Peter is not the ROCK on which the Church is built (Matt.16:18)

There are not several rocks which the Church is built upon but ONE. The ROCK is clearly identified as Jesus Christ which the below verses clearly show.

Deut.32:³ Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.⁴ He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.—¹⁵ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.—¹⁸ Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

1 Sam. 2:² There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

Psalm 18:³¹ For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?

Psalm 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

1 Cor. 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;² And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;³ And did all eat the same spiritual meat;4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that rock was CHRIST.

1 Cor. 3:¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:⁴ To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.⁶ Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.⁷ Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,⁸ And a stone of stumbling, and a rock (petra) of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

Ephesians 2:¹⁹ Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;²⁰ And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;²¹ In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:²² In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit

And the below verse is of course THE verse that the Roman Catholic Church uses as an attempt to support the view that the apostle Peter is the rock:

Matthew 16:¹⁶ And Simon Peter answered and said,Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.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.

Peter’s name means rock (petros) but Jesus said: ”You are Peter (Petros), and upon this rock (PETRA) I will build My church.” Petra is a feminine noun that refers to a mass of rock, and Petros is masculine in gender and refers to a boulder or a detached stone.  We could read the statement as ”You are Stone, and upon this Bedrock I will build My church.” Jesus words would indicate that the rock on which the church would be built was something other than Peter, and WHY Jesus build his church on PETER of all people when a better choice would be JESUS HIMSELF and God’s words in the BIBLE? Both the old and the new testament constantly warn people from bowing down to other gods/prophets and from deviating from the Scriptures, so to give the ”holy keys” over to a mere human being would certainly give us the wrong impression.

The passage starts with a question concerning Jesus identity and ends with Jesus statement about the ROCK. Jesus starts off asking ”Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”. Peter answers ”Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. So”this rock” likely refers to Jesus in His identity as the Son of God since this is that topic that was discussed. Some catholics speculate that Jesus was speaking in Aramaic and only repeated Peter’s Aramaic name Kepha. But the inspired New Testament Scriptures were written in GREEK and not Aramaic and can be trusted since it derives from Divine inspiration. If the Aramaic is clear but the Greek inadequate or confusing, why did not the Holy Spirit simply use the Aramaic word to clear up the case as done elsewhere in the NT? When the Holy Spirit inspired the Greek text of the New Testament, he made a distinction between Peter (Petros) and the rock (petra) and there must be a reason for this. God is not a God of confusion. Some suggest that it’s the confession of faith that Peter made (acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ) that is the rock that the church should be built on, and this will give the same result.

To base an entire doctrine on a verse that doesn’t even come near confirming that Peter is the rock is very risky. Would God really choose to disclose such an important piece of information in such a vague manner, resulting in that millions of honest truth-seeking christians miss out on joining the Catholic Church which supposedly is based on this rock? Couldn’t God have been a bit more clear on this issue if it’s so important? Jesus is that perfect cornerstone upon which the body of Christ is built, and not a flawed and sinful man such as Peter. In Matthew 16:23, just five verses after Jesus spoke of the ”rock”, he called Peter ”Satan”.

Jesus had brothers and sisters

The only major religion that chooses to believe that Mary and Joseph had no other children than Jesus is the Roman Catholic religion due to TRADITION.

It’s almost like a curse for women to not be able to have children so why would Mary of all women have to go through life without any children (apart from Jesus who died) or grandchildren? That would indicate that she certainly was not BLESSED at all. Nowhere does the Word of God say that Mary had no other children. Normally young women are able to bare children so to assume that Mary was out of luck is to start with an answer and trying to find support for this answer in the Bible.

While it is true that the word for ”brethren”  [adelphon] can have a couple of other meanings in different parts of the Bible (spiritual brethren or kin/cousins), it cannot be used this way in the passages below, nor is there any reasonable justification to claim that this word in its context could mean cousins. IF Jesus indeed had real brothers, how could this  have been stated more clearly? Or is this option ruled out? Why isn’t it enough to say that he had brothers, and why does ”blood brothers” seem to be EXCLUDED as a valid option in the Roman Catholic Church? There must be a reason for this and that reason is TRADITION.

Mary was a chosen vessel and not a deity. Is there anything wrong with Joseph and Mary having more children? That would be a perfectly normal thing for a husband and a wife. In fact, it would be abnormal for them not to have children and it would be abnormal for a married couple to sleep in separate bedrooms for the rest of their lives. This couple was blessed and not cursed!

1 Cor 7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

From the very beginning God ordained that wife and husband should be fruitful and multiply. In order for RCC  to save their doctrine they must ignore or change scriptures that say Mary was the Mother of Jesus’ Brethren, that Jesus was the brethren of Mary’s children and that Joseph knew (in the Biblical sense of union) her not ”until” after the birth of the firstborn. When Joseph married Mary, did he know that he would not be allowed to share bed with her for the rest of their lives? And why does the Bible say that he DID ”know” her unless that is true? And is it not true that Mary gave birth to Jesus in a cave or a stable? How can someone give birth to a baby and still retain her virginity?

Matthew 13:55 ”Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”

Matthew 27:56 ”Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.”

Mark 3:31″There came then His Brethren and His Mother, and standing without, sent unto Him calling Him.”

Mark 6:3″Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his   sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”

It’s identifying a blood family, and if we’re going to say that word Brother doesn’t really mean His brethren, we also have to say that word Mother doesn’t really mean that Mary was Jesus’ Mother. For it’s the same word that was used in Matthew 27:56 saying Mary was the Mother of James and Joses.

Mark 15:40 ”There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;”

Mark 16:1 ”And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him.”

The context of many verses show that their was physical sexual union between Joseph and Mary after Christ was born:

Matthew 1:24-25 ”Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him HIS WIFE –  And KNEW HER NOT UNTIL she had brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His name, Jesus!”

He ”knew her”‘ not until she had brought forth her Firstborn – Jesus. From this statement  it is clear that He knew her (in the biblical sense) AFTER the birth of Jesus.

Matthew 12:46 ”While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.”

John 2:12 ”After this He went down to Capernaum, He, and His Mother, and His Brethren, and His disciples: and they continued there not many days.”

Here we see that the disciples (spiritual family) were distinct from his Brethren and Mother (Blood family). It was his Mother, his Brothers, AND the Disciples. You don’t say ”His Mother and His Brothers” in a context like this, and have it mean the Church.

John 7:3-5 ”His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him.”

We can see here that at first even Jesus’s brothers did not believe on Him. This again clearly illustrates that these were his flesh brothers, not brothers in the sense of brothers in Christ. And the scriptures use the Greek word [suggenes] or [suggeneia] when referring to kinsman, relatives, or cousins, not [adelphon] Brethren. Note also that his brethren said that his Disciples may also may see the works. Again, a distinction between His brothers and the brethren which were the family of the Church. The Bible tells us that Jesus had at least four brothers and at least two sisters. The brothers names were, James, Joses, Simon and Judas, and one of the sister’s names was Salome. We are unaware of the names of the others.

Acts 1:14 ”These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”

Galatians 1:19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.”

It’s a sin to worship anyone else than GOD, and Mary called God for ”My Savior”

The idea of Mary as a Co-redemptrix is anathema. Mary had also been guilty of sin like the rest of us and only JESUS CHRIST never sinned.  Mary viewed God to be her SAVIOR, and if she had never sinned what did she need to be saved from?:

Luke 1:  ⁴⁶And Mary said, ”My soul doth magnify the Lord,⁴⁷and my spirit hath rejoiced in God MY SAVIOR. ⁴⁸For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Matthew 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but ONE, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Much has been made of the information that she is ”blessed” in all generations, but she is blessed because she was chosen to be give birth to our Savior who enables the whole world to be saved through him. What a blessing! To interpret this as though she was in a state of sinlessness, or that she can intercede for us, or that she was even ”cursed” because she could have no more children, is certainly to add to the Bible.

We are to worship and pray to GOD (through Jesus) and to no one else. By praying to Mary, we are rebelling against God. Him only shall we worship and serve!

Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Romans 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

There is ONE mediator between God and man. No saints, priests or popes can save us. Only JESUS CHRIST can do this!

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

JESUS is the rock that we must build on. Not Peter!

Matthew 16:¹⁶ And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.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.

Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

1 Corinthians 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

1 Cor. 3:¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

Psalm 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Deutoronomy 32:³ Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.⁴ He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.—¹⁵ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.—¹⁸ Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

Some other interesting verses when it comes to the Roman Catholic Church

Isaiah 42:⁸ I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Exodus 20:3 hou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God

Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.1st Timothy 4:1-3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Matthew 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.