05/2006
A Prayer
of Jesus
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.
    WE ARE HERE TO LISTEN TO     
The  Voice  of  Jesus
This is my Son, my Chosen; Listen to Him!

Misunderstanding Jesus
#24 - The Primacy of Peter (Matthew 16:18,19)
The False Teaching

The Catholic View  From Mt.16:18,19: And I say to you that: You are Peter (petros), and upon this rock (petra) will I build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in the heavens.
By the word "rock" the Saviour cannot have meant Himself, but only Peter, as is so much more apparent in Aramaic in which the same word (Kipha) is used for "Peter" and "rock". His statement then admits of but one explanation, namely, that He wishes to make Peter the head of the whole community of those who believed in Him as the true Messias; that through this foundation (Peter) the Kingdom of Christ would be unconquerable; that the spiritual guidance of the faithful was placed in the hands of Peter, as the special representative of Christ.
Exposing the Error

The Lord absolutely forbids an hierarchy among disciples, therefore he does not assign primacy to any one of them.
Lk.22:24-27: So [a] dispute also came to pass among them, who of them seems to be greater. But he said to them: The kings of the nations lord over them, and those having authority over them are called benefactors.  But you [are] not thus, but the [one] greater among you let him become as the least, and the [one] leading as the [one] serving.
That is clear enough, but only a small part of the evidence.  We also have this (Mt.23:8f):
But do not be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher, and all [of] you are brothers. And do not call [anyone] your father on the earth, for one is your father in the heavens. Neither be called leaders, for your leader is one, the Christ. But the greater of you will be your servant.  But whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.  There are no Fathers, no teachers, and no leaders in the flock of Jesus!
Declaring the Truth

In the Greek of the gospels,
Peter=petros (a small stone)  and  rock = petra (bedrock, as in Mt.7:24,25 & Lk.6:48).  The difference is massive! It is to the bedrock that the Lord entrusts the keys of the kingdom. Petra (the bedrock) refers to the local assembly of disciples as we see from below, where the Lord commits the same authority of the keys (to bind and loose) to the local assembly of two or three: (Mt.18:18f) Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth will have been loosed in heaven. Again I truly say to you that if two among you be in agreement on the earth concerning any matter that they ask , it will come to pass from my father in [the] heavens. For when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.  How does this work?  Because I am there in their midst. The authority of the keys is that of the Lord himself, working through his disciples that have received him as his Holy Word.