CUL:What the Apostle Peter says about Salvation

   Since Peter is proclaimed as the first Pope of the Roman Catholic
Church, I thought that it would be advantageous to go through the
epistles of I and II Peter and glean out anything that would be useful
in witnessing to a Roman Catholic. I used The New American Bible which
is an easy-to- read Catholic version that is put out by the Catholic
Biblical Association of America. It is a study Bible and has the
approval of the Vatican.

   The following are passages and explanations of how I see their
usefulness in witnessing to Catholics. I did not pick passages that
need a lot of explanation or need explanation from outside of I and II
Peter.

   I PETER

   PASSAGE PURPOSE OF THIS PASSAGE 1:2 I will stress "... consecrated
by the Spirit to a life of obedience to Jesus Christ and purification
with His blood." Discussing what is meant by the purification of
Christ's blood is an important place to start.

   2:4-7 This passage can be compared to Matthew 16:18 to show that
Christ is the cornerstone.

   2:9 This passage can used to show the priesthood of the believer
over a chosen few who are called priests by the Catholic Church.

   3:18 This passage talks about "The reason why Christ died for sins
once for all ... might lead you to God." This passage shows why Christ
died and His victory over death.

   5:1 "To the elders among you I, a fellow elder ..." shows that Peter
did not see himself above the other elders of the church, but as an
equal.

   II PETER

   PASSAGE PURPOSE OF THIS PASSAGE

   1:1 "Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ ..." shows
that Peter is the servant of Jesus and not of Mary.

   1:17-18 This passage tells of the time that Peter and the apostles
heard God talk from heaven saying that He was well pleased with Jesus
His Son. I have had Catholics say to me, "How can we really be sure
that there is a God?" This would be a scriptural passage from that of
an eyewitness, Peter himself.

   1:20-21 This passage can of course be used to show Peter's claim to
the inspiration of the scriptures.

   2:4-15 This passage shows that God did not spare the angels that
sinned, the people from Noah's time, and the people of Sodom and
Gomorrah, but that He did spare Lot, a righteous man. It then goes on
to show that God does judge the wicked. Purgatory, salvation through
Mary, Joseph or the saints is not mentioned here even though a wicked
life has been lived.

   3:6-13 This passage shows that Christ will come again and that He
will be as a thief in the night. He will come for the purpose of
judgment. To sincere Roman Catholics, this passage will make them think
about their system of salvation by works and if they are really going
to heaven. This would be a good passage for creating doubt in their
minds.

   3:15-16 This is a great passage showing the fact that Paul's
writings are scripture. Tying this back into II Peter 1:20-21, I can
then take them (with Peter's consent) into any other part of scripture,
but especially Paul's writings to give them a clearer salvation message.
