St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy ScriptureAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Peter, the Apostle, Saint
The promise thus emphatically made to Simon, "Thou shalt be called
the Rock," our Lord fulfilled in the second year of His ministry,
when He distinguished the twelve Apostles from the rest of His
disciples, giving them authority to teach, and power to heal
sicknesses and to cast out devils. Then, says S. Mark "to[21] Simon
He gave the name of Peter;" and S. Matthew, "the names of the Twelve
Apostles are these; the first, Simon, who is called Peter;" and S.
Luke, "Simon whom also He named Peter." And by this name He marked
Him out from amongst all his brethren, and united him to Himself.
"He changes, too," says Tertullian, "Peter's name from Simon,
because also as Creator He altered the names of Abraham, Sara, and
Oshua, calling the last Jesus, and adding syllables to the others,
but why did He call him Peter? If for the strength of his faith,
many solid substances would lend him a name from themselves. Or was
it because Christ is both the Rock and the Stone? Since we read that
He is set for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. I omit the
rest. And so it was His pleasure to communicate to the dearest of
His disciples, in a peculiar manner, a name drawn from the figures
of Himself, I imagine, as being nearer than one drawn from figures
not of Himself."[22]
It is, then, setting a seal on His former acts, drawing out and
corroborating their meaning, that He once more, and in the most
emphatic way of all, recurs to this name, attaching to it the most
signal promises, and establishing its prophetic power. In the third
year of His ministry our Lord "came into the quarters of Cesarea
Philippi: and He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that
the Son of Man is? But they said, Some John the Baptist, and others
Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to
them, But whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou
art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to
him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jonas, because flesh and blood hath
not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say
to thee that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my
Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I
will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in
heaven."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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