From Disciples of the Baptist to Disciples of Messiah - Week 2

John 1:19-51

(In answering these questions, you will find it helpful to first read the Points to Ponder section)

Read John 1:19-51

1. Why in verses 19-20 does the evangelist lay such emphasis on John the Baptist's denial that he is the Christ?
(a) In order to prove that John the Baptist was not the Messiah. In fact, John the Evangelist quotes John the Baptist denying that he is the Christ.

2. Why would the Jerusalem authorities ask if John was Elijah? How can John deny he is Elijah when Jesus says John was the Elijah who was to come? What do the authorities mean by asking John if he is "the prophet"?
(a) The Pharisees wanted to know if the prophecy from Malachi would be fulfilled:

5: "Behold, I will send you Eli'jah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 6: And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse." (Mal 4:5-6)

1: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2: Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3: A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Is 40:1-3)

21: But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel caused to be profaned among the nations to which they came. 22: "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23: And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations will know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24: For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. 25: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27: And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28: You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ez 36:21-28)

608 After agreeing to baptize him along with the sinners, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and pointed him out as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover. Christ's whole life expresses his mission: "to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (CCC, 608)

1: The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3: Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; 4: and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; 6: and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. 7: Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. 8: They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9: Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10: And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11: In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's passover. 12: For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13: The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14: "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever. 15: Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for if any one eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16: On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly; no work shall be done on those days; but what every one must eat, that only may be prepared by you. 17: And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as an ordinance for ever. 18: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, and so until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19: For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for if any one eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20: You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread." 21: Then Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Select lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the passover lamb. 22: Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23: For the LORD will pass through to slay the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to slay you. 24: You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever. 25: And when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26: And when your children say to you, `What do you mean by this service?' 27: you shall say, `It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28: Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 29: At midnight the LORD smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle. 30: And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where one was not dead. 31: And he summoned Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise up, go forth from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. 32: Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also!" 33: And the Egyptians were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, "We are all dead men." 34: So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their mantles on their shoulders. 35: The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked of the Egyptians jewelry of silver and of gold, and clothing; 36: and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they despoiled the Egyptians. 37: And the people of Israel journeyed from Ram'eses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38: A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds. 39: And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions. 40: The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41: And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 42: It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. 43: And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the passover: no foreigner shall eat of it; 44: but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 45: No sojourner or hired servant may eat of it. 46: In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth any of the flesh outside the house; and you shall not break a bone of it. 47: All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48: And when a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49: There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you." 50: Thus did all the people of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 51: And on that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. (Ex 12)

22: After this Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized. 23: John also was baptizing at Ae'non near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were baptized. 24: For John had not yet been put in prison. 25: Now a discussion arose between John's disciples and a Jew over purifying. 26: And they came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him." 27: John answered, "No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. 28: You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. 29: He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. 30: He must increase, but I must decrease." 31: He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all. (John 3:22-31)

Although St. Peter never called himself "pope" in Scripture, he did indeed have a special apostolic primacy and jurisdiction. The Scriptural evidence for this is substantial and explicit.

Of the Twelve Apostles, St. Peter is by far the one mentioned most often in Scripture. He appears 195 times. The next most often mentioned Apostle was St. John, who comes in at a whopping 29 times. St. James the Greater is mentioned 19 times, St. Philip 15, and the numbers dwindle rapidly for the others. Does this in itself prove St. Peter's primacy? No, but it does shed considerable light on his importance. What does that light reveal?

Among other things, we see that when the Twelve Apostles are listed by name (Matt. 10:2-5; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-17; and Acts 1:13), St. Peter's name is always first -- and Judas Iscariot is always listed dead last. Far more commonly, though, the New Testament refers to simply "Peter and the Twelve," as if to say that the tempestuous fisherman signified in himself the unity of the whole apostolic college.

There are many other biblical signs of St. Peter's preeminence among the Apostles. He is the only one who receives a name change from Christ. He was Simon, but Christ calls him "Rock" (Matt. 16:18). Name changes given by God that we read about in Scripture have huge significance and imply an elevation in importance and a special mission given to that person by God (eg. Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel). He is also singled out by Christ to receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven and is promised, "Whatever you (singular) bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you (singular) loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19).

St. Peter is the lone Apostle Christ calls out of the boat to walk on water (Matt. 1:28-29). At the tomb of Christ, St. John waits to allow St. Peter to enter ahead of him (John 20:6). It is to him among the Apostles that God first reveals the Resurrection (Mark 16:7). The risen Christ appears to him first, before the other Apostles (Luke 24:34). Christ preaches the gospel to the crowds from St. Peter's fishing boat (Luke 5:3). St. Peter is told by Christ, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your (singular) faith may not fail. And once you (singular) have turned back, you (singular) must strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:31-32).

Christ makes St. Peter the shepherd of His Church (John 21:15-17). In Acts 1:13-26, St. Peter leads the other Apostles in choosing Matthias as successor to Judas, and he leads the Apostles in preaching on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14). He performs the first Pentecost miracle (Acts 3). He speaks in the name of all the Apostles and for the whole Church when the Twelve are brought before the Sanhedrin for a trial (Acts 4). It is to St. Peter alone that God sends the revelation that gentiles are to be allowed into the Church (Acts 10), and he is the Apostle who first welcomes them into the Church (Acts 11). St. Peter's dogmatic pronouncement is accepted, and causes all disputes to cease at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). After his conversion and healing from blindness, St. Paul visits St. Peter to have his teachings confirmed by him (Gal.1:18).

Having said that, what should we make of St. Peter's reference to himself in 1 Peter 5:1 as a "fellow presbyter"? Does this signal that he was unaware of his special role as chief of the Apostles? The answer is found in the same passage. "Clothe yourselves in humility in your dealings with one another," he says, "for God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:5). Since he was cautioning his Christian audience to be humble, it makes perfect sense that he would take his own advice and, setting an example for them, speak of himself in humble terms. And in doing so, he was following Christ's command, "Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant, whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave" (Matt. 20:26-27). But this humility shouldn't blind us to the substantial body of biblical evidence showing that he did receive a special apostolic preeminence and authority from Christ -- evidence that critics of the papacy often ignore or strain to explain away.

St. Paul, like St. Peter, was also humble when referring to himself. He was by far the most prominent and prolific New Testament writer, responsible for about half of the New Testament, but he said, "I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God" (1 Cor. 15:10), and, "To me the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given" (Eph. 3:8). On numerous occasions he called himself a mere deacon, the very lowest level of ordained ministry in the Church (cf. 1 Cor. 3:5, 4:1; 2 Cor. 3:6, 6:4, 11:23; Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23, 25). But clearly, St. Paul had an authority far greater than that of a deacon.

As with St. Peter, these examples of St. Paul's humility are balanced by statements of his authority: "Although I have the full right to order you to do what is proper, I rather urge you out of love" (Phil. 8-9), and, "[A]lthough we were able to impose our weight as apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children" (1 Thess. 2:7).

St. Peter's calling himself a "fellow presbyter" doesn't disprove his primacy any more than St. Paul's habit of calling himself a "deacon" proves he had no authority greater than a deacon's. (Pope Fiction by Patrick Madrid)

8: Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9: For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. 10: In that day, says the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree." (Zec 3:8-10)

1: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2: And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3: And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4: but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. (Is 11:1-4)

Disclaimer: I do not wish to present myself as an expert in either theology, history, or scriptural interpretation. I am merely someone who is attempting to answer the call of Christ. The ultimate authority and interpreter of scripture is our Holy Catholic Church. If at any point I deviate from the teachings of the Church, please correct me, alfredo@nevarez.net, as this is my shortcoming and in no way meant to be an expression of my views superceding those of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

San Jose Bible Study
Alfredo Nevarez
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http://www.nevarez.net/alf/catholic/bible_study/