But have we any positive proof that Christ did appoint a supreme Ruler over His Church? To those, indeed, who read the Scriptures with the single eye of pure intention the most abundant evidence of this fact is furnished. – James Cardinal Gibbons [1]
The primacy of Peter is well illustrated by Matthew 16:18:
- 15
- He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
- 16
- Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
- 17
- Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
- 18
- And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
- 19
- I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
What is the straight-forward and literal meaning of Matthew 16:18? Catholics take this to mean exactly what it says. Peter is the rock on which Christ built His church. Show this to anyone who has never read it before and they’ll conclude the same. To conclude otherwise, one must muddy these very clear words which we will now demonstrate:
In this short passage we have four arguments (among others) as support of our position:
1.) The Faith of our Fathers, James Cardinal Gibbons, http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Fathers-James-Cardinal-Gibbons/dp/0895551586/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247390912&sr=8-1
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