship.
Think of it this way: The Holy Theotokos, the blessed Virgin Mary, is the MOTHER of God. Who better to ask assistance of when wanting a favor from the Almighty than His own Mother? Asking for The Holy Virgin to pray to the Lord for help for you is simply asking for some extra-special help from one that is closer to Him and has a special place in His Kingdom.
????????
So who in THAT scheme who is "the Father" of "The Father" ? I'm not being a wise guy, I'm serious.
Asking for The Holy Virgin to pray to the Lord for help for you is simply asking for some extra-special help
How do you respond to Christ saying "I am the Truth, the Way and the Life, no-one comes to the Father except through ME". ?
He doesn't ammend that by saying "through Me or my mom".
If that were to our advantage, I'd have thought He would have made mention of it.
I guess I don't understand "Intercessory prayer" in the way that you suggest.
And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit:
(42:) And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
(43:) And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
(44:) For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutaion sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
(45:) And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
(46:)And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord.
(47:) And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
(48:) For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Yes, I do. May I ask why you want to know? What is the relevance?
If I believe in the God prior to the birth of Christ, but do not believe in Jesus (non-Christian belief), do we believe in the same God?
I think so...except that to those of us who do believe in Jesus (that He is the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament) you are "behind the times" and denying the Truth..or have "missed the boat" according to what WE believe in...
Christians believe that Christ is the Messiah that is foretold of by the prophets of the Old Testament. Those that do not believe in Christ are stll waiting for the Messiah to come...but we Christians know that He has already come. This is our Faith.
Again, may I ask what is the relevence of this?
No arguement from me that Mary was indeed blessed to have the extraordinary privaledge of giving birth to the Messiah.
I still don't understand why that makes her special in the day to day life of a Christian.
It's like having a birthday. It's your special day, and all your friends celebrate,
but you didn't create the day, or yourself for that matter.
I believe that God chose to make himself flesh via Marys' womb gives HER
about the same amount of import as if she is celebrating a birthday.
Not much in the big picture, and CERTAINLY not warranting WORSHIP.
Adoration - O.K., Praise - sure, if you like.
WORSHIP ? That goes over the line as I see it.
Ah...I see the problem here...you are misunderstanding. We do NOT worship Mary. We DO revere her. She has the highest place in Heaven because she is the Mother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a very common misconception made by those who think that the Virgin Mary is worshiped. She is not. God alone is actually worshipped. Praise and reverance for the Virgin Mary is not the same as worship of God.
Not original, I persume, but a translation from the Greek.
Peace
Not original, I persume, but a translation from the Greek.
Actually, yes the original Gospel of Matthew was written in Aramaic, which was the language of Jesus. However, because I haven't been able to source that information to please the readers of this thread, I have agreed to use the Greek translation.
I still hold firm on the fact that Jesus made Peter His rock on which He built His church. You can read my previous threads if you would be interested in my scriptural and historial reasoning on this.
God bless.
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