“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 16:18)
The Catholic Church
officially teaches that Peter is the
rock of which Jesus was speaking in the verse above. Furthermore, according to the Catholic
Catechism, it is Peter alone whom
Jesus made the rock and foundation of His church:
“The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the
‘rock’ of his Church. He gave him the
keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock…” [directly referring here to Matthew 16:18] (CCC #881).
But did Peter know this? Did he believe all the things that the
Catholic Church is saying about him? If
he did, how could we find out? Except
for Jesus Christ, who is it that would have surely known, better than anyone
else, the truth about this special role that was assigned to Peter? Wouldn’t it be Peter, himself? No doubt.
But did Peter believe that he
was the rock? One sure way to find out is
to look at his statements in Holy Scripture.
In the book of Acts, we see this same apostle Peter making a defense
before the elders and rulers of Israel concerning his healing of the lame man at
the gate of the temple. Peter boldly
tells these leaders:
“Be it known unto you all, and to all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here
before you whole. This is the stone
which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby you must be
saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)
Here, Peter is referring to a
very important foundational rock, or stone.
It is unmistakable that the stone of which Peter is speaking here is
Jesus Christ, Himself. No Catholic would
disagree with us there. But Peter didn’t
equate this rock with himself, and he didn’t tell the elders that he (the apostle) was the stone upon
which the church was built, nor did he ever mention this special role that the
Catholic Church gives him. It certainly
would have been a great time to do so.
Peter could have said, “Hey, why are you guys harassing me? Don’t you know that I’m the rock upon which
the church is built?” But apparently,
Peter wasn’t even aware that he was
the rock. He points only to Jesus.
Furthermore, in his own
epistle, Peter again mentions this same “stone of stumbling,” this “rock
of offense” (1 Peter 2:8). But again, it is the Lord Jesus Christ that
he is speaking of here:
“Wherefore also it is contained in the
Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he
that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.
Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be
disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head
of the corner.” (1 Peter 2:6-7)
Ok, so nothing here about Peter being the rock or stone upon which
the church is built. Strange, if Peter really is that foundational rock, isn’t
it? A Catholic may object at this point
and say that they don’t claim that Peter is the cornerstone, only Jesus is. But
again, here, in light of this “rock” and “stone” language above, in which Peter
quotes Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16 (who refers to
Jesus as a sure foundation stone), he
(Peter) had a perfect opportunity to mention his special role as the foundation
of the church, but neglected to do so.
Furthermore, his epistle (the
book of 1 Peter) was written to the “strangers” (i.e., the church) “scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1), and it was
written largely to instruct and comfort persecuted
Christians. But would a responsible
apostle withhold such important information (i.e., how he is the foundational
rock) from many who were facing martyrdom?
Isn’t this information much too critical to overlook?
Why would Peter deny the
members of the churches in these areas this special information about who he
is, and how important this role is. Why
withhold the critical news that he (Peter) alone,
was the very foundation of the church?
Isn’t that really important? The Catholic Church certainly thinks it is. So why did Peter never say to these people,
“You must follow my church” or “Remember, I am the rock upon which the church
is founded”?
Maybe… just maybe… it’s
because that isn’t the case. Maybe this
“important” information was omitted because Peter is NOT the rock that the
Catholic Church says he is. Maybe the
church was NOT founded upon Peter alone
as claimed in the Catechism. Maybe his
role is greatly exaggerated by the Catholic Church, deceiving its members. We believe that this is indeed the case.
In conclusion, the apostle Peter
mentions Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone and Foundation of the church (as noted
above) and he mentions all Christians as being “lively [living]
stones” (1 Peter 2:5), but he never mentions himself as any special stone / rock, much less the lone foundation of the church. Although the apostle Paul speaks of the
prophets and apostles (plural) as the foundation of the church (Ephesians
2:20), Peter simply calls himself a “fellow elder” (1
Peter 5:1). Obviously, Peter did
not know that he, alone, was the rock because that’s NOT what Jesus was telling
him in Matthew 16.
We have dealt with the
concept of Peter as “the rock” in much more detail in a previous article that
can be found here:
