The Rock of the Church
.... The truth could only be fully known to men through the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 12:3), and the first to receive this spiritual revelation of truth, and to voice it, was Simon Peter:
.... ‘When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
(Matthew 16:13-19)
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.... To answer this question, let’s return to the original Greek wording for an important distinction. When Jesus speaks of the ‘rock’ on which the church is built, the underlying Greek word is ‘Petra’, which means a huge cliff or a bedrock, like the Rock of Gibraltar. 
But the Greek word that is translated ‘Peter’ is a different word, ‘Petros’, which means a little rock or a throwing stone, like a piece from the big rock. So Jesus is telling us that Peter is associated with the big rock in some smaller way, but they are not one and the same. .... "Whoever comes to Me . . . is like a man . . . who . . . laid the foundation on the rock (Petra) ."
(Luke 6:47-48)
.... In other words, Jesus Himself is the Christ and He is the true rock of the church (Petra); and because Peter had just just confessed Jesus and believed in Him, we might say he had just gotten ‘a piece of the rock’ (Petros) -- to use the old ad line. .... Or perhaps we could explain this easier by paraphrasing Augustine. Just as Jesus is called the ‘Christ’ (which means the ‘anointed one’) and we are called ‘Christians’ (which means ‘little anointed ones’) and thus we are named for Him, our faith in Jesus is called the ‘Petra’, the bedrock of the church, and those who believe in Him become the ‘Petros’, the little pieces of the rock (see 1 Peter 2:4-5). By confessing His belief in Jesus, Peter had become a part of the church. So the church was not built on Peter, but Peter was built on the church, in the same sense that believing in Jesus is the bedrock of our own acceptance into the church.
.... Immediately after Peter’s confession, Jesus completed the whole, crucial thought by sharing the gospel with the apostles, and the role that His blood would play in our salvation:
.... "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."
(Matthew 16:21; see 1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
.... Therefore we might say that Peter, both hearing the gospel and giving the word of his testimony about Christ, would overcome the evil one, as shall everyone who follows the example first shown in him:.... "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."
(Revelation 12:11)
.... For a further discussion on this issue, and how it compares with the claims of the Catholic church, please continue reading in the 'comments' section.
To proceed to the next lesson, click here
Daily Bible Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1
posted by Cleopas at 9:32 PM
6 Comments:
The Catholic church believes that Jesus actually did delegate his authority to Peter in this passage, and that the popes are the successors of Peter. Their interpretation of Matthew 16:18 is crucial to their church’s identity; therefore you may see many clever arguments to sustain their interpretation. However, once they have exhausted those arguments, they will reluctantly admit that Christ is the rock (Petra) whom this passages envisions. They will only insist that we must not understand this in a way that excludes Peter.
We have no trouble with this interpretation to that degree, but we insist that including Peter does not exclude anyone else, either. In other words, anyone who believes in Jesus gets a piece of the rock, for ‘Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Rom 10:13). Or as Simon Peter himself would say:
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
(1 Pet 2:4-5)
By
Cleopas, at 1/24/2006 9:35 PM
Before conceding the point on ‘Petra’ (mentioned above), Catholics may argue that all of the early church leaders agreed with their interpretation that Peter is the rock of the church. They have always been told that this was true and have probably never questioned it, but in reality it is quite mistaken. For examples, click here.
By
Cleopas, at 1/24/2006 9:38 PM
Speaking of linguistic challenges, Catholic scholarship offers a few of their own. They remind us that Jesus actually spoke in Aramaic, not Greek, and they claim that the Petros/Petra distinction did not exist in Aramaic. The Aramaic word for Peter is ‘Ke’pha’ and therefore they speculate that Jesus used the word Ke’pha for ‘rock’ in both places.
First of all, there are no ‘original Aramaic’ manuscripts, and the original Greek was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so the Petros/Petra distinction was no accident – it was included purposely. Second, the Aramaic language does indeed include a distinction between the words for small and large rocks. The word for ‘Petros’ is Ke’pha, but the corresponding word for ‘Petra’ would have been Shu’a.
By
Cleopas, at 1/24/2006 9:39 PM
Another linguistic argument is that the word ‘Petra’ is a feminine word, and ‘Petros’ is a masculine word. The Catholic claim is that Jesus changed the word to change the gender, so as not to offend Peter by giving him a girl’s name.
Actually, though, ‘Petra’ can be used in the masculine sense too (Jesus Himself is called the ‘Petra’ in Luke 6:47), or Jesus could have used the word ‘Petrou’ or ‘Petras’ instead, to give a masculine name with the same sense of a large rock.
We should remember that no one was named ‘Peter’ in those days, Jesus was actually making up the name on this occasion. So why would He introduce a distinction that lead to confusion? (1 Cor 14:33). It is far more likely that the purpose of His distinction was to avoid confusion, lest some unintended meaning come forth.
By
Cleopas, at 1/24/2006 9:40 PM
Catholic scholars will sometimes use a secondary line of reasoning to support their interpretation of Peter as the ‘rock’ of the church. This will be based on the rest of Jesus’ comment: “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
Catholics equate the ‘keys’ in this passage to the key of the house of David, mentioned in Isaiah 22:22. In that passage, (vs 15-25) Shebna is the steward over the house of David but God is taking away his place, and the key of David’s house, and giving it to Eliakim the son of Hilkiah as the new steward. Catholics argue that this really refers to Peter, who was given the keys of the kingdom that he might become the steward of the church and a ‘father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ (v 21). The word ‘pope’ literally means ‘father’.
By looking at this passage ourselves, we may readily see that it includes graphic imagery of the crucifixion of Jesus (vs 20-25). So it is actually referring, not to Eliakim nor to Peter, but to Jesus Himself. The matter is entirely settled when we consider Rev 3:7, where Jesus plainly tells us that He is the one with the key of the house of David. For there is no longer a servant over the house, but He is the Son who rules over His own house (Heb 3:6).
And by the way, Jesus forbade using the religious title of ‘father’, reminding us that we only have one ‘religious Father’, who is our heavenly Father (Matt 23:9).
By
Cleopas, at 1/24/2006 9:41 PM
Hi Loren, great post! I have had many a discussion over that passage with my family, telling them the same that you have shared here. They don't care. The pope it is. What to do? Some folks can't be reasoned with. Hope you are having a good week!
By
Rose~, at 1/25/2006 1:13 AM
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