I Will Build My Church

"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." - Matthew 16:13-18

This is certainly a very powerful and well known passage of Scripture. It contains great truth and great doctrine. I honestly can't remember ever hearing a message preached from this passage directly, but I know I have heard it referenced many times in sermons throughout the years.

The most common thoughts I hear regarding this passage is how the Catholic church has twisted this passage to make Peter out to be the first pope of the church. I've never personally heard a Catholic refer to this passage when talking about the origins of the papacy, but I know how many other doctrines they've twisted, so I wouldn't put something like that past them for a moment. Every Baptist preacher I've ever heard mention this passage in that way always refers to the fact that Peter was the "little stone" and that he is not the foundation for the church. The next statement is usually something along the lines of Jesus speaking of Himself when talking about the rock on which He would build His church. I'm pretty sure I've made these statements before in a message that I've preached. I don't have any problem with them at all.

A thought came to my mind tonight as I heard these statements made again in a message. I don't believe it's wrong to say that Jesus was pointing to Himself and making it obvious to His listeners that He was the rock on which the church would be built. The fact is, we simply don't know that's the case. Again, there's nothing wrong with assuming something like that. That assumption wouldn't contradict the Bible in any way. Ephesians 2:20 speaks of "...Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone..." of the church. He is certainly the foundation of the church.

My thought was this: rather than assume something that we can't know for sure, why not look at the actual context of the passage and see if we can determine what Jesus is talking about. In vs. 13, Jesus asks His disciples who other people say that He is. They give him the list in vs. 14. Jesus then asks His disciples who they think He is in vs. 15. Of course, Peter is the one to speak up and he gives the perfect answer. He tells Jesus that He is the Christ and the Son of God in vs. 16. Jesus obviously approves of the answer and tells Peter that God had revealed that to him. That makes sense because nobody recognizes Jesus for who He really is unless the Father reveals it to Him.

It is in the context of this conversation, and specifically this truth, that Jesus speaks of the rock on which He will build His church. Is it possible that He was not speaking of Himself as the rock, but rather the truth that He is the Christ and the Son of the living God? Think about it.