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God alone is infallible. Universally directed statements on matters of faith and morals proclaimed as doctrine of the Church, established by Jesus, by Peter and his successors are infallible due to the power of the Holy Spirit who is entrusted to guarantee the authenticity of such statements to be in accordance to the will of the Heavenly Father.

The complete harmony between Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is the unity, the oneness of God. They are collectively the fullness of God. When Jesus refers to God or to His Father He is referring to the primal necessary being known as Yahweh or God the Father.

In the Old Testament Yahweh is the primary focus of attention. In the Gospels Jesus is the primary focus of attention. Before His ascent into Heaven Jesus made it clear that the holy Spirit was to have responsibility for us following His departure.

Mark 13:11 When they lead you away
and hand you over, do not worry
beforehand about what you are to say.
But say whatever will be given to you at
that hour. For it will not be you who are
speaking but the holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13 If you then, who are
wicked, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will the
Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to
those who ask him?"

John 14:26 The Advocate, the holy
Spirit that the Father will send in my
name--he will teach you everything and
remind you of all that (I) told you.

John 15:26 "When the Advocate comes
whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the
Father, he will testify to me.

John 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is
better for you that I go. For if I do not
go, the Advocate will not come to you.
But if I go, I will send him to you.

Also before His final departure from active ministry He made it clear that He was leaving a visible reliable authority to govern His Church. The reliability (as found in authenticate teachings) of this visible authority should be understood to be guaranteed by the power of the holy Spirit.

John 1:42 Then he brought him to
Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You
are Simon the son of John; you will be
called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).

Kephas translates to mean rock, i.e., a large mass of stone such as a cliff. A mountain made of rock would be capable of producing many thousands of boulders. Rock, because of its solidity and permanent durable nature, is considered a sound foundation for building.

Matthew 7:24-25 "Everyone who
listens to these words of mine and acts on
them will be like a wise man who built his
house on rock. [25] The rain fell, the
floods came, and the winds blew and
buffeted the house. But it did not
collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.

Mark 15:46 Having bought a linen
cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in
the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb
that had been hewn out of the rock. Then
he rolled a stone against the entrance to
the tomb.

Luke 6:48 That one is like a person
building a house, who dug deeply and
laid the foundation on rock; when the
flood came, the river burst against that
house but could not shake it because it
had been well built.

Jesus made Peter (the office of Peter) the permanent foundation for the Church which would last until the end of time. (Mat 16:18)

Matthew 18:17 If he refuses to listen
to them, tell the church. If he refuses to
listen even to the church, then treat him
as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

Acts 5:11 And great fear came upon
the whole church and upon all who heard
of these things.

Acts 12:5 Peter thus was being kept in
prison, but prayer by the church was
fervently being made to God on his
behalf.

Acts 14:23 They appointed presbyters
for them in each church and, with prayer
and fasting, commended them to the
Lord in whom they had put their faith.

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves
and over the whole flock of which the holy
Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which
you tend the church of God that he
acquired with his own blood.

Eph 1:22-23 And he put all things
beneath his feet and gave him as head
over all things to the church, [23] which is
his body, the fullness of the one who fills
all things in every way.

Eph 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom
of God might now be made known
through the church to the principalities
and authorities in the heavens.

Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 5:24 As the church is subordinate
to Christ, so wives should be subordinate
to their husbands in everything.

Eph 5:27 that he might present to
himself the church in splendor, without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that
she might be holy and without blemish.

Col 1:18 He is the head of the body,
the church. He is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he himself might be preeminent.

Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings
for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling
up what is lacking in the afflictions of
Christ on behalf of his body, which is the
church,

1 Tim 3:15 But if I should be delayed,
you should know how to behave in the
household of God, which is the church of
the living God, the pillar and foundation
of truth.

It is unreasonable to believe that the Church was intended to be a divided entity. Indeed it was intended to be united in belief and profession of faith.

John 7:18 Whoever speaks on his own
seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks
the glory of the one who sent him is
truthful, and there is no wrong in him.

John 10:16 I have other sheep that do
not belong to this fold. These also I must
lead, and they will hear my voice, and
there will be one flock, one shepherd.

John 17:11 And now I will no longer
be in the world, but they are in the world,
while I am coming to you. Holy Father,
keep them in your name that you have
given me, so that they may be one just as
we are.

John 17:21-23 so that they may all be
one, as you, Father, are in me and I in
you, that they also may be in us, that the
world may believe that you sent me. [22]
And I have given them the glory you gave
me, so that they may be one, as we are
one, [23] I in them and you in me, that
they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent
me, and that you loved them even as you
loved me.

Mt. 16:18-19 And so I say to you, you
are Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of the
netherworld shall not prevail against it.
[19] I will give you the keys to the
kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven; and
whatever you loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven."

Kephas = Peter = petros. Petra and petros are the Latin forms of Kephas (Cephas) and are genderized. Peter is the anglicized form of petros. Genderization in this manner is not a part of the Hebrew, Greek, or English languages. Therefore the distinction in translation found in Latin is not valid but is a necessity of usage. It should be clear from this that Simon was to be the first in a line of office holders that formed the permanent foundation of the Church founded by Jesus which the gates of the netherworld would not prevail against.

The office of Peter was to have the power of binding and loosening on earth -- a term which should be understood to include the whole of the inhabitable universe. Since faith, morals, and Church discipline are the primary concerns of God and His Church, it would be reasonable to infer that the office of Peter was to be concerned with these matters. Simon the person was not in any since to be considered perfect (Mat 16:23 He turned and said to Peter [the person], "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.") but the office of Peter properly understood and controlled by the holy Spirit should be seen as the expression of the will of God. The person of Peter (and his successors) was also to have temporal authority over the affairs of the Church. His temporal authority is in no sense of the word to be considered as infallible. However, when he used his temporal authority in conformity with the universal teachings of the Church, such authority was to be considered as binding in conscience.

Luke 22:31-32 "Simon, Simon, behold
Satan has demanded to sift all of you like
wheat, [32] but I have prayed that your
own faith may not fail; and once you have
turned back, you must strengthen your
brothers."

Peter to strengthen the brothers, i.e. the rest of the apostles, -- a quality of leadership.

John 21:15-17 When they had finished
breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me
more than these?" He said to him, "Yes,
Lord, you know that I love you." He said
to him, "Feed my lambs." [16] He then
said to him a second time, "Simon, son of
John, do you love me?" He said to him,
"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He
said to him, "Tend my sheep." [17] He
said to him the third time, "Simon, son of
John, do you love me?" Peter was
distressed that he had said to him a third
time, "Do you love me?" and he said to
him, "Lord, you know everything; you
know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him,
"Feed my sheep.

Feed my lambs = teach the word of God to those who are not familiar with it.

Tend my sheep = direct, control, and discipline the members of the Church. (Bibles which translate this as "feed my sheep" are setting up a redundancy in regard to the next instruction of Jesus.)

Feed my sheep = increase the knowledge and wisdom of the members of the Church as they are ready to receive new information.

The jurisdiction of Jesus is assigned only to the apostles and by extension to their successors who remain in union with the office of Peter.

Luke 22:29 I for my part assign to you
the dominion my Father has assigned to me.

The Council of Jerusalem should not be considered a general council of the Church for the following reasons:

1. Not all of the apostles and bishops nor even the majority of the apostles and bishops
were said to be present.

2. The final directive as given by St. James while answering the needs of an immediate
concern did not become an unchangeable teaching of the Church. It was not the
constant teaching of the Church even from the perspective of the Acts of the Apostles.

Father David C. Trosch

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