Posted on 01/16/2015 3:29:49 PM PST by RnMomof7
June 10, 2014
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said to Simon, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Roman Catholics interpret Matt. 16:18 to mean that Peter is the rock upon which the church is built. That interpretation then becomes the basis for the doctrine of papal succession. If Peter is the rock on which the church is built, and if the bishops of Rome are Peter’s successors, then it follows, they say, that the papacy remains the foundation of the church.
But that is not at all what Matthew 16:18 teaches.
The name “Peter” was a nickname given to Simon by Jesus, all the way back in John 1:42 when Peter first met Jesus. Coming from the Greek word petros (or the Aramaic word “Cephas”), the name Peter means “Rock” or “Stone.” To use an English equivalent, Peter means “Rocky.”
But when Jesus said, “I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church,” He differentiated between Peter and the “rock” by using two different Greek words. The name Peter is petros, but the word for “rock” is petra.
Those terms may sound similar to us, but ancient Greek literature shows that they actually refer to two different things. Petros was used to signify a small stone; petra, by contrast, referred to bedrock or a large foundation boulder (cf. Matt. 7:24-25).
So, to paraphrase Jesus’ words, the Lord told Peter, “I say to you that you are a small stone, and upon this bedrock I will build My church.” It was a play on words that made a significant spiritual point.
What then was the bedrock to which Jesus was referring? The answer to that question comes a couple verses earlier in Matthew 16.
Matthew 16:13–17: Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” [14] And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” [15] He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” [16] Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [17] And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Peter was just a small stone built atop the bedrock of something much bigger than himself: namely, the truth that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. Put simply, Peter was not the rock; Christ is the Rock. And as Peter and the other apostles testified to the truth about Christ (which Peter did in verse 16), the church was built upon its only sure foundation.
The rest of the New Testament bears this out.
In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul wrote that “no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
In Ephesians 2:20, Paul further explained that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone on which the church is founded by the apostles.
Even Peter himself, in 1 Peter 2:1–10 compared all believers to small stones that are part of the superstructure of the church. By contrast, Peter noted in vv. 6, 7, the Lord Jesus is the cornerstone on which the church is built. Peter said the same thing to the Jewish religious leaders in Acts 4:11. Speaking of Jesus, Peter proclaimed, “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone.”
If we were to go beyond Peter’s lifetime, and consider the writings of the church fathers from Origen to Chrysostom to Augustine – we would likewise find that the vast majority of ancient interpreters did not view the rock in Matthew 16:18 as a reference to Peter. The church fathers generally understood the “rock” to refer either to the apostles collectively, or to the specific content of Peter’s confession. In either case, they understood that Matthew 16:18 ultimately centered on Christ – the One to whom the apostles testified, and the One to whom Peter’s confession pointed.
Thus, we see the Roman Catholic understanding of Matthew 16:18 falls short on at least four levels:
1) Grammatically, it does not account for the lexical distinction between petros (Peter) and petra (Rock).
2) Contextually, it makes Peter the focal point of Matthew 16, when the text is clearly featuring truth about Jesus.
3) Theologically, it tries to make Peter the rock when the rest of the New Testament declares Christ to be the Rock.
4) Historically, the Roman Catholic view is not the patristic view of the first few centuries.
(Moreover, even if Peter were the “rock” of Matthew 16:18, such an interpretation would still not necessitate the notion of papal succession. But that is the topic of another post.)
Peter’s nickname might have been Rocky, but Peter himself understood that the Rock was Jesus Christ. The Rock on which Peter’s life was built was none other than the Rock of Salvation; the Rock of Deliverance; the Chief Cornerstone; and the Rock of Ages.
Peter bore witness to that truth in Matthew 16:16. The rest of the Apostles bore witness to that throughout their ministries. And it was the truth of that apostolic witness to Jesus Christ that formed the foundation of the church.
.
>> “So what did He mean?” <<
.
By “eat my flesh” he meant live and grow off of the sacrifice of his flesh.
And this had nothing whatsoever to do with the bread and wine of the Last Supper; that was the traditional bread and wine of the blessing spoken by the Melek Zedek with Abraham: “Blessed art thou Yehova Elohim that brings forth bread and wine from the Earth.”
.
No Hebrews spoke any language but Hebrew, the language of the Father in Heaven.
Soon we will all speak it, when the confusion of Babylon is undone.
.
You ignored everything in my post and went to another place. Most leaders have a PR department, so your reply is a poor effort to distract from the main statement.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3247666/posts?page=58#58
I believe you are mistaken. The phrases in the Bible that Jesus spoke in #58 were Aramaic.
My point is this:
If Protestants are going to insist that there’s no connection between the name “Rock” and the statement that “upon this Rock I will build my Church,” then it is incumbent on them to explain how Jesus could have been so stupid as to create an opening for the Catholic Church to drive a truck through.
The “Rock” or foundation the church (community) of Jesus Christ is built upon is; the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is what the Father revealed to Peter and that is the foundation Jesus’ church is built on.
It really doesn’t matter what language Jesus spoke your Bible clearly states that Jesus is the ROCK, Cornerstone, and the Truth and all others are servants to his Majesty.
1 Corinthians 3:11 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.
I have found this most helpful in understanding this passage. Applying Matthew 16 to the Church of this age, where Believers are NEITHER Jew or Gentile but ONE Spiritual Body IN CHRIST, often made me uncomfortable. The Body of Christ was a Mystery hidden in God and not revealed until Paul received the revelation. (Romans 16:25-26, Ephesians 3:1-10, Colossians 1:25-28)
Bullinger’s summary puts everything in its proper place and does not rob Israel of God’s glorious promises for both the 1st and 2nd Advents of Jesus. And once and for all, effectively ends all RC claim to this passage as having anything to do with Rome - which should be obvious even you reject Bullinger’s opinion completely.
Other clues, the keys are to the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, a temporal kingdom centered on Israel with Jesus as King. And then, there is the End Times message in verse 27, referring to the 2nd Advent and a judgment based on works. All these collectively make its application to the Body of Christ very unlikely.
For your consideration...
_________________________________
In Matthew 16:18 the reference was to a future called-out people. “On this rock I WILL BUILD.”
There could have been no reference here to the “Ecclesia in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38); nor to the Ecclesia of the Church of God in this Dispensation. Those who heard these words of the Lord’s promise could not connect them with the Secret or Mystery which was “hid in God,” and had not yet been made known to the sons of men. But they could connect them with Hosea 1:10 and 2:23. This is the promise which the Lord’s hearers would have known. Only with that promise in Hosea could they have associated this promise of the Lord in Matthew 16:18.
The revelation here made was an addition to the promise in Hosea. The Son of Man was about to be rejected. The prophecies of Him as “the stone which the builders refused” were about to be fulfilled. Nevertheless, the time was approaching when He would become God’s “sure foundation” according to Isaiah 28:16: “Thus saith Adonai Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation,” etc. That may be either “I have laid” (RV), or “I will lay.” Both are true. Christ had been laid already then, in the
counsels of God, and He would yet be laid in their fulfillment by God.
The Lord here repeats that promise. And the whole point was, Who was this Son of Man? Some said one thing and some another, and the Lord asks: “But YE, whom do ye say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus, answering, said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jona, for flesh and blood revealed it not to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens. And I say also to thee, that thou art [called] Petros (a stone), and on this Petra (a rock) I will build my
Ecclesia, and [the] gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, and I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt 16:15-19).
In the words which follow we learn that the builders were about to reject God’s foundation; for in the very next verse we read “FROM THAT TIME forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and SUFFER” (v 21).
Thus, His sufferings are not mentioned until the announcement had been made, that, though the foundation-stone was about to be rejected, it would yet be built upon. This rejected “Son of Man” is indeed the Christ, God’s “Anointed,” and He will become “the head of the corner.”
On Him, the Messiah, His Ecclesia or Assembly, spoken of in the Prophets, would yet be built. “I will build” are His words. “I will call” are Jehovah’s words in Hosea: “I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people: there shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah also crieth CONCERNING ISRAEL, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, A REMNANT SHALL BE SAVED” (Rom 9:25-27).
This Remnant is the Ecclesia mentioned by the Lord in Matthew 16:18.
The gates of hell will strive against it, as Romans 9:29 testifies, but the remnant shall be saved. This future Ecclesia of Israel is to be built UPON Christ, the Messiah, as the Foundation Stone.
The Church of God, as an Assembly, is also compared to a building; its members are built individually on a doctrinal foundation, but the building itself is “a holy temple IN the Lord; IN whom ye also are builded together by [the] Spirit.”
The present Church of God is composed of Jews AND Gentiles, but the Ecclesia of Matthew 16:18 taken with Hosea 2:23; Isaiah 10:22, 23 and Romans 9:27, is a “remnant” OF “the children of Israel.”
From: How To Enjoy The Bible - E W Bullinger (1916 - public domain)
http://www.markfoster.net/rn/how_to_enjoy_the_bible_bullinger.pdf#%0C%D2%A11%18%F6g%C27%25%C0%9E%F2%FDwk147
See also the section on the Kingdom of Heaven for further clarification.
http://www.markfoster.net/rn/how_to_enjoy_the_bible_bullinger.pdf#%0C%D2%A11%18%F6g%C27%25%C0%9E%F2%FDwk117
Are you ignoring Christ’s words to Peter?
“You are Cephas and upon this rock I will build my church.”
And again in John:
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” — which is translated Peter.
The “Rock” or foundation >>of<< the church
We are all little pebbles (servants) of God. Our God is so Great he even uses evil people as servants to further his Kingdom. Think about it when you break a big boulder into pieces what are you left with, a bunch of little rocks... WE ARE THE CHURCH ALL BELIEVERS a bunch of little pebbles bound together with Jesus Christ as our Head all leading to and Glorifying the Loving Father.
Upon this Rock = The Rock is The Truth of Jesus Christ. Believing that he is the Son of the Living God and No man comes to the Father except through Him. Through his Death, Burial, and Resurrection everything else is built upon.
Are you ignoring Christ’s words to Peter?
“You are Cephas and upon this rock I will build my church.”
And again in John:
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” — which is translated Peter.
Jesus Christ promised us The Holy Spirit to lead us into all truths. Was Peter a chosen leader? Yes. But not as the head of the Christian churches. Peter was the leader of the Disciples. How can we know? Because Paul was called to be an Apostle by Jesus Christ. Was Paul under Peter's authority or oversight? No! Paul not Peter laid the written rules for churches he had started up. Peter did not take over their oversight.
The early church and The Disciples themselves were somewhat confused as too their mission given them and just how to carry it out. The beginning of the persecutions corrected their course and began the spreading of The Gospel to distant nations and people. What were they doing up till that time? Staying in Jerusalem basically in one community. The Great Commission Christ gave them was not stay in Jerusalem and be a community sharing your common goods.
Matt ch 28 v16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”---NIV
Christians and The Gospel as soon as the persecutions began started the spreading of The Gospel to all nations. Persons who came to Jerusalem heard the Gospel and those who believed like the man Phillip was taken too believed and took the Gospel to distant lands. This didn't require an organized effort by some man picked hierarchy. Rather it was believers lead by The Holy Spirit.
Was Paul a priest or a preacher? Was Peter a Priest or a preacher? Was Paul wearing robes a hat etc? Was Peter? No evidence exist of them doing such. Rather they met in homes informally. They went from place to place meeting in forums, homes, sometimes the local synagogs, in prisons, etc. The same as Jesus Christ had done and taught them. Remember what Jesus told them as to how they should allow others to address them as?
Peter. Paul, Phillip, James, John, and the rest were more like modern day Evangelist. Their witness has been recorded and handed down. The truths written in their accounts have been kept intact not by man who can corrupt but rather by The Holy Spirit bringing the needed corrections to believers. Every written Bible and account of it could be destroyed yet it survives in mans heart.
To whom is The Holy Spirit given? Some believe only those ordained to minister and lead. But GOD had other plans because like the Temple Priest and government it could be corrupted and used as a spiritual weapon of enslavement. Instead of allowing that again The Holy Spirit is to all whom receive GOD's Word, believe and receive Jesus Christ as Savior, and Christ calls His own. That is THE CHURCH. There is No THE CHURCH but that church. It has no building but it's foundation is Jesus Christ and it's Temple is our hearts in which Jesus Christ dwells.
That is why we should try with all of hearts though we will still stumble to live by GOD's Commandments and the ones Jesus added. That is more than enough to keep any person busy. That stops any Priest who before were intercessors between GOD & man from withholding your salvation or any blessings from GOD. GOD and sinners are reconciled through Jesus and The Holy Spirit is the new teacher and intercessor for us. Dwelling within us The Holy Spirit ministers to us and tells GOD our needs even before we speak.
It’s only big enough for those who seek worldly power, instead of remaining faithful to Him alone.
Our Lord and Savior has brilliantly based His Church upon the selection of God the Father, rather than that of any other person.
In revelation it says men hid them selves in the rocks so if it was the same word I would say it could fit a stone or rock either one.
If we read the full story we can see that Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to the apostles, the 12 Chosen ones or to Peter.
19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
If the Catholic church is their successors or not is a different story which can only be showed by how well they teach the gospel of Christ and which also goes for any other Church.
“Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Awesome Scripture!
I enjoyed reading that, thanks.
What is your reason for calling them “Shimon” and “Yeshua” when everyone calls them “Simon” and “Jesus”?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.