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I have to disagree that Thomas is just speaking out of shock, akin to saying “Oh my God!” English speakers might use that type of phrase to express shock, but in first-century Jewish society, that kind of careless uttering of God’s name would never happen.

I don't now what an "anti-Protestant" is, so I cannot comment on their reasoning abilities, but speaking as a Protestant myself, you definitely can reason with me! And yes, I think it is overwhelmingly likely (though not certain) that σὺ εἶ πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν...

I am happy to let Titus address this if he wishes, but here is my $0.02: Nobody is denying (not even Titus) that Jesus spoke Aramaic, as well as Hebrew and very likely Greek. Rather, Titus is arguing that the conversation with Peter in Matt. 16:17-18 was actually undertaken in Greek rather...

Why the Greek quotation? (Just looking at it from 10,000 feet, it appears to be modern Greek and not Koine Greek.)

Again, it wasn't by chance at all. It was a deliberate choice by the author -- and a very wise one (Greek readership in the Mediterranean world was 50 times what Hebrew or Aramaic readership would have been). His original manuscript was then copied in Greek by copyists many times (which I...

Actually, I think He didn't use a dead language, a live language, or ANY language. The Evangelist made that choice. Not God. (I'm starting to repeat myself.) That's true. The preservation of Koine Greek manuscripts was a deliberate choice. Of man, not of God. And I could say the same...

And here is where we part company, my friend. God didn't choose to have the Evangelist write in Greek. The Evangelist chose to write in Greek.

I don't have any, nor would I expect to see any. Why in the world would you ever assume that two first century Galileans spoke Greek to each other? That is such a bizarre assumption -- and I know how much you dislike assumptions!

I think the Catholic argument is that Jesus and Peter conversed in Aramaic and the author of Mathew wrote in Greek -- so he had to translate Jesus's Aramaic words into Greek. And since Aramaic has just one word kepha for rock (“You are Kepha and on this Kepha I will build my Church"), the...

Sorry, I had to leave town for a funeral Thursday and completely forgot about your post. Yes, I'll try to respond soon.

On this forum, most posters are neither quiet nor thinkers. ;)

You've lost me, BOL. What has this quote got to do with the Papacy? An admonishment to Smyrnean Christians to follow their bishop and their clergy tells us nothing about the status of the Bishop of Rome in A.D. 107. (By the way, A.D. 107 is the Second century, not the First.)

Does that make it false?

Ah. You draw no distinction between being dishonest and being mistaken. That moots my question.

Who are you accusing of dishonesty in your OP? Can you name some of the "interpreters" you accuse of deliberate misinterpretation?

Fair point (although the reference in Heb. 3:1 to Christ as an "apostle" is a little weird). And I suspect Catholics would agree with you that Christ is the head of the Church. They just think He has ordained a vicar.

Can I push back a bit on these two? It's the general consensus of scholarship that 2 Peter was pseudographical.

There is another point to be considered here before you bank on the absence of an express statement in Scripture that Peter was the leader of the pack. We should not expect a gospel author to hit his audience over the head with an express statement confirming something if it was already common...

I think it's a fair inference that he was the leader of the Eleven. But I am not definitive on the point. (You'll have to ask a Catholic for that.) And you'll recall I did mention that James, not Peter, became the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. So I'm confining my comment to Peter as the...

Sometimes inferences are proper tools for understanding an author's point. That's all I'm saying. If there is another point to John's story about the beloved apostle outrunning Peter to the tomb, then waiting until Peter went in first, then following, I haven't been able to figure it out. His...