What is the context?
In the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks what people are saying about the Son of Man. The disciples report several answers, each identifying Him with a prophet. He then asks them directly who they say He is. Peter answers that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Christ is Χριστός, Christos (khris-TOSS), meaning anointed one. Thayer's entry identifies its use here as the title of the promised Messiah. Peter's answer moves beyond naming Jesus as another prophet. Jesus blesses him and identifies the Father as the source of this understanding.
Jesus then speaks of Peter and the rock on which He will build His church. Peter's name, Πέτρος, Petros (PET-ross), and the word πέτρα, petra (PET-rah), both belong to the language of rock or stone. Thayer's Peter entry and rock entry describe the wordplay and the different explanations readers give it. The difference in word forms does not by itself settle who or what the rock represents.
The word for church is ἐκκλησία, ekklēsia (ek-klay-SEE-ah), an assembly or gathered community. Thayer's entry includes its use for Christ's people as a whole in this verse. Jesus promises to build a people who belong to Him. Hades is ᾅδης, hadēs (HAH-days), the realm of the dead; Thayer's entry includes the gates image here. His promise reaches beyond the threats that could destroy an ordinary human gathering.
He gives Peter the keys of the kingdom and speaks of binding and loosing on earth and in heaven. Similar language will appear when He teaches about the community's handling of sin in Matthew 18:15–20. He then tells the disciples to keep His identity as the Christ private. The next passage begins His direct teaching about suffering, death, and resurrection, which Peter still struggles to accept.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians recognize Peter's confession and the promise that Jesus will build His church. They differ over the meaning of the rock, the authority given to Peter, and how that authority continues in the church.
The Catholic Church teaches that Peter, because of the faith he confesses, is the rock on which Christ builds His church. The Catechism, 552–553, connects the keys with governing, teaching, forgiveness, and discipline. Paragraphs 881–882 and the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium, 22, understand Peter's pastoral office as continuing in the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, with the bishops continuing the other apostles' ministry.
The Reformed Westminster Confession, 25.6 and 30.1–2, rejects the Pope as head of the church and places the keys in the ministry and discipline exercised by church leaders under Christ. The 1689 Baptist Confession, 26.4 and 26.7–8, likewise rejects the Pope as head of the church, while emphasizing the authority Christ gives to local congregations and their appointed leaders. Explanations of the rock can still vary within these traditions.
Wesley on Matthew 16:18–19, reads the rock through the faith Peter professes, with Christ as the foundation. He recognizes Peter's early role in preaching to Jews and Gentiles while understanding the keys as shared by the apostles. The Methodist Articles of Religion, XIII and XVI, describe the visible church through its faithful people, preaching of God's word, and baptism and the Lord's Supper. Wesley's explanation of the rock is his commentary; these articles do not define that image.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
The building picture opens onto God's purpose of forming one people in Christ. 1 Peter 2:4–10 describes believers as living stones being built into a spiritual house, with Christ as the chosen cornerstone. Ephesians 2:11–22 places Jews and Gentiles together in God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone. These related pictures show people being brought near to God and joined to one another through Him.
Peter's part in the spread of that message becomes visible in Acts. He preaches in Jerusalem (Acts 2:36–41), joins John among the Samaritans (Acts 8:14–17), and brings the gospel to Cornelius's household (Acts 10:34–48). Later he describes God choosing that the Gentiles should hear the gospel through him and receive the Spirit just as the Jewish believers did (Acts 15:7–11). Those accounts show the important service entrusted to Peter as God's mercy reaches new people.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.