I would like to offer a different view. The passage in question reads: “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Mattthew 16.
The Rock is not Peter, it is Revelation! Read it again. Now, for the first time, God is going to be revealed to man directly from heaven! This is certainly the position of Paul when he writes the the Galations: “I want you to know, brother, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 1: 11)
This is really new, and this revelation is the Rock upon which the church will be built.
Another nugget of gold from the Bible. Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I notice rock is not capitalized
which makes sense in that it means spiritual revelation from God and it is all about belief.
For the Jew and the nation of Israel the belief was that Jesus was the messiah, the King, the son of God here in the flesh.
For all us flea ridden moral less dogs we believe what was revealed to Paul, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again.
The Bible truly is a wondrous gift from God