The Unknown Bible - Pastor Bevans Welder

In Matt. 16:16, Peter made a confession concerning Jesus Christ, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." In 1 Cor. 3:11, we find that the foundation can’t be Peter, but rather the Lord Jesus Christ, because Paul said, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." So, when Jesus answered Peter, the rock he was referring to is the rock that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.

A lot has been made out of Peter’s name meaning "rock." However, from the Bible itself, we find that Jesus gave him the name "Cephas" meaning "a stone," (Jn. 1:42). As a mere "stone" he has a place equal to all of the other Christians in the body of Christ. Peter, himself, refers to all Christians as "living stones," (1 Pet. 2:5), showing no distinction between himself and us. He would not accept worship, either (Acts 10:25-26).

Certainly, Peter had an important role in the early church, in preaching the first sermon under the power of the Holy Spirit at which 3000 souls were saved. He was also used by the Lord in Acts 10 to open the gospel to the Gentiles. But he was just human. He rebuked the Lord under the influence of Satan (Matt. 16:22,23); he denied the Lord three times (Matt. 26:69-75); he sunk because of his lack of faith (Matt. 14:30); and so forth. He’s not much of a rock upon which to build a church.

The Lord Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is clearly the "Rock." Look at 1 Cor. 10:4 and you will see that as far back as the Exodus from Egypt, Christ was the Rock (Deut. 32:4,15,18). As a matter of fact, Moses warned you to be on the look out for a counterfeit rock (Deut. 32:30-37). Cleverly, a church has put forth Peter as the counterfeit rock and many of its members have not bothered to check out the scriptures to see if their church was telling the truth.

As an additional note, in Matt. 16:18, you are told, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." When you realize that the rock is Jesus, you can make sense out of this last statement. The "it" in Matt. 16:18 is the "rock" upon which the church is built. "It" is Jesus Christ, against whom the gates of hell did not prevail when his soul was three days and three nights in hell (Acts 2:31). As you can see, there is just no way that Peter can be the "rock" upon which the church is built.

Hope this helps,

Pastor Welder