Hey Folks,
Glad to see we are having a peaceful discussion on some important topics. I hope to be able to discuss in this post the concerns of everyone. In particular "Uncertaindrummer" and Victor. I have discussed similar topics on other message boards and found it to be both fruitful and frustrating. It is obvious we all have strong beliefs. I just hope we can continue our discourse without offense. Victor , if I may at this time state , when you make statements such as "Are you kidding me", it very easily can be misread and cause offense. I am not here trying to "kid" anyone. And while I trust your intentions toward me are honorable , please try to refrain from such statements.
Now , all that being said , lets look at the topic of "Apostolic Succession". I believe that Catholics teach that the whole doctrine of the papacy rest on Matt. 16:13-19. Here is the text for our study ;
"Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi ,he asked his disciples, saying , Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but who say ye that I am? and Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee ,but my Father in heaven. And I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven".
Looking at the context , we note that Peter had just confessed, "Thou art the Christ , the Son of the living God." Was what Peter had confessed, "Thou art the Son of the living God", the foundation upon which the church would be built, or was Peter the foundation of the church? Stated another way: Is the Christ , the Son of God the rock, the foundation of the church, or is Peter , a mere mortal man, the rock, the foundation of the church? Paul proclaimed Christ to be the foundation of His church when he said, "For other foundation no one can lay , but that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. 3:11). Please pay special notice to the fact that Jesus is called "the rock" in 1 Cor. 10:4: "...(for they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ)." Tying these two thoughts together, one has to see that Jesus Christ is the rock , the foundation upon which the church is built.
In Psalm 118:22 we see this ;
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."
Also In Isaiah 28:16 this is stated ;
"Thus says the Lord God: See I am laying a stone in Sion, a stone that has been tested , a precious cornerstone as a sure foundation; he who puts his faith in it shall not be shaken."
Peter even quotes this passage himself in his epistle 1 Peter 2:6-8. Peter verifies what those prophets said and then confirmed that it was indeed Christ (not himself) they foresaw. I know that Catholics insist that "Peter" means "rock" and he is the "rock" upon which Jesus promised to build His church in Matt. 16:18. It is certainly true that the Greek work petros, the word translated "Peter" in Matt.16:18 , means "stone" or "rock". However, the differences in the words translated "Peter" and "rock" in this verse only serve to show a distinction between the apostle Peter and the "rock" upon which the church was built. Peter is translated from petros. The word translated "rock" is petra. Petros, Peter, is masculine gender. Petra, rock ,is feminine gender. Jesus used the two terms to draw a contrast between Peter (a son of man) and Himself (the Son of God). The word petros, translated "Peter", means a small stone or pebble. But ,the word petra, translated "rock", means "a monolithic mass , a huge massive rock." When Christ said, "thou art Peter", he was telling Peter he was a small pebble. Then he contrasted that by describing the confession Peter had made, "thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," as a gigantic rock. It is also interesting to consider that the "rock" mentioned in 1 Peter 2:8 , which even the footnote in the Catholic Bible admits has references to Christ, is petra in the greek, the very same word for "rock" found in Matt. 16:18. The Bible makes an emphatic distinction between petros(Peter) and petra (rock). These two words clearly are not the same. Peter is neither the rock nor the foundation upon which the church was built. The confession he made , made by anyone , is the foundation, the cornerstone rock of the church.
The church as God revealed it in His Word was gradually changed by men over a period of several hundred years into a "man-made" church with its own government and its human doctrines and commands to be followed. While some basic fundamentals of Christianity were retained, yet, many changes were made through the centuries. All efforts to stop this downhill slide were met with firm rebuke, persecution and even death in many instances. This apostate church continued to become more and more corrupt.
It was not until the 1500s that sufficient efforts were made to begin bringing about some changes. But because of strong resistance, these efforts began to divide up into several different religious groups started in different countries: The Lutheran church in Germany; the Church of England in England (known as the Episcopal Church in America); the Presbyterian Church in Scotland; the Methodist Church in England and America; and the Baptist Church in England and America. Other lesser known churches were also started during this same period of time. Since the 1700s, more and more churches have been started by men. All of these have their own sectarian name, special form of government, and their own doctrines to govern their churches.
However, serious and honest-minded people could not reconcile all these churches with what the Bible taught. So one after another began advocating a
Restoration of the church as it was in its beginning. The approach was:
1) Just go by the Word of God only; 2) Drop all human names that divide people; 3) Just become a Christian the same way they did in the first century, by obeying the gospel; 4) Become a member of the Lords church, the body of Christ. Churches of Christ exist today throughout the world as a result.
Robert
Http://www.theBible.net
