128. What does Matthew 16:18 mean: “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church"? ...

What does Matthew 16:18 mean: “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church"? Does this verse teach that Peter was the rock upon which Christ would build His church, and does it prove that the Roman Catholic Church as built upon Peter is the only true church? The passage does not teach that Peter is the rock upon which Christ would build His church. Peter’s name in Greek is Petros, meaning a piece of rock. The word translated “rock” in the verse is petra, which means a rock.

Peter had just made a confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (v. 16). Jesus, as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the Rock upon which the church is built. Other foundation can no man lay than this (1 Corinthians 3:11). Peter by his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, by his confession of Him as such, became a piece of the Rock. Every believer by believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and by confessing Him as such, becomes a piece of the Rock, and in that sense a part of the foundation upon which the church is built, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:20-22).

Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church is not built upon Peter. There is no real evidence that Peter was the first bishop of the Church of Rome, and even if he were, that would not prove that those who followed him in the office were his true successors. The true successors of Peter are those who build on the same Christ that Peter built upon, who teach the same doctrine and who exhibit the same life.