In any event, as you will see in the video below, gnrhead attempts to defend the papacy in response to a video clip posted by someone asking for Scriptural support for the papacy other than Matthew 16:18 (as if that was support for the papacy at all). What we are told is that there are MANY passages that support the papacy but he only wished to focus on 2 in particular. Watch the video and then read my response.
OK… So he’s asked that we do a lexical study on the Greek word poimainō which he wrongly pronounces poy-me-nah-oh... no big deal, people mispronounce things all the time, although this is something he takes issue with... (see his derision of a man who mispronounces transubstantiation here). Well, before pulling out my lexicons I decided to check my UBS 4th ed. Greek New Testament and the word in question is not poimainō (the standard lexical form) but rather the 2nd person, present, active, imperative poimaine. This is a verb which he acknowledges and tells us that it literally means ‘to lead a flock’ but then seems to ignore this and treat it as a noun when he says:
out of all the 12 apostles Christ could have easily told James, he could have told any of them that they would be a shepherd, uh a ‘poy-me-nah-oh.’
Well not to nitpick, but poimēn is a shepherd, not poimainō (he closes with a challenge for Protestants to find a passage where Jesus calls anyone other than Peter a poy-me-nah-oh, but that’s impossible since he doesn’t even call Peter one here!) He goes on to set up a ridiculous standard in saying:
The funny thing is, we don’t have a singular other Biblical passage in which Christ calls any other apostle a ‘poy-me-nah-oh’, a leader, a shepherd; in the sense of leading the flock the way he told Peter, we don’t have a single other passage of him designating such power.
Why is this standard ridiculous you ask—it’s ridiculous because it excludes the remainder of the Word of God! No doubt this comes from his rejection of Sola Scriptura which ultimately leads to a low view of Scripture, but that matters not as we don’t need the words to be in red letters to know that they are authoritative. We don’t need Jesus to tell anyone else to poimaine his sheep because others say it in Scripture.
Paul speaking to the Ephesian elders instructs them to ‘shepherd the Church of God’ [Gk. poimainein tēn ekklēsian tou theou] (Acts 20:28). This is parallel to Jesus’ statement to Peter and it was spoken to a GROUP of elders! Again we have Peter himself (allegedly) speaking to ‘the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappado'cia, Asia, and Bithyn'ia’ (1Pet. 1:1, RSV) saying to, ‘shepherd the flock of God that is in your charge’ [Gk. poimanate to en humin poimnion tou theou] (1Pet. 5:2, my translation). Peter (the one to whom RCs claim Christ gave supreme authority) just gave this SAME command (it is in the imperative mood, the mood of command) to MANY believers in the diaspora!
So even if we don’t have Jesus giving this command to any other apostles, we have the apostle to whom he gave it giving it to others! It seems that Peter was more than willing to share his primacy!
Next he addressed Luke 22:31-32 focusing on Jesus telling Peter to ‘strengthen thy brethren’ again focusing on a single Greek word that he feels establishes a doctrine. This time the word is stērison (or stērixon if you are relying on the Textus Receptus) which means to make stable, place firmly, set fast, fix, to strengthen, make firm, etc. Again he gives us the lexical form of the verb (stērizō) and not its conjugated form in scripture.
Again he chides:
Out of all of the apostles, Peter’s the only one Christ tells to stērizō…
And then claims to have done extensive study on this one Greek word that he cannot even seem to conjugate or cite in its conjugated form. Again, are we to ignore the entire Word of God to only focus on one passage that this man thinks supports his view? Of course not! In point of fact Paul says that he longed to see the Romans that he could impart to them some spiritual gift that in the end they ‘may be strengthened’ [Gk. stērichthēnai] (Rom. 1:11). Paul also tells the Thessalonians that he sent Timothy to ‘establish’ [Gk. stērixai] them (1Th. 3:2). James tells the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad (Jam. 1:1) to be patient and ‘strengthen’ [Gk. stērixate] their hearts (Jam. 5:8).
So again, when we refuse to exclude evidence and we allow the whole of Scripture to speak, then we arrive at decidedly different conclusions than our RC friends would like us to. I find no merit to gnrhead’s assertions. And he may consider this the answer to his challenge at the end of the video to:
Refute the passages that [he has] listed in a scholarly fashion, not the usual ridiculous ad hominem attack fashion.
