IMPORTANT MATTERS ABOUT THE CHURCH - 3

"UPON THIS ROCK, I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH" - THE MEANING 

Some persons claim that Peter was the first pope. When we ask for Scriptural proof they immediately refer to the words of Jesus to Peter: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church.” But we ask, Is that what Jesus meant by those words, that Peter is the rock on which His church is built?

Well, I do not want us to look into whether Peter was the first pope or not, but whether Peter was the rock on which Christ built the Church.

First of all, recall that the church of Christ is not a literal building of stone. And if we carefully look at that verse, the church is personalized by Jesus as “my church”. It is not the church of Paul, Apollos or Peter, for, as Paul well states in his epistles, none of these died for man. So, since Christ died for man, the Church definitely should be Christ's.

From the context of the scripture under consideration, that is Matthew 16, we learn that Peter had just given testimony that Jesus was the Christ; the Son of the living God, and Jesus told him that God had revealed this to Peter. It was as a result of Peter's affirmation that he then said: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church.”

Consulting the original Greek words, we find out that Jesus was using two related words here, but they have distinctly different meanings.

“Peter” is Petros—a proper noun, in the masculine gender) means “a (piece of) rock”. But when speaking of the “rock” on which he would build his church, Jesus used a different Greek word, which is petra (a common noun, in the feminine gender), which means “a (mass of) rock”.

So If we insert the meaning properly into the text, it is rendered as: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art A PIECE OF ROCK, and upon this MASSIVE ROCK, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"

Clearly Jesus was here saying that He himself, the one identified by Peter as the Messiah, the Son of God, was the rock-mass or foundation on which he would build his church. SO HE WAS NOT REFERRING TO PETER.

Peter's confession is actually the "massive rock". This is very clear even in the OT books, Christ was been prophesied as the rock and Peter also affirms it in his epistle that we are being built upon Christ as lively stones. Paul also said, Christ is the chief cornerstone upon which they (apostles) were laid, and that the Church is a building on Christ. Note that all these are not literal translations; the stones; foundation and building are spiritual connotations about the manifold wisdom of God.

Christ is the owner of the Church, not Peter!

Christ is the great Shepherd, not human General Overseers or CEOs

Even when Christ gave gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers to the Church, he did this for this same purpose: TO BUILD THE CHURCH.

Why are we studying Christ's statement about building his Church? This is because the devil has deceived the Church into believing another thing entirely. Aside those who believe Peter was the foundation of the church, some persons have stolen Christ's role to make merchandise of the Church. They claim to be the "owner of the church", they give names to "their own" church and claim it is the best or only approved Church. Well, that is if the church can be divided, because there is just one church. There can be many people claiming to be church founders or owners or general overseers, but Christ is the owner of the Church.

When we know this, we will return to the intention and purpose of the building of the Church, we will not segregate or fight ourselves.

Amen.