Simon Peter

[Dave]

Saint Peter or Simon Peter one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Peter is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and is venerated as a saint. Peter is venerated in multiple churches and is regarded as the first pope by the Catholic Church. Peter wrote two general epistles. The Gospel of Mark is also ascribed to him (as Mark was his disciple and interpreter).

According to New Testament accounts, Peter was one of twelve apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples. Originally a fisherman, he was assigned a leadership role by Jesus and was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration. Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean "rock". According to the New Testament, Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, was part of Jesus' inner circle, walked on water, witnessed Jesus' transfiguration, denied Jesus, was restored by Jesus, and preached on the day of Pentecost.

In John's gospel, Peter is the first person to enter the empty tomb, although the women and the beloved disciple see it before him.[Jn. 20:1-9] In Luke's account, the women's report of the empty tomb is dismissed by the apostles, and Peter is the only one who goes to check for himself. In fact, he runs to the tomb.

Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians contains a list of resurrection appearances of Jesus, the first of which is an appearance to Peter. Here Paul apparently follows an early tradition that Peter was the first to see the risen Christ, which however did not seem to have survived to the time when the Gospels were written.

The author of the Acts of the Apostles portrays Peter as an extremely important figure within the early Christian community, with Peter delivering a significant open-air sermon during Pentecost. According to the same book, Peter took the lead in selecting a replacement for Judas Iscariot. About halfway through, the Acts of the Apostles turns its attention away from Peter and to the activities of Paul, and the Bible is mostly silent on what occurred to Peter afterwards.

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[Dave]

Rome or Egypt?

In Catholic tradition, Peter is said to have founded the church in Rome with Paul, served as its bishop, authored two epistles, and then met martyrdom there along with Paul. In the Catholic version of reality: After working to establish the church of Antioch, and presiding for seven years as the leader of the city's Christian community,[3] he preached, or his epistle was preached, to scattered communities of believers: Jews, Hebrew Christians and the gentiles, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor and Bithynia. Peter is said to have been crucified under Emperor Nero, the cross being upside down at his own request since he saw himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus Christ. Catholic tradition holds that Saint Peter's site of crucifixion is located in the Clementine Chapel, while his mortal bones and remains are contained in the underground Confessio of St. Peter's Basilica.

Peter's life story relies on the four Canonical Gospels, The Book of Acts, New Testament Letters, Non-Canonical Gospel According to the Hebrews and other Early Church accounts of his life and death.

In the final chapter of the Gospel of John, Peter, in one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, three times affirmed his love for Jesus, balancing his threefold denial, and Jesus reconfirmed Peter's position. Some scholars hypothesize that it was added later to bolster Peter's status.

Even Wikipedia includes: About halfway through, the Acts of the Apostles turns its attention away from Peter and to the activities of Paul, and the Bible is mostly silent on what occurred to Peter afterwards.

So, Scripture may have altered to bolster Peter’s status. Status as what? An Apostile? A man of God? Or, his connection to Rome?

Although Matthew 16 is used as a primary proof-text for the Catholic doctrine of Papal supremacy, Protestant scholars say that prior to the Reformation of the 16th century, Matthew 16 was very rarely used to support papal claims. Their position is that most of the early and medieval Church interpreted the 'rock' as being a reference either to Christ or to Peter's faith, not Peter himself. They understand Jesus' remark to have been his affirmation of Peter's testimony that Jesus was the Son of God.

Other theologically conservative Christians, including Confessional Lutherans, also rebut this explanation. The Lutheran theologians further note that: “We honor Peter and in fact some of our churches are named after him, but he was not the first pope, nor was he Roman Catholic. If you read his first letter, you will see that he did not teach a Roman hierarchy, but that all Christians are royal priests. The same keys given to Peter in Matthew 16 are given to the whole church of believers in Matthew 18”

Even if Peter did founded the church in Rome, according to Rome itself it would have had to be after Peter founded the church in Antioch. So why isn’t St Peter’s Cathedral and the Catholic Pope in Antioch?

Eusebius of Caesarea (Eusebius Caesariensis, ca 260-ca 340), in his "Historia Ecclesiastica", while naming some of the Seventy Disciples of Jesus, says:

"... and the history by Clement (of Alexandria, c.150 - c. 215), in the fifth (chapter) of Hypotyposeis; in which Cefas, the one mentioned by Paul (in the citation): «when Cefas came to Antioch, I confronted him face to face» (Galatians 2:11), it is said he was one of the Seventy Disciples, having the same name with Peter the Apostle".

So, the peter of Antioch may have not even been the same man!

Church tradition ascribes the epistles First and Second Peter to Apostle Peter, as does the text of Second Peter itself. First Peter implies the author is in "Babylon," which has been held to be a coded reference to Rome (1 Peter 5:13). Although, Babylon was an important fortress city in Egypt, just north of today's Cairo and this fact is combined with the "greetings from Marc" (1 Peter 5:13), who is regarded as founder of the Church of Alexandria (Egypt); thus other scholars put the First Peter epistle to be written in Egypt.

Which is it? Rome or Egypt?

If Peter is the chosen of Jesus to found His church, why does scripture; About halfway through, the Acts of the Apostles turns its attention away from Peter and to the activities of Paul, and the Bible is mostly silent on what occurred to Peter afterwards.

If Peter is the chosen of Jesus; why is 85% of the New testiment written by Paul and include only two small letters by Peter?

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[Dillon]

Truth Versus Tradition
believer.com/truth-verses-tradition

There is one tradition which probably will never be done away. It is the story that Peter was at Rome. Such traditions persist in the face of any truth that may be brought forward. In the Scriptures we can trace Peter from his prison term in Acts 12, to the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15, and thence to Babylon where at the very end of the events of Acts he was preaching. If, as they claim, Peter was Pope in Rome for 25 years (41 to 66), then there is something wrong somewhere. For he was in prison in Jerusalem about 44, the council at Jerusalem was about 52 and from Gal 2 he may have been at Antioch about 53. During this time Peter was supposed to be Pope in Rome, Paul wrote to Rome, was in Rome, and wrote from Rome. But in all this Peter is never mentioned. How that the fury of Caesar destroyed Paul and countless other Christians, and leave Peter unhurt during that time has never been explained. Surely Peter would have come to Paul's assistance in those days. But Paul is silent about it, saying that at the last all men forsook him. I do not think Peter would have done such a thing. At the last moment only Luke was with Paul. How could Peter have been in Rome?

Read more: ponderingconfusion.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=church&action=display&thread=168#ixzz2Cu6qMFh0

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