Allan, I think you're right about that; in my haste and irritability I didn't take the time to really research the passage. I don't mind the fact that I was wrong, but I could kick myself for being triumphant about it -- that's what I get
::If this passage is a prophesy of Peter, I think it can support the interpretation that the Stewards of the Church would become corrupt, which they did.
Well, I don't think it's a prophesy, I still think the point at issue surrounds the keys. The keys represent both authority and succession. In any event, it's interesting to note that one corrupt steward is replaced by another steward, that the succession continues.
::I agree that Hell will not prevail against God's people. How could it? Christ has made a legitimate claim over the entire universe, Death and Hell included, and he will not be denied. I do not see the need, however, to identify God's people with the Roman Catholic Church.
I'd rather identify the Roman Catholic Church as the place where God's people can most fully know Him. That's not to say many Protestants don't know Him much more intimately than many Catholics (and I'm speaking of practicing Catholics, forget the nominal ones), but it is to say that I believe such Christians could know him even more intimately if they became Catholic based on a proper understanding of the Catholic Faith -- which includes some Protestant insights.
As for hell not prevailing against God's people, let's remember what's being said in Matthew 16:13-19: Christ is linking His Church, built upon Peter, as that against which hell will not prevail, and he's handing Peter the keys (Stewardship, authority and succession). Trumping any doubt that might arise of Peter or his successors being, like Eliakim, cut off, Christ promises that not even hell can cause the Church, in this regard (built upon Peter), to fail. These things, it seems more than relatively clear to me, are to be taken as a unified whole; promises are made, and are made to be taken together. Both authority and succession are granted to the other apostles, but the keys are symbolic of the Steward of stewards as well, handed on by the King (Jesus). In Matthew 18:18 Christ extends this authority and succession, but Peter is quite evidently the Prime Steward, being the rock upon which Christ built His Church. Now, the need that you say you do not see is nothing less, I believe, than the need to pass on and safeguard revealed truth. Jesus himself promised us His Spirit would lead us into all truth. Check out the first council, the Council of Jerusalem in Acts; here the Church gathers and comes to an authoritative conclusion -- made on the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit worked through the Council. He also worked through Scripture where false ideas were repeatedly rebutted and taken quite seriously. The importance of the way we think about who Jesus was/is and the way we practice our faith is, therefore, very much an issue with those to whom Jesus entrusted His Holy Spirit.
God bless,
Jesse
