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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