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.
Matthew 16:18 ESV
Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was. And then who they thought he was. Peter responded to the second question by proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. In response, Jesus told Peter that this had been revealed to him by the Father above.
Jesus went on to make an interesting statement about Peter. His name had been Simon, but Jesus gave him a new name here—Peter. Peter means rock. This was a very unusual name for someone to have. And it may have taken a while to get used to being called rock.
Who, or What, Is the Rock?
But what followed the new name is even more interesting; and somewhat controversial. Jesus told Peter (rock) that on this rock, he would build his church. The Roman Catholic church sees in this the primacy of Peter and his successors as the head of the church. While Protestants often reject this and see the rock the church is built on as Peter’s profession of faith.
The Greek sentence structure and words used most clearly point to the two rocks being the same. That Peter is the rock on which Jesus would build his church. And Peter was a key figure, if not the key figure apart from the Holy Spirit, in establishing the church in Acts 1-12.
But while Peter was the rock on which Christ built his church, he was not alone. In Ephesians 2:20, Paul tells us that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus being the chief cornerstone.
Did Jesus designate Peter to be the head of his church? No. Jesus was, and remains, the head of his church (Eph. 1:22, Col. 1:18). And, while Peter may have led the church in Jerusalem during its formative days, by the fifteenth chapter of Acts, James, the half-brother of Jesus, was leading the church there, even though Peter was still around.
Peter was a key figure in the life of the early church. He was the leader of the disciples. He was instrumental in the establishment of the church in Jerusalem. And he could even be considered chief among the apostles. But nothing in Scripture suggests he was ever any more than that.
