Why is this passage so important?
Because the Roman Catholic church bases its claim of universal jurisdiction over the entire Christian church on this text. Schaff writes (p301):
This passage was at all times taken as an immovable exegetical rock for the papacy. The popes themselves appealed to it, times without number, as the great proof of the divine institution of a visible and infallible central authority in the church.
What does Jesus say in this passage?
In this passage, Jesus is putting the ultimate question to His followers. It’s the question of the ages; who is Jesus?
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)
To this question, Peter gives the wonderful twofold answer:
- “You are the Christ” showing Jesus’ identity as the great expected Messiah.
- “Son of the living God” showing that Jesus really is on a mission from the Father.
To this answer, Jesus pronounces Peter as the rock of His church and promises to give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
What does Jesus mean by making Peter the rock of the church?
There are three ways of understanding this:
- The rock is Peter’s person, almost all modern commentators, see Clarke p192;
- The rock is Peter’s confession, most of the church fathers, see Schaff §61, Barrow p78;
- The rock is Christ, see Augustine p90, Beveridge p395, Plumptre p231 and Wordsworth p58.
Roman Catholics insist on the first of these although the first two can easily be merged together. They conclude from this that Peter was given a primacy of jurisdiction over the entire church and that this primacy was handed down to each of his successors in turn. Protestants understand this text to be teaching that Christ gave Peter a primacy of honor because he would take the leading role in the early church especially leading the way in the gentile mission.
What is the difference between a primacy of jurisdiction and a primacy of honor?
A primacy of jurisdiction means that this person has authority over another person and can command or forbid him from acting in a certain way. A person who has a primacy of honor does not have any authority over others; he is simply the first among equals as the expression is often used.
- For example, a pastor in a Presbyterian church does not have any authority over the other elders, but he likely does have a primacy of honor which means that he is respected highly.
- The CEO of a company has a primacy of jurisdiction, i.e. he can tell other people what to do.
How does this text show that Peter had a primacy of jurisdiction and not simply a primacy of honor?
Wiseman sees three prerogatives here given to Peter:
- he is the rock of the church;
- he holds the keys;
- he is given the mandate to feed Christ’s flock (not given here in Matthew 16 but in John 21:15-17).
How does Wiseman understand Peter being the rock?
He writes (p267):
For what is the first idea which this figure [a rock] suggests except that the whole edifice grows up in unity and receives solidity from its been mortised and rivetted into this common base. But what can be simply effected in a material edifice by the weight or tenacity of its component parts can only be permanently secured in a moral body by a compressive influence or by the exercise of authority and power. We style the laws the basis of social order because it is their office to secure by their administration the just rights of all to punish transgressors to arbitrate differences to ensure uniformity of conduct in all their subjects. We call our triple legislative authority the foundation of the British constitution because from it emanate all the powers which regulate the subordinate parts of the body politic and on it repose the government the modification the reformation of the whole.
He concludes: “On the strength of these passages [Matthew 16:18; John 21:15-17], principally, the Catholic Church has ever maintained that St Peter received a spiritual pre-eminence and supremacy.” Joyce agrees (p262): “The position of St. Peter after the Ascension, as shown in the Acts of the Apostles, realizes to the full the great commission bestowed upon him. He is from the first the chief of the Apostolic band — not primus inter pares [first among equals], but the undisputed head of the Church.” Protestant agree that Peter was given a supremacy but not over the other apostles.
Does not Jesus giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter imply that he was given a primacy of jurisdiction?
It does since having the keys of the kingdom would mean having authority in the church. Edersheim writes (p85) that having the power of binding and loosing would include all the legislative functions in the church.
In the view of the Rabbis heaven was like earth, and questions were discussed and settled by a heavenly Sanhedrin. Now, in regard to some of their earthly decrees, they were wont to say that ‘the Sanhedrin above’ confirmed what ‘the Sanhedrin beneath’ had done. But the words of Christ, as they avoided the foolish conceit of His contemporaries, left it not doubtful, but conveyed the assurance that, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, whatsoever they bound or loosed on earth would be bound or loosed in heaven.
Culver takes a different view:
Heaven did not promise to certify and enforce whatever Peter and successors might decree true or demand of the church; rather that Peter as steward of God’s new household (the Christian ekklēsia) would act at God’s pleasure not his own, and admit or exclude precisely those whom heaven had already admitted or excluded. We see him admitting in Acts 2; 8; and 10. We see him refusing Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) and Simon Magus (Acts 8). Systematic Theology, p846.
Why then do Protestants not agree with Roman Catholics that Peter has a primacy of jurisdiction?
Protestants agree that Peter had such a primacy over the church. It is not true, however, that Peter had authority over the other apostles for two reasons:
- the power of the keys is given to all the apostles on two other occasions;
- the early church did not act in such a way which would lead us to believe that they understood Peter to have a primacy of jurisdiction.
Where does Jesus give the power of the keys to all the apostles?
There are two such passages:
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:15-20)
Right before His ascension, Jesus says this to His disciples:
So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” (John 20:19-23)
This does not preclude Peter from having a primacy of honor in the apostolic circle. See Origen (p456) on this.
You said previously that the apostles did not appear to recognize any such authority in Peter. Explain this.
The following are incidents in the gospel history which indicate that the other apostles did not understand Peter to be in a position of authority over them. Consider:
- When the vacancy left by Judas’ death has to be filled, it is Peter who stands up and leads the church to resolve this problem. Peter does not, however, hand down a decision which he has made. On the contrary, the text says, “So they put forward two men…” which indicates that there was some kind of nomination process. Then lots are cast and Matthias is chosen.
- Paul’s correction of Peter in Galatians 2:11f.
- Peter certainly spoke at the council of Jerusalem, but it was James who said, “Therefore it is my judgment that…” (Acts 15:19)
Sum up the Protestant understanding of Matthew 16:18.
Protestants argue that Roman Catholics have drawn conclusions from this text which the text itself does not warrant. They generally agree that Jesus gave Peter a leading role in the founding of the church. Summers writes (p190):
Peter was the first among the equals of the apostolic college. In recognition of his forwardness in confessing Christ, he was chosen to open the kingdom of heaven to the Jews, on the day of Pentecost, and to the Gentiles, in the case of Cornelius and his friends. Acts 2, 10, 15:7. In the foundation-work of the ministry, the other apostles were, indeed, associated with him; (Gal. 2:9; Eph. 2:20; Rev. 21:14;) as all the Levites are called stones of the temple—but Peter began the work. This interpretation embraces the doctrinal substance of that which refers the rock to Christ, and that without any forcing, as Peter’s fundamental ministry consisted in preaching the Christ contained in his confession. Thus the Church is built on Peter, only as Peter builds on Christ, (1 Cor. 3:10,) or is built on him, (1 Peter 2:4–8.) The word Church occurs here for the first time: it occurs nowhere else in the Gospels, except in Matt. 18:17.
Meyer (p419):
Besides, there can be no doubt whatever that the primacy among the apostles is here assigned to Peter, inasmuch as Christ singles him out as that one in particular whose apostolic labors will, in virtue of the steadfast faith for which he is peculiarly distinguished, be the means of securing, so far as human effort can do so (comp. Rev. 21:4; Gal. 2:9), the permanence and stability of the church which Jesus is about to found, and to extend more and more in the world. As in accordance with this, we may also mention the precedence given to this disciple in the catalogues of the apostles, and likewise the fact that the New Testament uniformly represents him as being, in point of fact, superior to all the others (Acts 15:7, 2:14; Gal. 1:18, 2:7, 8).
Keener:
Whether Peter thus acts as “prime minister” for the kingdom or perhaps as a “chief rabbi” making halakic rulings based on Jesus’ teachings, he clearly acts on sufficient delegated authority. Whereas Israel’s religious elite was shutting people out of the kingdom, those who confessed Jesus’ identity along with Peter were authorized to usher people into God’s kingdom. Peter may thus function as the representative eschatological missionary, a “fisher of men” par excellence. Non-Matthean tradition retains this special role for Peter; thus, for example, Acts indicates that he opened an official door to the Gentiles. Matthew, p429–430.
Briggs wrote in 1907 (p348) that all attempts to explain the “rock” in any other way than referring to Peter have failed:
St Peter was thus made, by the appointment of Jesus, the rock on which the Church was built as a spiritual house or temple; and at the same time, the porter of the kingdom whose privilege it is to open and shut its gates. The Church is here conceived as a building a house constituted of living stones all built upon Peter, the first of these stones or the primary rock foundation. It is also conceived as a city of God into which men enter by the gates.