"When I was in the Bible doctrine class at Bob Jones University,

"one of the verses we had to memorize was Matthew 16:18 ..."


"The three strands of rock, steward, and shepherd are woven in and through the whole of Scripture..."



Randomly adapted from this source: Fr. Dwight Longenecker's article in the Catholic magazine This Rock, May / June 2010 edition. The good father calls it: Peter's Authority: More Solid Than a Rock.


"When I was in the Bible doctrine class at Bob Jones University, one of the verses we had to memorize was Matthew 16:18 I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

"A Catholic student might memorize this verse to prove his beliefs about the papacy.

"We learned it in order to deny Catholic beliefs about the papacy.

"It was explained that the rock in this verse was not Peter, but his profession of faith that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

"Christ's pun on the name Peter - petros was not a pun at all, because petros means little stone, so Jesus could not have intended the rock to be Peter because he was speaking of a foundation stone,

"Only many years later did I begin to reassess the teaching I had received about this famous and important verse..."


After extensive discussion, our author concludes:


"Does the Catholic Church build the claims to papal authority on one verse taken out of context?

"Hardly.

"The three strands of rock, steward, and shepherd are woven in and through the whole of Scripture, coming into focus in the life of Jesus Christ who is the true Rock, the King of the Kingdom and Good Shepherd, and who hands his authority on earth to Peter until he comes again...'