David Pawson on Church History Part 3 - The Reformation

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Thoughtful Thoughts by John Dunning. The Christian Story Pt 3;- Pope who?

INTRODUCTION

We have to get the basics right or nothing comes right.

The appearance of popes on the world stage impacted history so much, the subject cannot be shovelled under the carpet studying church history. The word “Catholic” means “universal”, so the church name in English means the “Roman Universal Church”. Popes believe the Bishop of Rome rules the universal church from Rome. They get to that by arguing that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, and so their appointed bishops of Rome inherit his position at death. They create a tradition, and then claim their theology is the tradition of the church. In a court of law, you couldn’t use what is called a circular argument. More on that now…

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THE VATICAN ARGUMENT

In 1965 Pope Paul VI (1963–78) said that bones found in 1939 in the Basilica were Peter’s bones! They expect their people to believe it because popes are supposed to be infallible!

Given the Catholic church’s use of things like the “False Decretals”, I think we can take Catholic church evidence with a pinch of salt. After all, they have had things like indulgences, where the church set their own price for forgiveness of sin, and all the bits of wood and nails sold, like snake oil, saying they belonged to Christ’s cross. They should have gone into selling second hand cars. As the church has such a shocking record, it means that when a Pope states that “human remains” discovered in 1939 in the Catholic Basilica by the altar belonged to Peter, we are right to take it with a pinch of salt. They are desperate to find something, anything, to support their theology that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, and therefore to validate their theology of Popes. 

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THE BIBLE… 

As we will be using the Bible, keep one handy, so you can look up the references provided.

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INTRODUCTION

We are going to look at evidence in the Bible that indicates Peter was not in Rome at all, as claimed by the Vatican. The reason the subject of popes is so important is because the persecution by them of disciples of Jesus and non-Catholics, worldwide, was so terrible.

Life before the popes was a kind of honeymoon period for Christians, after Constantine became a Christian. Christianity became something more like a national religion throughout the Roman empire when Sundays were declared officially to be a day of worship for Christians. It was almost a repeat of the days of the very early church, under the Apostles,  where the Bible says “... the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.” Acts 16:5. Under Constantine freedom of worship arrived which was something totally new.

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1). ALL JEWS WERE SENT OUT OF ROME…

Well, so much for an introduction. Now we have to look at why Peter could not have been in Rome. The Emperor Claudius had thrown all Jews out of Rome and Peter was a Jew. So, we start with Acts 18:1-3. 

v. 1. “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 

v. 2. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. 

Paul went to see them, v.3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.” Acts 18:1-3.

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Most of the early disciples were Jews. They believed in Jesus being the Messiah. They became known as Messianic Jews. 

The Roman Emperor Claudius was emperor from 41AD to 54AD. He became famous for expelling all the Jews from Rome - both Messianic Jews who believed in Jesus, and Orthodox Jews who didn’t. That was because he was fed up with the arguments between Jews about whether Jesus was the Messiah. 

Now, because all Jews were exiled, Paul met Aquila and Pricilla in Corinth, because they were part of that exile, as they Messianic Jews;(Acts 18:1-3). Sending Jewish believers out of Rome meant the gospel spread throughout the Roman empire, because wherever they went, the gospel spread…

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2). WHO LED BELIEVERS IN ROME AFTER THE MESSIANIC JEWS WERE EXILED?

As Peter could not have been in Rome as Jews were exiled, the next question is;- “Who led the disciples in Rome after the Messianic Jewish leaders were sent into exile?”

It is only Catholic tradition that says Peter was the leader of the disciples in Rome. That Catholic tradition kept being repeated as if that made it true, and even non-Catholics ended up repeating it like Chinese whispers. Even students of theology learn what is politically correct to keep Catholics happy, but it is not in the Bible as I will show next.

a). Before the exile, the MESSIANIC JEWS led the followers of Jesus in Rome,  (ie like Aquila and Priscilla).

b). The exile meant that Jews had to hand over leadership to their Gentile brothers and sisters, who then had the oversight.

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i). Firstly, Paul wrote the letter to the “Romans”, either before or after meeting Priscilla and Aquila, but well before he was taken to Rome. Because of that, all disciples in Rome knew who he was, and Paul provided a lot of teaching in Romans for the Gentiles to learn. 

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ii). Then there was Paul’s first visit, where he was taken under armed guard to protect him from Orthodox Jewish leaders. He had considerable support from the Roman soldiers who brought him, and he was given a lot of freedom the first time, under home detention.

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iii). Finally Paul was taken to Rome again due to a new Roman Emperor persecuting believers. He was captured after being betrayed. As a citizen, he had the right to a trial before the Emperor, so he was put into prison in Rome, where he preached to the soldiers guarding him, which was why there were Christians in the palace. 

Taken altogether, Paul spent years writing, teaching and evangelising both Roman soldiers and the Gentile church. Disciples in Rome had had teaching from Messianic Jews at first, who knew their Bible, and then from Paul.

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3). SO, IF PETER WAS NOT IN ROME, WHERE WAS HE?

If we could locate Mark, we would know where Peter had been! (But we do know!)

Paul asked Timothy to work in Ephesus (I Tim. 1:3), which led to Timothy discovering Mark was in the church at Ephesus.

After receiving that first letter from Paul, Timothy must have answered it, and passed the information back to Paul that Mark was right there with him in Ephesus. That was because Paul wrote two letters to Timothy in Ephesus, and in that second letter, Paul asked Timothy to bring Mark back to him, (2 Tim 4:11), and he was in prison in Rome then.

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4). So why was Mark in Ephesus? 

Mark could read and write in Hebrew and Greek, as he had Hebrew & Greek parents, making Mark literate in at least two languages; (and probably a third). That made Mark very useful to Peter, who could not read or write, (which was common then). So Mark became Peter’s right hand man, and wrote down for Peter, his gospel, which we call the Gospel of Mark.

Because of all this, Mark would have been wherever Peter was. Yet, when Timothy discovered Mark in Ephesus he was without Peter, and at a loose end, so Paul asked Timothy to invite Mark to help him in Rome, (where only Gentiles were allowed to be.)

As Mark was in Ephesus it is obvious to me that Peter had been right there in Ephesus too, until he was crucified upside down.

As Peter was not a Roman citizen he could not “appeal to Caesar”, as Paul had done. Because of all this, it is not possible that Peter was in Rome - as no-one disobeyed a Roman emperor. Now, because Mark was in Ephesus, that shows us where Peter had been until his execution. As Mark was there all alone, it fits that Peter was crucified in Ephesus. 

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EPILOGUE…

a). Pope means “father”.

Jesus said “Do not call anyone on earth “father”, for you have one Father”, and He is in heaven;” Matthew 23:9. So even taking the title “pope” (father) disobeys Jesus.

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b). A title the Pope takes for himself is “in the place of Christ on earth…”

One of the titles the Pope gives himself is: “The vicar of Christ on earth.” 

The word “vicar” comes from “vicarious”, which in English translates as, “In the place of…”.

All popes take the title for themselves of; “In the place of Christ on earth…” 

But what did Jesus say? 

Just one of the passages about the teaching on the Holy Spirit is Acts 1:4-5, which is the teaching that the Holy Spirit replaces Jesus on the earth. 

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John immersed with water, but in a few days you will be immersed with the Holy Spirit;” Acts 1:4-5.

Jesus told his disciples to do nothing and wait patiently in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them. There was no replacement for the Holy Spirit. When any church teaches that a human being is in the place of Christ on earth, you have to decide who you will believe. 

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This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

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