8. Circle of disciples

The first Christian converts in Antioch were Jews.(1) Among the local leaders in the Christian community that are mentioned by name, at least one, Manaen, was probably Jewish.(2) Paul tells us that the visit to Antioch of Peter and some other Jewish Christians from Jerusalem caused a temporary split in the community. The Jewish Christians at first refused to share meals with the Gentile converts, because they felt obliged to adhere to Jewish laws of diet and purity.(3) All this proves that a sizable part of the Christian community was of Jewish stock; and we may surmise that some of the new Gentile converts came from groups of proselytes (4) and God-fearers.(5)

Antioch counted many Jews among its citizens. This was due to its proximity to Palestine and to the close political links that had existed between Antioch and the Holy Land for many centuries. (6) A Jewish contemporary historian has left us an ccount of the Jewish settlement at Antioch.

'The Jewish race, densely interspersed among the native populations of every portion of the world, is particularly numerous in Syria, where intermingling is due to the proximity of the two countries. But it was at Antioch that they especially congregated, partly owing to the greatness of that city, but mainly because the successors of King Antiochus (7) had enabled them to live there in security. For although Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes sacked Jerusalem and plundered its temple,(8) his successors on the throne restored to the Jews all such votive offerings as were made of brass, to be laid up in their synagogue and, moreover, granted them citizen rights on an equality with the Greeks.Continuing to receive similar treatment from later monarchs, the Jewish colony grew in numbers, and their richly designed and costly offerings formed a splendid ornament to the Temple. (9)

Moreover, they were constantly attracting to their religious ceremonies multitudes of Greeks, and these they had in some measure incorporated with themselves. (10)

During the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes the Jews had been put under severe pressure to adopt a Greek style of life. When the persecution stopped, the pressure continued in subtle ways. Some Jews in Antioch had given in. They renounced their Jewish beliefs. They stopped circumcising their children. They worked on the sabbath. They ate pork. They offered sacrifices to Greek gods and goddesses and joined in pagan celebrations. (11)

Most of the Jews were aghast at this betrayal of their ancestral religion. They wanted to remain orthodox at all costs and tried to live Mosaic law according to the letter. Of course, this entailed a good deal of segregation from the other citizens of Antioch. Jews could never join public religious events or even share a meal with non-Jews. They tended to live in their own quarters and to form cliques in business and commerce. It made them an easy target for mistrust and suspicion. In 70 AD many of them were killed in a popular uprising when, on the instigation of some lapsed Jews, the orthodox were held respon­sible for a ferocious fire that destroyed public buildings in the centre of Antioch.(12)

Matthew's Gospel

For the Christian community it was crucial to work out clearly how their belief in Christ related to the old Jewish religion, Many of them were Jews by origin, as we have seen, or knew Judaism as proselytes or God-fearers. But even Gentiles who had never been Jews by birth or by personal choice would wonder how Jesus the Jew fitted in with the history of his own Jewish religion.

In this context the Gospel according to Matthew was written. Again, like with Mark, the date and place of composition cannot be fixed with absolute certainty. Scholars generally assign a date around 85 or 90 AD for the final edition; and, interestingly enough, many believe Antioch was the place where it was written. Arguments for this are: the language of the Gospel: an intermediate standard Greek with knowledge of Aramaic and Hebrew; pointers to a prosperous, urban environment; intense preoccupation with Jewish-Christian relationships; familiarity with Palestine and the role accorded to Peter. Antioch: would fit this combination of factors extremely well.(13)

What sources were used for writing the Gospel? Though the author moulded the material much more thoroughly than Mark, as we will see in a moment, like Mark he relied heavily on the traditions available to him and, by and large, passed them on virtually untouched. Matthew's dependence on the two main sources of tradition can be seen best in these comparative tables.

Matthew's Gospel in the original Greek has a total of 18.513 words.

Of these words 7,678 words ( 40% ) are in passages common to Matthew, Mark and Luke together. That is: they are from passages that derive from Urmark.

Further: 4,923 words (25% ) are in passages were Matthew and Luke are parallel. They go back to Quelle.

The passages proper to Matthew count 5.917 words (35% ).

Matthew's Gospel has (roughly calculated) a total of 196 distinct passages.

Parallel passages which Matthew shares with both Mark and Luke amount to, give and take, 100 passages (from Urmark).

Parallel passages Matthew shares with Luke number 49 passages (from Quelle).

Proper to Matthew: about 47 passages.

The exact relationship between the three Gospels, known as the synoptic problem, has given rise to many different theories.(14) We can safely leave their discussion to scholars.

The almost identical formulations, interspersed with odd discrepancies, the paradoxical similarities and dissimilarities between the three in their Greek text, indicate a very complex process. After studying the problem for a life time, M.E.Boismard posits the existence of 4 original sources (including Urmark and Quelle), then intermediate versions of the three Gospels before the final editions were made.(15) F.C.Grant distinguishes eight different sources with at least five written intermediate documents before the Gospels were completed.(16) R.Funk is, in my view, closer to the solution when he postulates that the oral traditions were still very much alive when the Gospels were written, so that the evangelists were influenced by them as well as by written sources like Urmark and Quelle.(17)

Who wrote Matthew's Gospel? Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, tells us: 'Matthew has put together the words (of the Lord) in the Hebrew language. Everyone translated these (into Greek) as well as he could'. (18) Other Fathers of the Church simply say the Apostle Matthew composed his Gospel in Hebrew.(19) What to make of this?

It is quite clear that the Apostle Matthew could not have written the present Greek Gospel: the writing represents not an eyewitness collection but a compilation of traditional texts in a second-generation Christian community.(20) The author of the Greek version (the final edition) was probably not a Jew.(21) But it is conceivable that the tradition of Matthean authorship still holds a kernel of truth. The Apostle Matthew may have had a hand in bringing together, in Aramaic or Hebrew, the sayings of Jesus which we now ascribe to Quelle. Is this not exactly what Papias tells us? (22) This may have given rise to the assumption that he had written the whole Gospel.

Composition of the Gospel

When we study Matthew, we find that much more than Mark he has shaped the traditions into a well thought out presentation. Mark followed more or less a geographical pattern (Galilee, journeys, Jerusalem). Matthew devised a theological scheme. For him Christ is first and foremost the Teacher, the new Moses. Just as Moses had presented the Old Testament law in five books, in the Pentateuch, (23) so Jesus is made to present his teaching in five major sermons that form the backbone of the Gospel:

chapter 5-7	the sermon on the mount (in Galilee)
chapter 10	the sermon for the Apostles
chapter 13	the sermon with parables of the Kingdom
chapter 18	the sermon for community leaders
chapter 24-25	the sermon on the mount of Olives.

Each of these five sermons ends with the same phrase: 'And when Jesus finished these sayings ....'(24) Matthew starts with infancy narratives (chapters 1-2) and concludes with the passion and resurrection (chapters 26-28). In between he intersperses series of events and words of Jesus that establish him as a teacher.

While respecting the traditional material, Matthew was not afraid of moulding it into new logical frameworks. Take, for example, the sermon on the mount. Here Matthew has brought together 35 originally distinct passages. Some of these he may have found as 'clumps' in oral tradition or in the written document Quelle, but it was Matthew who re-arranged them and joined them in new combinations. He shaped it all into a powerful display of the new morality, the new 'law' required in the Kingdom of God. To bring out the contrast with the old law even sharper, Matthew created the setting on the mountain:

Jesus went up on the mountain.
When he sat down his disciples came close.
He opened his mouth and taught them with these words:
'Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . .'(25)

We know from Luke that Jesus actually spoke the beatitudes when he was 'in the plain', 'in a low-lying place'.(26) Mat­thew deliberately made Jesus deliver his sermon on the mountain to compare him with Moses who had proclaimed the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai,(27) Jesus' laws of love complement and transcend the old Law.(28)

On the question: 'Did Jesus really preach the sermon on the mount?', the answer is simple. He never preached it in the way Matthew presents it now. What Jesus taught on many different occasions, Matthew moulds into one coherent lesson. Matthew tells us: 'This is Jesus' teaching on Christian morality'. By editing the text, welding it together and presenting it as one unit, Matthew interprets the traditions for us. Of course, he does so under inspiration so that we have a correct, representative picture of Jesus' teaching on this point.(29)

Similar editorial work by Matthew can be demonstrated for the series of ten miracles in chapters 8 and 9, (30) for the sermon of parables on the Kingdom (31) and for almost every section of Matthew's Gospel. Matthew was a real 'editor' in the sense that he trimmed the text or enlarged it, cut or pasted, as he thought best.

Matthew was much preoccupied with proving against Jewish skeptics the Christian claim that Jesus was the Messiah.(32) Throughout the Gospel he linked what happened in Jesus' life to Old Testament prophecies: 'This happened so that might be fulfilled what was said by the prophet Isaiah, and so on'.(33) It is clear that this theme and Matthew's continuous allusions to Old Testament imagery reflect his deep involvement with Jewish-Christian dialogue.(34)

Jesus'authority

Matthew had other preoccupations. To understand these we have to switch our attention back to Antioch. During the second half of the first century, when Matthew's Gospel was written, the Christian community was sorely tested by 'false prophets', by people who claimed to be Christian while deviating from Christian beliefs and practices.

The Nicolaitans, for instance, advocated a compromise between Christianity and paganism. They claimed to follow Nicolaus of Antioch, one of the first seven deacons.(35) As far as we can make out from scanty historical data, they allowed Christians to take part in pagan ceremonies.(36)

Another troublesome group were the disciples of Simon the Magician who had already clashed with Peter in Samaria.(37) One of them, Menander of Samaria, made converts among the sport and contest loving population of Antioch. His follower Satornilus preached a mixture of Christian and pagan doctrines. Christ, he said, was a divine figure who came to this earth to fight evil. To deceive Satan he took on the appearance of a human nature. He never was a real human being.(38)

A third group that posed problems were the disciples of John the Baptist. They continued to exist for some centuries as a distinct Jewish sect on the periphery of Christianity. Paul converted twelve of them when he visited Ephesus.(39) The Johannites accepted many of Jesus' teachings but seem to have denied his resurrection, as well as Christian baptism in Jesus' name.(40) We may presume that they had a considerable following in Antioch.

A man puts on his sandals, detail of a mosaic depicting hunting scenes. The ordinary dress in everydaylife was the ‘tunic’: the simple , long skirt that covered the body from the shoulders to the knees.

All such splinter groups - and there may have been more - threatened to destroy Christian faith and split the community. Matthew countered this threat by reminding Chris­tians of Jesus' warnings against false prophets.(41) He also showed that Jesus had taught with authority and that this authority had been passed on to the leaders of the Church.

* He taught people as someone with authority, not as their scribes.(42)
* 'The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.(43)
* 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things'.(44)
* 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, my words shall not pass away'.(45)
* 'To me has been given all authority in heaven and on earth'.(46)

Jesus delegated this authority to his disciples.

* He gave the twelve disciples authority over unclean spirits so that they could cast them out, and heal every disease and every infirmity.(47)
*'If anyone will not listen to your words ...., it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town!'(48)
* 'Amen, amen I say to you. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loosen on earth shall be loosened in heaven.(49)
* 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go out and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have spoken to you. See, I will always remain with you, till the end of time!'(50)

These last words which Matthew tells us were spoken 'on a mountain in Galilee to which Jesus had directed them', remind us of how God on Mount Nebo showed Moses the promised land (51) and how he authorised Joshua, his successor, to conquer it for his people.(52)

Ignatius of Antioch

Who were these Church leaders who, according to Matthew, continued to exercise Jesus' authority in the community? The New Testament speaks of 'elders' who were appointed in local Churches,(53) of 'overseers'(54) and of deacons.(55) But initially the terms were still used rather vaguely. All the elders of Miletus are called 'overseers' (bishops) by Paul (56) and Paul refers to himself as a 'deacon' of Christ's Church.(57)

In the pastoral epistles a clear shift to more precise job descriptions can be discerned.(58) Soon after, the letters from St.Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, give us a picture of Church leadership at the time. The Christians of Antioch were held responsible for an earthquake that happened in 110 AD. During a brief, but vehement persecution a number of believers were executed. Ignatius, their leader, was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts in the Coliseum in Rome. During his transport as a prisoner through Asia Minor, he wrote letters to the Christian Churches he passed on his way: Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Philadelphia, Smyrna and Rome.

Ignatius' letters leave us a record of a clearly defined authority structure. Communities in major cities had an overseer (a bishop) who held the ultimate responsibility for the people in the city and in the surrounding area. He was assisted by a council of elders (presbuteroi) who also carried individual authority. They were assisted by deacons.(59)

Ignatius was very much concerned with the Docetic heresy mentioned above, according to which Jesus had been only human in appearance.

'Close your ears if someone speaks to you minimising Jesus Christ.

He was from David's family, the child of Mary, truly born.

He ate and drank, was truly condemned under Pontius Pilate and truly crucified.

He died within view of all who are in heaven, on earth and under the earth.

He was also truly raised from the dead ....

If, however, Christ only suffered in appearance as some godless unbelievers maintain, why do I carry these chains? Why do I look forward to confront the wild animals?'(60)

The community, he says, needs the protection of a bishop who represents Christ, and of elders (presbyters, priests?) who are like the Apostles. (61)

* 'All must offer obedience to the bishop as Jesus Christ offers it to the Father. All must offer obedience to the presbyters as to the Apostles. Respect the deacons as you respect God's Law'. (62)

* 'Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the mind of the Father. So also the bishops, established in the furthest parts of the world, are in the mind of Christ Jesus. Therefore it is right and proper for you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of the bishop, as indeed you do. For your noble presbyters, worthy of God, are fitted to the bishop, as the strings to a harp'.(63)

The need of the community at Antiochto be guided and protected by strong leadership may help us read Matthew's Gospel better. Peter who according to ancient tradition was 'bishop' of Antioch: before moving to Rome, (64) is portrayed in Matthew's Gospel as the pattern for bishops. Peter's confession of Jesus' messiahship is singled out for special mention.(65) Jesus provides the Temple tax for himself and for Peter.(66) Peter is called the 'rock' on which the community is built.(67) To him are given 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven'.(68) The authority given to all Church leaders of binding and loosening, is given in a special way to Peter.(69) In Peter we can mirror the special role and authority entrusted to the bishop.(70)

The twelve Apostles, on the other hand, reflect the authority and task of the presbyters and deacons. To them are addressed the apostolic sermon and the sermon to Church leaders. (71) Like Jesus they should be filled with compassion, seeing how people are 'confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd'.(72) Again like Jesus, they should exercise their authority as a ministry, realising that their task is to serve, not to be served.(73)

One sign of our being together 'in Jesus' name' is our being in harmony with the rest of the Christian community and its leaders. For it was in Jesus' name that authority was exercised. Peter cured a lame man 'in the name of Jesus'(74). Baptism, forgiveness of sins and salvation were brought 'in Jesus' name'.(75) The Gospel was proclaimed 'in Jesus' name'.(76) Devils were thrown out 'in Jesus' name'.(77) Persons who harmed the community were expelled 'in Jesus' name'.(78) To be assembled 'in Jesus' name(79)presupposes the approval and protection of those in the community to whom Christ entrusted his authority

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

1. Consider this passage in Matthew's Gospel (18,15-17; 'brother' has been translated as 'fellow believer', 'companion'):

If your companion sins against you, go and point out his or her fault, between the two of you. If he or she relents, you have gained your companion.

If he or she does not relent, take one or two others along with you, so that what happens can be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

If he or she still refuses to relent, inform the church. And if he or she refuses to listen to the church, let that person be to you as a pagan and a tax collector.

a. What does it tell you about authority in the Matthean community?

b. Did Jesus use the word 'Church'? What does it tell you about the passage?

2. Study these words of Jesus (Matthew 20,25-28):

Among the pagans those who have power dominate, and those who are leaders make their authority felt. It should not be like that among you.

Who wants to have power among you, must be your servant; who wants to be a leader, must be your slave.

Just as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for all.Do these words contradict the need for authority?

3. Comment on this passage from Matthew's Gospel (13,52):

Every scribe who is well versed in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings from his treasure things new and old.

Footnotes

4. Proselytes joined the Jewish religion fully by having themselves circumcised.

5. Gentiles who felt attracted to Judaism and who embraced monotheism (belief in one God), but who could not or would not submit to observing Jewish religious law (circumcision, the Sabbath, abstaining from pork, etc.) were known as God-fearers. See Cornelius (Acts 10,2.22.35), Gentiles in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13,16), Titius Justus in Corinth (Acts 18,6), and so on.

6. From 218 to 120 BC Galilee with Samaria and Jude were two provinces of the Antiochean kingdom.

7. This probably refers to Antiochus I Soter (280 - 261 BC).

8. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175 -164 BC).

9. The prosperous Jewish community at Antioch kept sending gifts to the Temple in Jerusalem.

10. FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS (37 - 97 AD), The Jewish Wars VII, 43-45; in the Loeb Classical Library, Vol III, London 1960, pp. 517-518.

11. 2 Maccabees 4,7-20; 6,1-11; and so on.

12. JOSEPHUS, The Jewish War, VII 41-42.62

13. C.KRAELING, 'The Jewish Community at Antioch', Journal of Biblical Literature 51 (1932) pp. 130-160; E.SCHWEIZER, 'Matthew's Church' in The Interpretation of Matthew, ed.G.STANTON, London 1983, pp. 129-155; J.D.KINGSBURY, Matthew, Philadelphia 1977; J.GNILKA, Das Matthäusevangelium, vol.II, Freiburg 1988, esp. pp. 513-515; see also B.T.VIVIANO ('Where was the Gospel according to Matthew written?', Catholic Biblical Quarterly 41 (1979) pp. 533-546) who argues for Ceasarea as an alternative.

14. A thorough step-by-step introduction to the 'problem' is provided in E.P.SANDERS and M.DAVIES, Studying the Synoptic Gospels, London 1989.

15. M.E.BOISMARD, Synopse des quatre Évangiles, Paris 1972.

16. F.C.GRANT, The Gospels. Their Origin and their Growth, London 1957.

17. R.FUNK, New Gospel Parallels, Philadelphia 1985.

18. PAPIAS, Sayings of the Lord, 103.

19. Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3.1.1), Origen (quoted in Eusebius, History of the Church, 6,25.4) and Eusebius himself (History of the Church, 3,24.6).

20. D.SENIOR, What are they saying about Matthew?, New York 1983, p.14.

21. J.P.MEIER, The Vision of Matthew, New York 1978, pp.17-25.

22. G.BORNKAMM, 'Matthäus' in Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. K.GALLING, vol.11, Berlin 1965, col. 758 J.GNILKA, Das Matthäusevangelium, vol.11, Freiburg 1988, pp. 517-519.

23. Pentateuch means 'five scrolls'. The Jews called it the Torah.

24. Matthew 7,28; 11,1; 13,53; 19,1; 26,1. See B.W.BACON, "The "Five Books" of Matthew against the Jews', The Expositor 15 (1918) pp. 55-66; id., Studies in Matthew, London1930.

28. W.D.DAVIES, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount, Cambridge 1964; J.BLIGH, The Sermon on the Mount, Slough 1975; D.A.CARSON, The Sermon on the Mount, Grand Rapids 1978; H.D.BETZ, Studien mm Bergpredigt, Tübingen 1985.

29. The various stages of Gospel formation are well expressed in a document issued by the Vatican commission on Sacred Scripture: 'On the historical truth of the Gospels', Acta Apostolicae Sedis 56 (1964) pp. 712-718; Catholic Biblical Quarterly 26 (1964) pp. 305-312; see the commentary by J.A.FITZMYER in Theological Studies 25 (1964) pp. 386-408.

30. C.BURGER, 'Jesu Taten nach Matthäus 8 und 9', Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 70 (1973) pp. 272-287; J.MOISER, 'The Structure of Matthew 8-9. A Suggestion', Zeitschrift für die neutestamentlicheWissenschaft 76 (1985) pp. 117-118.

31. J.D.KINGSBURY, The Parables of Jesus in Matthew 13, London 1969; D.WENHAM, 'The Structure of Matthew 13', New Testament Studies 25 (1979) pp. 516-522.

32. About the conflict with Judaism, see: R.HUMMEL, Die Auseinandersetzung zwischen Kirche und Judentum im Matthäusevangelium, Munchen 1963; D.R.A.HARE, The Theme of the Jewish Persecution of Christians in the Gospel according to St.Matthew, Cambridge 1967; G.STRECKER, Der Weg der Gerechugkeit, Gottingen 1966.

33. Matthew 1,23; 2,6; 2,15; 2,18; 2,23; 4,15-16; 8,17; 12,18-21; 13,35; 21,5; 26,56; 27,9-10.

34. K.STENDAHL, The School of St.Matthew and its Use of the Old Testament, Philadelphia 1968; R.H.GUNDRY, The Use of the Old Testament in St.Matthew's Gospel with Special Reference to the Messianic Hope, Leiden 1967; W.ROTHFUCHS, Die Erfüllungszitate des Matthäus-Evangeliums, Stuttgart 1969.

38. IRENAEUS, Against Heresies 1,23-24; JUSTUS, Apology 1,26; EUSEBIUS, History of the Church 2,13-14; 4,7.3. Because of the insistence on 'appearance', Greek: dokêsis, they are known as 'Docetes'. They became forerunners of the classical Gnostic sects of the second century; R.M.GRANT, Gnosticism and Early Christianity, New York 1959.

39. Acts 19,1-6; W.MICHAELIS, 'Die sogenannte Johannes-Jönger in Ephesus, Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift 38 (1927) pp. 717-736.

40. It is for this reason that Matthew inserted the discussion between Jesus and John at Jesus' baptism; to assert that Jesus is greater that John even though he submitted to John's baptism; see Matthew 3,14-15 which is proper to Matthew.

41. Matthew 7,15-20; 24,4-5; 24,23-25.

42. Matthew 7,29; compare Mark 1,22.27; Luke 4,32.

43. Matthew 9,6; compare Mark 2,10; Luke 5,24; see pages 131-132 above.

44. Matthew 21,23-24.27; compare Mark 11,28-29.33; Luke 20,2.8.

45. Matthew 24,35; compare Mark 13,31; Luke 21,33.

46. Matthew 28,18; proper to Matthew.

47. Matthew 10,1; compare Mark 6,7; Luke 9,1.

48. Matthew 10,14-15; compare Mark 6,11; Luke 10,10-12.

49. Matthew 18,18; addressed to all apostles; compare John 20,23.

50. Matthew 28,18-20; see also J.M.REESE, 'How Matthew portrays the communication of Christ's authority', Biblical Theology Bulletin 7 (1977) pp. 140-141; T.F.McKENNA, 'Matthew on Church Authority', The Bible Today 17 (1979) pp. 2035-2041.

51. Deuteronomy 34,1-4.

52. Deuteronomy 34,9; Joshua 1,1-9. Notice the last verse: 'Be strong and of good courage. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go'.

53. Acts 14,23; 15,2.4.6. The Greek word is presbuteros from which our 'priest' is derived.

54. Acts 20,28; Philemon 1,1; 1 Peter 2,25. The Greek is episkopos, the origin of words such as Bishop, episcopal, and so on.

59. C.C.RICHARDSON, The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch, New York 1935; 'The Church in Ignatius of Antioch', Journal of Religion 17 (1937) pp. 428-443; V.CORWIN, St Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch, New Haven 1960.

60. IGNATIUS, Letter to the Church in Tralles 9.1 -10.1.

61. J.H.S.RAWLEY, The Epistles of St.Ignatius, London 1913, pp. 18-19,34-38.

62. IGNATIUS, Letter to the Church at Smyrna 7,1.

63. IGNATIUS, Letter to the Church in Ephesus 3-4; see also Ephesians 6; Magnesians 3; Trallians 2,3.

64. J.T.SHOTWELL and L.R.LOOMIS, The See of Peter, New York 1927.

65. Matthew 16,17.

66. Matthew 17,24-27.

67. Matthew 16,18. He was called Simon, but Jesus gave him the Aramaic name kephas (rock) which, precisely because of the significance of its meaning, was translated into Greek as Petros (rock); see John 1,42; 1 Corinthians 9,5; 15,5; Galatians 1,18; 2,6-14.

68. Matthew 16,19.

69. Matthew 16,19; compare Matthew 18,18. It makes Peter the 'authorised interpreter of Jesus' teachings'; G.BORNKAMM, The Authority to "Bind" and "Loose" in the Church in Mat­thew's Gospel' in G.STANTON (ed.), The Interpretation of Matthew, London 1983, pp. 85-97

70. Read R.BROWN et al. ed., Peter in the New Testament. A Collaborative Assessment by Protestant and Roman Catholic Scholars, Mineapolis 1973; R.BROWN, 'The meaning of modern New Testament studies for an ecumenical understanding of Peter and a theology of the papacy' in Biblical Reflections on Crises Facing the Church, New York 1975, pp. 63-83.

71. Matthew 10,1-42 and 18,1-35.

72. Matthew 9,35-38.

73. Matthew 20,20-28; the Latin word minister means 'servant'.

74. Acts 3,6; 4,7-10.

75. Acts 19,5; Luke 24,47; 1 Corinthians 6,11; and so on.

76. Acts 4,17-20; 5,28.40; 9,27-28.

77. Acts 16,18; 19,13-16.

78. 1 Corinthians 5,3-5.

79. Matthew 18,20.