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NASB | Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 3:28 For we maintain that an individual is justified by faith distinctly apart from works of the Law [the observance of which has nothing to do with justification, that is, being declared free of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]. |
Subject: What separates Evangelicals, Catholics? |
Bible Note: Part 3 BABYLON AND ROME In 1Peter 5:13, Peter says, "The church that is at Babylon saluteth you." Some suppose "Babylon" is a cryptic word for Rome. There is no evidence that Rome was ever called "Babylon" until after the Book of the Revelation was written. The Revelation was written about 95 A.D., many years after the death of Simon Peter. If 1Peter 5:13 refers to Rome, then Simon Peter did not write the letter and we have a forgery in the Bible. Peter's method and manner of writing are in no sense apocalyptic. He is direct and matter-of-fact. That this man Peter, plain of speech almost to bluntness, should interject into the midst of his personal explanations and final salutations such a mystical epithet, with no hint of what he means by it, is beyond credulity. Peter says the elect in Babylon send greetings to the Jews of the Dispersion in Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. "Babylon" is no more cryptic than "Pontus", "Asia", or the rest. He means what he says. His "Babylon" is the Babylon on the Euphrates. It is a part of the eastern world where Peter lived his life and did his work. Babylon in the time of Simon Peter was no longer a great world capital, but it was still inhabited by a colony of people, mostly Jews. Among those Hebrew friends he won many to Christ, and those Jewish Christians sent greetings to their fellow - Jewish Christians in Asia Minor where Peter had previously done a blessed missionary work. Unbiased historians and the Scriptural records indicate that Peter died and was buried either in Mesopotamia or Asia Minor. The Pope of Rome will be able to find plenty of bones beneath the Vatican hills, where Christians by the thousands were murdered and buried by pagan and papal persecutors back when Rome ruled the world. But these bones prove nothing except that the Roman hierarchy is frantic in its efforts to find something that will give a semblance of justification to their false claims that Peter was connected with the papal system. Peter was never in Rome. Nor was he ruler over any church. Nor did he have any keys to give anybody else to hand down to others. He was a stone, one out of many with which God is building His spiritual house in earth and in heaven. |