WITNESSING TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC

INTRODUCTION

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.

 

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