A Chip Off The Old Block

According to Catholic tradition, Jesus appointed Saint Peter as the first pope, establishing him as the foundation of the Church and granting him authority over the other apostles. This belief is based on interpretations of certain biblical passages, particularly Matthew 16:18-19.  However, these interpretations are woefully incorrect. 

Jesus first named Peter in John 1:42 (NASV), where He said, “He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). The King James Version reads, “And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone.”

The Greek word for Peter is “Petros.” The Greek translation for Petros is “A piece of rock” which the King James Version rightly interprets as “a stone.” The interesting part of these two verses In Matthew 16:18-19 are after Jesus calls Peter “a piece of the rock.”  Jesus then goes on to say, “and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”  The question here is, who is the rock that Jesus is talking about that He will build His church on? The Greek word for rock here is Petra which means a mass of solid rock.  The solid rock is in distinct contrast to a piece of rock or a rock fragment.

There are only three conclusions that we can draw from this passage.  Either Jesus was referring to Peter when He said, “and upon this rock I will build My church.” Secondly, Jesus was referring to Peter’s answer to the question, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” The third possibility is that Jesus was referring to Himself as “the Rock” that the church would be built on.

Jesus could have easily said to Peter, and on YOU I will build my church, but He did not say that.  Instead, He said, “and upon this Rock (Petra) I will build My church.” I believe that we can safely eliminate the first alternative in that Peter was a “stone (Petros)” and not the Rock (Petra) that Jesus said He would build his church on.  So, what rock (Petra) was Jesus referring to? Was He referring to Peter’s faith in the statement “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” or was He referring to Himself? On balance, the answer seems to be that Christ was referring to Himself.

We can look elsewhere in the New Testament where Christ is referred to as a rock (Petra). For example, I Corinthians 10:4 says, “and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock (Petra) which followed them; and the rock (Petra) was Christ.” Additionally, I Corinthians 3:11 says “For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Additionally, the poetry of the Old Testament which dealt with the idea of the rock being the greatness and steadfastness of God and not with that of man can be found in the following scriptures [Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:18; 2 Samuel 22:3; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:31; Psalms 18:46; Isaiah 17:10; Habakkuk 1:12].

Nothing can be more wrong than to suppose that Christ meant that Peter was the rock.  There is no doubt that Christ Himself is the rock, the tried-and-true foundation of the church (Eph 2:20). So, in our short analysis of what the Catholic church says is proof text for Peter to be the foundation of the church and thusly the first Pope we have come full circle. From when in John 1:42 Jesus named Simon Cephas (Peter/Petros) because He (Jesus) Himself is the rock (Petra).

That makes Peter A Chip Off the Old Block.