Peter the rock?

"I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell [hades, oblivion] shall not prevail against it." Matt. 16:18

Peter had just made confession of the Lord Jesus as being the Anointed, the Son of the living God, the Messiah. This truth is the mighty rock upon which the entire Church of Christ, as living stones, must be built, for there is no other name given whereby we must be saved. Our Lord declares Peter to be one of these living stones, and Peter declares (1 Pet. 2:5), that all consecrated believers are similarly living stones, built upon this great foundation rock, Christ, the Anointed. These living stones are being built up for a habitation of God, through the spirit, to be a glorious temple for his indwelling, and through which he will bless all the families [E376] of the earth. Notwithstanding this fact, that God has accepted believers in Christ and is counting them as members of this future temple, he is permitting death to prevail against his people now: they go down into death (oblivion), apparently as do others: they therefore have need of the Lord's encouraging assurance that death shall not prevail against them, that the doors of oblivion shall not forever remain closed; that as he symbolically burst the bars of death, and came forth in resurrection through the Father's power, so also his Church shall be delivered from the power of death--from oblivion, and shall have share in his resurrection, "the first resurrection." Surely this is in harmony with all Scriptural testimony, and surely no other interpretation of our Lord's words would make the least sense.

Q'What is the meaning of the expression: "Upon this rock I will build my Church?" Matt. 16:18.

Answer'The Greek word for Peter is "Petros," and means a stone, and the original word for rock is "petra." The meaning of this passage, therefore, is "Thou art Petros, a stone, and on this petra, rock, I will build my Church." "Petros" is masculine, and petra is feminine. Jesus asked for a confession: Peter gave it in these words- "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." And this confession was the rock on which he declared that he would build his church, and against which the gates of hell (hades) should not prevail. The Apostle (1 Cor. 3:11) explains that Jesus Christ (and not Peter) is the only Foundation upon which the true Church or spiritual Temple is to be erected. St. Peter was merely one of the "living stones" (John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:2-5) of that great Temple, the Church of Christ, which will be made up of many "stones," of which our Lord Jesus is the foundation Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). There is not the slightest reason to suppose that any one will be in this true Church unless he is built upon this foundation rock of faith in Christ as the son of the living God. The test is a [HGL682] severe one. Many think themselves Christians who do not even know what Christ's teachings are and therefore have not even a basis for faith. They do not even know what the foundation is and so surely could not build thereon. Others claim that Jesus is not the Son of God but that he and the Father are the same person. Still farther astray are those who consider the living God as a mere principle.

In Matthew’s gospel we read: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”—Matthew 16:13-18

Although there is much controversy and theological debate over Scriptural teaching of the “rock/stone” analogies, what Jesus is saying to his disciples on this occasion is quite clear. God’s revelation to Peter that the Lord Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” clearly is the “rock” upon which the “church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23) would be built. Indeed, the “gates of hades” (Matthew 16:18, NIV) have never prevailed, and never will prevail, against this fundamental doctrinal truth. Roman Catholicism’s teaching that the “rock” is Peter, the first pope of Rome, eludes the import of our Lord’s question and more significantly, Peter’s revealed response. The confusion among men at the time when Jesus asked the disciples “whom do men say that I, the Son of man am” has continued throughout the Gospel age in the guise of the inexplicable philosophy of the trinity. This is Satan’s attempt to undo the very foundation upon which the church is being built! But praise be to our heavenly father, there has always been a remnant of true believers who, like Peter, have allowed God’s holy spirit to reveal the true nature and identity of Christ, thus seeing through the falseness of the trinitarian doctrine. As “living stones” they come to the “rock,” the “chief cornerstone,” and are being built up a spiritual house. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).