Matthew 16:18

Matthew 16:18. And I also say unto thee. In answer to thy concession. The meaning of our Lord's words has been angrily discussed, and misapprehended by Romanists and Protestants alike.

Thou art Peter (‘petros'), and upon this rock (‘petra') I will build my church . The name Peter ‘had been prophetically given to Simon long before (John 1:42), but is now solemnly bestowed. It is a masculine form of the Greek word meaning ‘rock.' In the dialect of the country the same word may have been used in both cases.

EXPLANATIONS: 1. The phrase refers to Peter, but as a confessor, as in Christ, representing the other Apostles. This explains both the resemblance and the difference of the words: ‘Petros' and ‘petra;' it is on the whole preferable. From personal qualities he was the first among equals, and as he had represented the Apostles in the confession, so now in the Lord's declaration. He was also the first to preach on the day of Pentecost, when the Church was fully established, and first to preach to the Gentiles. When he was disobedient and dissuading, censure was pronounced upon him (Matthew 16:22-23); hence only confessing Peter is meant. The other Apostles are included; since what is addressed to Peter in the next verse is afterwards repeated to all the Apostles (chap. Matthew 18:18), to which some add Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14.

2. The Romanist view : Peter is referred to, but as the official head of the Twelve; as such the Bishop of Rome is his successor. Were this correct, Mark and Luke would not have failed to record the saying in their accounts of this interview. Further objections: (1.) It obliterates the distinction between petros and petra; (2.) it is inconsistent with the true nature of the architectural figure; the foundation of a building is one and abiding, and not constantly renewed and changed; (3.) it confounds priority of time with permanent superiority of rank; (4.) it confounds the apostolate, which, strictly speaking, is not transferable but confined to the original personal disciples of Christ and inspired organs of the Holy Spirit, with the post-apostolic episcopate; (5.) it involves an injustice to the other Apostles, who, as a body, are expressly called the foundation, or foundation stones of the Church; (6.) it contradicts the whole spirit of Peter's epistles, which is strongly anti-hierarchical, and disclaims any superiority over his ‘fellow-presbyters;' (7.) finally, it rests on assumptions, unproven either exegetically or historically, namely, the transferability of Peter's primacy, and its actual transfer to the bishop, not of Jerusalem nor of Antioch (where Peter certainly was), but of Rome exclusively. Comp, the note in Schaff's History of the Apostolic Church. p. 374 ff.

3. The ultra Protestant view: Peter's confession alone is referred to. Only partially correct.

Objections: (1.) ‘This' can scarcely refer to something so remote as the confession: on this theory the clause ‘thou art Peter,' has no force whatever, and our Lord is represented as making a play on words almost meaningless; (2.) the Church is founded on living persons, not on abstract doctrines and confessions; (3.) the whole context is against it: the confession about the Person of Christ, the solemn utterance of Peter's usual name (Matthew 16:17), the personal statement of Matthew 16:19. Most later Protestant commentators reject it.

4. Christ means His own Person. So Augustine (in later years) and many excellent commentators. This view claims that petros means a stone and petra a rock, so that Peter is a living stone from Christ the true rock, and whosoever would become a living stone, a ‘petros,' must make this true confession of Christ, the Rock, on whom as God and man the Church will be built. Objections:

(1.) The distinction between the words may not have existed in the language used by our Lord; (2.) ‘this' is made to refer to something not stated, we are forced to insert in the narrative, that our Lord pointed to Himself. (3.) Our Lord is usually represented, not as the foundation, but as the Builder and Master of the spiritual temple, into which living stones are built, the first ones laid (the Apostles) being the foundation. This view, moreover, avails nothing against the assumptions of the Papal interpretation.

My Church. This word occurs only twice in the Gospels (here and chap. Matthew 18:17). The Greek word, meaning ‘an assembly called out' (with a technical sense in classical Greek), was used to translate the Hebrew expression: Kahal, ‘congregation.' While it usually means a local congregation, it must be taken here in a general sense. It refers to a congregation distinct from the Jewish (‘my church'); the first intimation of such a separation. Its formation is only predicted (‘I will build'). It is not the precise equivalent of ‘the kingdom of heaven,' so often spoken of before this time by our Lord. ‘The kingdom of heaven' is the new dispensation of grace from heaven of which our Lord was Ruler and Dispenser; His Church was to be an organized and visible congregation of the faithful, manifesting and extending by its worship and ministry that kingdom. The next verse points to such a visible organization, as does the fact that confessing Apostles are spoken of as the foundation. The Jewish idea was that it was to be a ‘temporal power,' a State, as the Papal theory allows. This Church is represented as one edifice having one Builder, one foundation, one plan, and hence with a continuity in its history and development, but the New Testament nowhere prophesies or enjoins its external uniformity. The Sacraments and the ministry are directly instituted, but little else. Outward form is required, to prevent anarchy, but the history of the Apostolic Church implies that this outward form may be modified by ecclesiastical enactment which, however useful, cannot be of equal authority with the direct institutions of Christ and his Apostles. Uniformity as the free expression of internal unity, is a great blessing; but it has generally been the result of ecclesiastical or civil tyranny. Visible unity is the end rather than the means, of the growth of Christ's Church. Essential unity is maintained, in the confession of the Personal Christ, by believing persons, in the participation of the divinely instituted Sacraments, in the preaching of the Word by an ordained ministry. All these essentials centre in Christ.

And the gates of hell, or ‘hades.' An oriental phrase for ‘the power of the kingdom of death.' The figure is that of a strong castle.

Shall not prevail against it. The Old Testament organization would perish by violence; but no adverse power shall prevail against this Church. The particular reference is to the spiritual victory of life over death. The Romanists give this a more temporal sense, in keeping with the erroneous view of the first part of the verse.