1 Peter 5:13
The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
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Let’s expose the constant litany of revisionist history perpetrated by the RCC.
The claimed history of the RCC, is that Jesus gave Peter the preeminence over all the apostles, that Jesus made Peter the head of His church and built the Roman Catholic church on him, that Peter was therefore the first pope, and that every subsequent pope holds the seat of Peter, via apostolic succession - making their sect the preeminent church that heads all Christendom, and the pope the supreme head over all Christianity.
The first thing wrong with claiming Peter founded and was the head of the RCC, is the fact that God made him the apostle to the Jews, and the Roman church consisted of gentiles.
In the New Testament, Peter is shown multiple times in the Jerusalem church - the Jewish Christian church - and is never found once in the gentile Roman church.
Scripture says Paul is the apostle to the gentiles, and that Peter is the apostle to the Jews (to the circumcision), so Peter would not be the head of a gentile Roman church!
To whit:
Gal 2:7 On the contrary, they saw that God had given me the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles,
just as he had given Peter the task of preaching the gospel to the Jews.
Gal 2:8 For by God's power I was made an apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was made an apostle to the Jews.
That explains why the apostle to the gentiles, Paul, wrote the book of Romans instead of Peter, the supposed head of the RCC.
And Paul calls those in the Roman church, gentiles - in case someone wants to claim that the Roman church isn’t a gentile church.
Romans 1:13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among OTHER Gentiles.
And when Paul wanted to visit Peter 3 years after his conversion on Damascus road, he had to go to Jerusalem, where Peter and the Jewish Christian church was, instead of to Rome:
Gal 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Peter was not in Rome being the pope - he was at Jerusalem where the Jewish Christian church was.
The second thing wrong with the claim that the first and original church was founded in Rome by Peter, is found in Acts 2, where it’s clear that the church started in Jerusalem, with Peter preaching there to the first 3,000 converts to Christianity.
It’s historical fact that the Jerusalem church was the first church, and was the preeminent church from its beginning in Acts 2, until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Wikipedia:
Jerusalem was the first center of the church, according to the
Book of Acts, and according to the
Catholic Encyclopedia, the location of "the first Christian church".[8] The apostles lived and taught there for some time after
Pentecost.[9]
James, the brother of Jesuswas a leader in the church, and his other
kinsmenlikely held leadership positions in the surrounding area after the destruction of the city until its rebuilding as
Aelia Capitolina, c. 130, when all Jews were banished from the city.[9]
In about 50,
Barnabasand
Paulwent to Jerusalem to meet with the "pillars of the church",[10] James,
Peter, and
John. Later called the
Council of Jerusalem, according to Pauline Christians, this meeting (among other things) confirmed the legitimacy of the mission of Barnabas and Paul to the
gentiles, and the gentile converts' freedom from most
Mosaic law, especially
circumcision.
When Peter left Jerusalem after
Herod Agrippa Itried to kill him, James appears as the principal authority.[14]
Clement of Alexandria(c. 150–215) called him
Bishop of Jerusalem.[14] A
second-centurychurch historian,
Hegesippus, wrote that the
Sanhedrinmartyred him in 62.[14]
In 66, the
Jews revolted against Rome.[9] Rome besieged Jerusalem for four years, and the city fell in 70.[9] The city, including the Temple, was destroyed and the population was mostly killed or removed.[9] According to a tradition recorded by
Eusebiusand
Epiphanius of Salamis, the Jerusalem church
fled to Pellaat the outbreak of the
First Jewish Revolt.
Notice that the first church council was held in the Jerusalem church - because it was the preeminent church - not Rome.
Also, Jesus told the apostles that none of them would be above the others - Peter was not given preeminence:
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him,and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Peter didn’t think he was anything but a fellow elder:
1Pe 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am ALSO an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
And Jesus did not tell Peter that the church would be built on him:
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Jesus spoke of two different rocks: Peter is Petros in the Greek - small rock - and the rock the church is built on is Petra - bedrock.
In the Greek Jesus said: thou art PETROS, and upon this PETRA I will build my church.
The language God chose for the New Testament to be written in, explicitly states there are two different rocks there.
Also, the Greek word for church , kuriakos ,is not found in Matthew 16:18 - the word used is ekklesia, meaning a congregation of people assembled together - it does not mean a church organization of Pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests, as the Roman sect wants us to believe.
And in fact the church of Christ isn’t built on any single individual apostle or prophet:
Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Built on the foundation of apostles, PLURAL, and prophets, PLURAL - not on Peter alone.
In Matthew 16:19 Jesus gives Peter keys (authority) and the power to bind and loose - yet 2 chapters later when He met the other apostles, Jesus gives the same power of binding and loosing to them, too, in Matthew 18:18 - so Peter has no special authority beyond what the 12 shared.
Peter was not a Bishop, or Pope in the Roman church - ever.
Linus was the first bishop/pope of the Roman church, according to the Orthodox Church.
Peter, the apostle to the Jews, is found in the NT only in the Jerusalem church - the Jewish Christian church - not in the gentile Roman church.
And when Paul visited Peter 3 years after his conversion on Damascus road, he had to go to Jerusalem, where Peter and the Jewish Christian church was:
Gal 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Peter was not in Rome being a pope.
