[Elsie]

But in the next sentence Jesus addresses Peter directly, giving him the keys and the power to loose and bind.

HE does??

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Matthew 16:13-18
 13.  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
 14.  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
 15.  "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
 16.  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,  the Son of the living God."
 17.  Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
 18.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades  will not overcome it.

 19.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be  bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

 

Chapters and verses were invented later; as we all know...

 

   When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"   They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."   "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,  the Son of the living God."   Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.   And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades  will not overcome it.    I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be  bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

 

 

Reading the text we can see that Jesus is talking to the GROUP of disciples; and He is answered by the impulsive one - SIMON Peter.

After dealing with SIMON Peter, He states - to the group -  "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

 

Catholic teaching limits this to SIMON Peter.

[Cvengr]

Read the same verses, but using spiritual perception, rather than soulish perception. The meaning becomes obvious to th believer in fellowship with God, but misunderstood to those without such perception.

[omegatoo]

But the Bible doesn’t say that Jesus turned from Peter to the group for that next sentence, and wouldn’t asserting that be adding to the words of the Bible? I accept that it could be interpreted that way, but I do not accept that it cannot be interpreted that Jesus was still speaking to Peter.

No one has addressed why one interpretation of this passage is better than the other. You want me to believe a certain interpretation is the only acceptable one based on what? Your interpretation of how other passages relate to this one? But there are many interpretations of those other passages, too. So how is anyone ever to determine the Truth, if different people can read the same passage and come up with different interpretations.

Obviously depending on the words alone will make it impossible, as evidenced above where the fact that Jesus was addressing different people at different times has to be inserted in order to clarify the text. So who has the authority to add clarifications?

O2