Day 13: Jesus is The Rock of the Church, Not an Apostle

FALSE NOTION:

There are parts of the body of Christ today who think that the church is to be built on Peter because of a misconception of what Jesus said.

CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND:

The entire account is in Matthew 16:13-20:

13 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?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 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.
18 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.
19 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 bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

The context is that Peter had just received a revelation from The Father that Jesus is The Christ.
The Christ is The Messiah.
The Messiah is The Savior.
Without Jesus dying on the cross, the body of Christ (the church) would not have materialized because it is through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection that fallen man can die and be born again.
Not through anyone else’s death because even the apostles’ blood are stained with the curse of sin from Adam.

TEXTUAL BACKGROUND:

The old testament is originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The new testament is originally written in Greek.

To further understand what Jesus said in verse 18 above. Let’s take a look at the original Greek text used for Peter and rock.

In a nutshell:

Peter is the word “petros” meaning stone or rock.
Rock is the word “petra” meaning huge rock boulder. Same word used in Matthew 7:24-25.

SCRIPTURAL TRUTH based on context and textual background:

In essence, Jesus (The Rock) says to Peter and to every born again today (the living “petros” or living stones):

You are a living “petros” stone and when you stand on the “Petra” Rock of the revelation that Jesus is The Christ (Messiah/Saviour/Anointed One), you will be a church that can march into strongholds of hell and its gates will never stand against you.

The church is to be built and grounded on Jesus, the Son of God, not on anyone else because Jesus is the only sure foundation of our faith.

Jesus, thank You that You are The “petra” Rock that the body of believers are built on. Thank You that in Your atoning and redemptive work, we have the sure foundation of our salvation and our faith. Grow us in the knowledge of the grace and truth in You, Lord. Amen!