I Will Build My Church

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:18

Here we have both a wonderful truth to be grasped and believed in (more than just one, actually), but also some perilous theological waters to cross to gain a correct understanding of Jesus’ words.

We might first ask if we have the proper translation of Jesus’ words in English. The Greek here is plain and straightforward, no words are debated by scholars as having been added or replaced. So far as anyone can tell it has been accurately handed down. It is helpful to remember than, first, these words were not originally spoken in Greek but in Aramaic, the mother-tongue of Jesus and His disciples. Yet, even so, all we have is the Greek. Three words are of interest, however. First, “Peter” or petros in Greek was the word for a small stone. Second, the word “Rock” was petra in Greek, a different word than petros, and meant a foundation stone. Third, the word often translated “hell” was hades and not gehenna. Hades was the abode of the dead, not the place of punishment , which gehenna emphasized, and not the forces of evil.

So the translation above, from the New King James Bible, is an accurate and fair translation. Though others vary slightly, there is broad agreement on what was written.

However, what does it mean? There is where the differences are found — in the interpretations. Here is my understanding.

An Affirmation of Peter’s Faith and Profession: Christ’s words were uplifting in nature. Christ gave this name to Peter when He called him to be a disciple, John 1:42. Cephas was the word in Aramaic, meaning a stone. The name emphasized stability, solidness, and reliability. Recalling the early encounters of Peter and Jesus, we see the absence of self-confidence in Peter. At one time he cried, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Christ, as He does with all people, saw potential in Peter that Peter himself could not see. His sin would be forgiven. The Spirit would fill him and use him for great things. This unstable, wavering fisherman would become a great leader in the work of God.

For us there is an application as well, that God sees in us the potential that we cannot see in ourselves, and this potential comes from Him. He is looking for people in whom He can pour Himself, whom He can transform and use. In our weakness is His strength made perfect, and Peter, as all of us must do, had to learn to rely on the power of God. Here in the moment of his great profession he relied on the witness of the Spirit of God in his heart and from that Voice, he spoke. Never do we rise to be as great on earth as in the moments when we become nothing and Christ becomes all, and our lives merely speak for Him.

An Explanation of the Foundation and Construction of the Church: “Upon this rock” speaks to the foundation and “I will build my church” speaks to the construction.

First, elsewhere we read with the utmost clarity that Christ is the foundation of the church. Whatever the interpretation is given to the meaning of His words on this occasion, none of them can override the clear proclamation and teaching found in the rest of the New Testament. Christ is called the Head of the church:

Colossians 1:17–18: And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. and He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Ephesians 2:20: Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:4–5: Unto whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and made honourable by God: Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore it is said in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded. (Douay-Rheims)

The Douay-Rheims is, of course, the Catholic translation, and it also faithfully represents the clarification from Peter himself that Christ was the foundation of the Church, and there was and is no other. Christ has the preeminence in all things in the church and no human, not even an apostle, can challenge that position. The Ephesians 2 passage above explains the correct relationship between the apostles and prophets and Christ. Peter was one of the apostles — not the only apostle — and played a significant role. But he was not alone, neither was he the foundation stone of the church.

Second, it is clearly here taught that Christ shall build His church, that not even the apostles could do this. It was quite beyond the power of any human being to achieve this, and it appears clearly from history, that the more we depend on human means to build the church of Christ the less effective we are in doing so. Many scholars believe that the foundation Christ spoke of here was the profession of Peter, that is, the conviction of the Spirit and the profession that rises from that conviction. Though I do not believe this is the best understanding of the foundation stone that Christ spoke of, I believe it is a proper understanding of the principle by which Christ builds His church — human response to the inner workings of His Spirit.

For us the application is to let Christ have the preeminence in all things, and to walk with Him in the truth of His Word and in the inner witness of His Spirit. This is how the church exists and how it grows and is built up.

An Attestation to the Power of the Church: There have been some who have interpreted this as referring to all the evils that Satan might imagine being thrown against the church, and yet the church carries the battle to the very gates of hell, putting the kingdom of Satan on the defensive. Though there is some truth in this teaching, it is found elsewhere in God’s Word, but not here, I believe. For example, we read in Revelation 12 of the attack of Satan on the work and on the people of God. There it says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Rev. 12:11). Paul wrote, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4).So the teaching is in the scripture, but I do not believe this is what the words of Christ mean here.

A better interpretation is that He spoke of death itself. The “gates of hades” refer to the grasp of death on the human life and soul. We all shall die and what then. “Omnipotent death,” against which we all are helpless in ourselves alone, has met more than its match in Christ. The proclamation of the gospel promises life both here in this earth — true, joyful, spiritual life — but also life beyond the grave. Not even the grip of death can defeat the work of Christ. His church is an eternal organization, made by Him, sustained by Him, built up by His work, and made victorious even beyond death.

For the Christian, death is only a door through which we walk from this life into eternity. The nature of our life today is that the joy of eternity is now in our own hearts and in our own lives.

Tomorrow we will examine the next verse in this passage about loosing and binding, but now we can rest in the hope and confidence that is ours in Christ. His work is an eternal work in our souls and in our spirits. He does not merely drop into our lives for a day or two for a moment or two, but what He does within us lasts for all eternity. This is good news to our hearts and cause for rejoicing.