Weird Stuff in the Bible

Is the Church built on Peter?
Matthew 16
Thumbnail; Was Peter the First Pope? (Pic of Peter from The Chosen with a pope hat on)

Introduction
What I’m going to talk about today is perhaps THE MOST misunderstood verse in the entire world today.
And I say that because there are about 1.4 billion Catholics in the world. If we were to consider Catholics a denomination of Christianity, then we Protestant denominations are far outnumbered. We who are Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Southern Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Independent Fundamental Baptists, whatever those guys in Skillet are- all of us. If you added up all of the Protestant denominations together, you’d be under a billion, so we are far outnumbered by the Catholics.
And we Protestants agree with Catholics on a lot of things: the deity of Christ, the Trinity, Creation of the World from nothing, the authority of the Bible, the supremacy of Chick-Fil-A, lots of doctrines that we build our faith on.
But the reason I say that we’re tackling the most misunderstood verse in the whole Bible today is because Protestants have a very different take on this verse than Catholics do. And it’s this verse that suggests that the worldwide church was started with and built on Peter.
All because…Jesus said so. Or that’s what it sounds like, at least.
In Matthew 16, Jesus said,
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And Peter there, by the way, is Petros in the Greek, which means “stone.”
Wait a minute- do Protestants have this right? Is the church built on Peter? Was Peter truly the first pope?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Matthew 16, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

The Context
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about whether the church is built on Peter.
If you’re a Catholic listener, I’m not attacking you today. Hopefully I’m just giving you something to think about here so that you understand why we protestants see this verse a little differently.
Let’s start- as we almost always do when we come across something weird in the Bible- by understanding the context of this quotation. Jesus came to a place in the ancient world, a very pagan place of darkness and the worship of false gods, known as Caesarea Philippi.
Matthew 16:13-18
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
You know, those are some nice things to say to someone.
To say, “you’re a great prophet,” or “you’re like a reincarnated Moses or Elijah.” or “you’re a great and wise teacher.”
That would be quite complimentary. If you told me something like that, most days I’ll probably take that pretty well.
It’s nice to say that to anyone- except Jesus.
Because when it comes to Jesus, He’s so much more than that.
It might be halfway right. But it’s not good enough.
Not good enough to get someone to heaven. It’s not enough to say Jesus is a great teacher or a great prophet. You have to confess Jesus as Lord of all.
To be halfway right about Jesus is to be totally wrong.
In fact, to be 99% right about Jesus is to be totally wrong, and miss heaven.
If He’s not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all.
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
This is the turning point of the Gospel of Matthew, because after this, Jesus is allowing himself to be known as the Messiah.
And every single one of our lives has that moment, too. You may have accepted Christ as a kid, but many Christians I’ve talked to also mentioned a moment as they got older that they really came into a realization of who Jesus is.
The realization of who Jesus IS means realizing who Jesus IS NOT.
He’s not just a wise man.
He’s not just a good teacher.
He’s not just a prophet.
He’s not just one of the ways to find God; he’s the only way to find God
Did you know the Muslims love Jesus? They aren’t saved, but they think he’s the perfect man. In fact, material I’ve read about witnessing to Muslims always says to take them right to Jesus and compare him to Muhammed…
Muslims just don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God. That’s the crux of the issue.
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
You can’t believe that Jesus is the Christ unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to you. God has to implant that in your heart. I can tell people about Jesus, but I can’t actually make them believe. God has to do that.
I’m not a Calvinist, but I firmly believe that faith is a gift of God bestowed upon us. You might say I believe in lower-case total depravity. I don’t believe man can come to God unless God first draws him.
I can speak for myself, when I look back and see that even when I thought I was making a decision to follow God more, God had been setting me up for that. God had been drawing me and preparing me to decide to follow Him before I drew near.
Again, I’m not a Calvinist. I still believe I had a choice to make whether I wanted to follow God. But I don’t believe I could have made that choice without the Father revealing Himself to me.
Peter has had this spiritual awakening. He has put his faith in the right place. He has verbalized his profession of faith with his lips. And here’s the shocking thing that Jesus says next.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
There are some things to unpack here. Let’s start with church. Greek: ekklesia. The congregation of the people of God. Church or ekklesia is a common word in the New Testament, but it only appears in the four gospels three times: right here and in twice Matthew 18. That is all that Jesus spoke specifically of the church, and the church is not officially established until the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
So Jesus is going to build His Church on the rock. Now let’s talk about what the rock is, because many Catholics would say that “the rock” is Peter.
In fact, my wife used to work for at a radio station when we first got married, and her boss at this station was Catholic. He invited us out to fundraiser or something one time (can’t really remember what it was for) and it was held at a Catholic school or church. They had a list of popes on the wall, and #1 was Peter. The Catholics believe that the church was built on Peter as the first pope, and I doubt it came with a bulletproof camel back then.
So what does Jesus’ statement mean here? I think it’s actually abundantly clear when you look at it in the Greek. Again: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church”
The word for “Peter” right here in the Greek is “Petros.” Many people think Jesus was referring to Peter as “Cephas” right here. Cephas is the Aramaic translation of Peter’s name. Cephas is only used in the Gospels one time, in John 1, although it’s more common in the letters of Paul. But the vast majority of time in the Gospels and the letters, the word “petros” is used for Peter’s name. Right here in Matthew 16, Jesus used the word “Petros” for Peter.
The word Petros means “stone.” And it means a small stone. And sometimes this is translated as “the rock.”
Side-note: Did Dwayne Johnson even know that he was infringing on a 2000-year-old copyright when he picked his wrestling nickname?
But a petros is just a single solitary stone. That’s key. Because when Jesus says “on this ROCK I will build my church,” He uses a different Greek word for rock, the word “Petra.” A Petra is a collection of rocks knitted together to form a larger slab.
Petros, Peter, one rock.
Petra, a collection of rocks, built together.
When I was growing up, we had a rock fireplace. My dad actually built it with his own hands. That fireplace was not hewn out of one giant stone. It was built with a bunch of rocks fitted together. One of those little rocks was petros. All of those rocks put together was Petra. Understand?
Petros = one rock
Petra = a collection of rocks.
So here is what Jesus means in this verse: Congratulations Peter, you have the right answer. And you are just one single solitary rock. And I am building my church on many rocks knitted together.
And what is it that’s sticking all these rocking together? What’s the glue or cement being used here to add rocks to this collection, when Jesus says “on this Petra I will build my church”? It’s not Peter. The church is not built on Peter. It’s the answer that Peter gave just before: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
The church is built on that statement. When you have been awakened to the truth of who Jesus is- the Son of God- and confess Him with your lips, you become added to the church. As it says in
Romans 10:9-10
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
When you believe that and confess Jesus as Lord, you are saved. Your name is added to the registers in heaven. Your spirit is changed down here on this earth. And you are added to the body of believers on planet earth known as the Church.
You become another one of these single solitary rocks added to the collection of rocks, the Petra- and a part of the ekklesia, the church. A collection of rocks held together by the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Not just a good man. Not just a good teacher. Not even a mere prophet. But the Son of God. When you confess that, you’re part of the church.
Peter himself wrote of this in his own letter,
I Peter 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Housekeeping/Mailbag
This may have seemed like a diversion from normal today, but what I’ve been talking about the past month or so on this podcast has been preparation for what I’d like to discuss next. Just like we are all small stones built up into a collection of rocks, I want to take the past few lessons and knit them together into another piece of the puzzle that I’ve been putting together in regard to spiritual warfare.
Because the next thing Jesus said in Matthew 16:19-20 was
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
So as I’ve discussed before on the podcast, this is spiritual warfare language. And understanding what it means that we are the church may help us to understand a bit more the authority we carry AND what we can do with that authority.
So make sure you’re subscribed so you can get the next episode.
What weird stuff in the Bible do you want to know more about? weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
One correction from last week: Nyssa is KNEE-SUH! I said her name wrong and I apologize for that. Nyssa wrote in to say, “I always tell people I recommend you to you’re a Bible podcast but with true crime vibes.” I was like, that’s a fantastic concept, I never thought about it that way but I really like that. That was Nyssa Rogriguez in Houston, TX. So Nyssa, thanks for your email and she gave me a great idea for a future episode as well.

Closing Thoughts
A closing thought for today on temples. There was something really weird in the Bible in the description of the construction of Solomon’s Temple in:
I Kings 6:7
When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
So that sounds a little weird. The first temple was built without any sound. Silently. What they did was they hewed out the stone down at the quarry and then transported them up the mountain to the site of the Temple. Then when they put the stones together to build Solomon’s Temple, all the pieces just slid together perfectly. They were so perfectly cut for each other that nothing needed hammered in or tapped in or crow barred in. These pieces had been cut so perfectly that they just fell right into place, securely.
This was a testament to the skill and measurements of these workers, but I think also the sovereign power of God, that they could cut all these massive heavy stones down in the quarry, bring them up the hill, and yet despite all that they all fit just where they were supposed to, so that not even a sound was heard as the stones came together. That was the construction story of the first Temple.
And I personally believe that that is true of the construction of the current temple, the church. That we are each a stone that God has carefully crafted and hewed out and we each have our place in the church. I read that comment earlier from I Peter, but also look at what Paul said in
Ephesians 2:19-22
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. The whole church is built around Jesus; not Peter, Jesus.
We are little petros. Little stones. All joined together into a Holy Temple in the Lord, a dwelling place of God’s Spirit.
So if you’re a Christian and if you’ve accepted the Gospel, you are a carefully hewn stone in that Temple. That means you have a place in the church body. You have a role to play.
You don’t get the excuse that you don’t fit in anywhere, because if you’re a stone in God’s Temple, then He has personally made sure that you do.
We all fit together perfectly. So I hope you are plugged in at a local church somewhere and that you are finding your place in God’s house.
And if you think being a Temple of the Holy Spirit sounds weird, I hope you’ll be a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.