Prior to the especially controversial passage of Matthew 16:18-19, we read in Matthew 16:13-17: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias (Elias); and others, Jeremias (Jeremiah), or one of the prophets.  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

Peter’s understanding of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the living God, stemmed from receiving what the already existing Scriptures taught about God’s character, man’s need for redemption, the Messiah’s mission of redemption, the more specific descriptions of the coming Messiah, and how Peter saw Jesus as consistent with all of this.  

There are many which would have said the same thing Peter said whose words would have been derived from nothing more than flesh and blood.  This is still the case.

John 6:66-69: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?  thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”

John 5:37-40: “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.  Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.  And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

No one can come to Jesus unto life without coming to Him according to the testimony of God’s written Word.  Nor can anyone in truth come to Him without being pointed back to His Word to live by- over and over- with the certainty of spiritual death should one refuse to be subject to the Word.

Jesus’ kingdom is anchored in truth.  His Word is truth.  To have an interest in His saving reign we must be anchored in the truth of His Word.  And yet many, not only in the 1st century, but in every generation, want to believe in Jesus in a way that is not anchored in the truth of His Word.  We read many times in the Bible of those who will be shut out of God’s kingdom and be cast into hell’s fire, though they called Jesus Lord, since they worked lawlessness rather than doing whatever He said. 

Now we come to Matthew 16:18-19.  We’ll go one verse at a time. 

Matthew 16:18: “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.”

Whether the word for Peter in the Greek (“Petros”) should be translated as rock or stone is hotly debated. There is no doubt that the word in Greek for the rock on which Jesus would build His church is a different word (“Petra”). 

When the New Testament speaks of great rocks, it uses the word Petra in the Greek text (see especially Matthew 7:24, Matthew 27:51, Matthew 27:60, and 1 Corinthians 10:4 where the reference to a rock is obviously to a very great rock- these are all the Greek word Petra instead of Petros).  

Peter is Petros- a stone or  smaller rock.  Jesus is the Petra referred to in Matthew 16:18; the great rock on whom His church is built. 

Though the King James Version refers to Jesus as “the stone” in Acts 4:11, the word in the Greek there is neither Petra nor Petros.  It is rather “lithos.”  In its context, it is obviously a reference to a building stone.

Acts 4:10-12: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye 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 (nothing) 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 we must be saved.”

So who is the great rock on whom Christ’s church is built?  The Apostles answered that question repeatedly.  It is Jesus; not Peter.  

Ephesians 2:18-20 (this is the Apostle Paul writing to a church of mostly gentile Christians): “For through him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.”

This refutes the Catholic claim regarding the authority of the Pope which is essential to their case for that.  We’ll see soon though Christ’s Apostles in the Bible are foundational to His church, they are not the chief cornerstone of His church.  We just saw that Jesus Christ Himself is the chief cornerstone.

Peter even directly says concerning Jesus in 1 Peter 2:4-6: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone (my note- the Greek word here is “lithos”), disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones (my note- the Greek here again is “lithos”; the Christians, including Peter, are called lithos as Jesus was called lithos- we’re about to see the key distinction between Jesus and the rest), are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone (my note- again, lithos- Jesus and the Christians are all lithos- but Jesus is the chief building stone- He Himself is the great rock which His church is built upon), elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”

Peter never called himself more than an Apostle of Jesus Christ and a Christian elder (see 1 Peter 1:1 and Peter 5:1).

Now we come to Matthew 16:19: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Note that it does not say here that only Peter was given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  

The men whom God wrote the Bible through had special authority which no one has now.  The canon of Scripture was closed by the end of the 1st century AD.  Nobody writes Scripture anymore.  

Did the Apostle Paul not have the keys of the kingdom of heaven?  

1 Corinthians 3:10-11 (Paul wrote 1 Corinthians): “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.  But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

That’s of course also another proof that Jesus is the chief stone whom His church is built upon; not Peter.

Peter and Paul were both Apostles.  Note also in the following passage how Paul did not view Peter as a special authority figure above the other Apostles.

Galatians 2:9-10: “And when James, Cephas (that is, Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen (the Gentiles), and they unto the circumcision (the Jews).  Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.”

Peter being given the keys of the kingdom of heaven is obviously directly connected to the phrase “and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  

Having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with the binding and loosing involved in the use of these keys, involve the authentic Apostles of Christ in the first century forming and defining Christian doctrine for their generation- and all following generations.

It is not that Christian doctrine even then had to be formed from scratch.  Christianity is built on the Old Testament Scriptures.  

However, as has been talked about before in these studies, there was a change in the ceremonial law and changes in the arrangement of congregational worship in the New Covenant.  Though these are things which were even foretold in the Old Testament to happen eventually, the specifics still had to be revealed, ironed out, and implemented.  

Besides implementing the changes related to ceremonial law, the Apostles of Christ and their very close co-workers even wrote the four Gospel accounts describing the very accomplishment of the purchase of man’s redemption and of the types, shadows, and direct prophecies concerning the objectives of Christ’s first coming.

Consider here something Jesus told His Apostles after His resurrection.  

Luke 24:44-48: “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And ye are witnesses of these things.”

The Apostles of Christ had no authority to bind or loose of their own accord.  They were rather given special revelation by the Holy Spirit of the appropriate timing to loose the Christian church from the Mosaic ceremonies- along with wisdom to properly bind the things in the Law of Moses which Christians are not released from.  

And to get a practical example of this, just read Acts chapters 10, 11, and 15- especially the counsel of the Apostles seen in Acts chapter 15.

Section 882 of the Catholic Church Catechism states “The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.  For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.”

There are many reasons that this statement does not align with the Bible.

As the council recorded in Acts chapter 15 shows, the one who gave the sentence there was James (who was probably the local overseer of the Jerusalem church and had precedence when the church at Jerusalem was gathered together).  

Peter was present at that very council.  Peter was a very key figure in the Acts 15 conference and the events leading up to that- but he surely did not have full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church.

The special authority related to Christ’s Apostles’ ability to bind and loose in order to settle then questionable matters has ceased- because those matters have already been settled in the pages of Scripture (and by one very key event foretold in Scripture but not recorded in Scripture which obviously happened- the destruction of the 2nd Temple).

Jesus’ Apostles defined the Christian faith in the New Testament- as He told them in John 16:13 that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth.  

This has already been done.  There is no need for anyone else to be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Anyone who claims that they have them is a fraud whom it would be fitting to call an anti-christ.

Leadership based upon geology also does not apply in the realm of (faithful) Christianity nor does the principle of any type of successive line of ordination apply in discerning righteous Christian leadership .  We are even warned in 1 Timothy 1:4 not to give heed to endless genealogies.

Peter did not exhort people to just trust him and the church.  When you practically forsake the authority of the Bible and put the sayings of fallible men in its place like the Catholic Church has, it breeds confusion- confusion which cannot be solved until you go back to the authority of the Bible.  And when the authority of the Bible is received, then the Roman Catholic Church must logically be rejected.  

The Roman Catholic Church’s longevity means nothing due to how it would crumble immediately if it were to be cleansed of its Pagan elements, other compromises with sin, and other unscriptural innovations.  

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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