Anchor My Faith

On This Rock I Will Build My Church

Scripture: Matthew 16:17-18

In the previous lesson we listed numerous verses from the gospel of Matthew that expressed the uniqueness of Jesus. In this lesson we will begin to look at what Jesus said to Peter in response to his statement: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

^{Mt 16:17} And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

When Jesus says to Peter, “Blessed are you,” he is not conferring a blessing so much as acknowledging Peter’s condition of being privileged to benefit from God’s personal revelation to him. The source of this revelation was not from Peter (‘flesh and blood”) but as Jesus said, from “my Father who is in heaven.”

^{Mt 16:18} “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

We will need to spend some time on this verse because it one of the most controversial and debated passages in all of Scripture. Based upon this verse, Roman Catholics claim that Peter was the first pope because they see him as the rock on which the church will be built. In the Greek, “Peter” is Petros (“stone”), which is related to petra (“rock”). As a result, some say that Peter is himself the “rock”. Others say that Peter’s confession is the “rock” and some others say that “rock” means Christ and his teachings.

The context seems to support that Peter himself is the “rock” as Jesus is directing his comment to Peter, and the connecting word “and” most naturally identifies the rock with Peter himself. However, this does not solve the problem because there is still a question about what the word “rock” means in connection with Peter.

The Protestant view is that the rock refers to Peter in his role of confessing Jesus as the Christ or Messiah and that the other disciples would share in that role as they made similar confessions. It is upon these confessions of faith by these disciples or apostles that the church is built. We see this in Ephesians 2:19 – 22 ESV: ¹⁹ “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The response Jesus made to Peter confession does not mean he would have greater authority than the other disciples, nor does it mean that he would be infallible in his teaching, nor did it imply anything about a special office for Peter or successors to such an office, as the Catholics believe. Looking at the first half of the book of Acts, we see Peter acting as the spokesman and leader of the Jerusalem church, but we find in Acts 8:14 that Peter was sent to Samaria by the apostles at Jerusalem and when he returned he had to give an account of his actions (Acts 11:1 – 18). Serving on the Jerusalem council, Peter yielded to James, who had the decisive final word (Acts 15:7 – 21). It is true that Peter had a central role in the establishment of the church, but after Acts 16 he is no longer mentioned. This strongly suggest that the church was not built on Peter.

We must break at this point and return in the next lesson.

Conclusion

The Father revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God and I believe he reveals that to everyone who is to become a believer. I believe this is key in the Father drawing us to faith.