Built on the Rock of Confession: Was Peter the First Pope?
Built on the Rock of Confession: Was Peter the First Pope?
A sermon on Matthew 16:13-20
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. 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.
— Matthew 16:18-19
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today in the Gospel of Matthew we get to see one of the highlights of the story of Matthew's Gospel. Peter doesn't go to Jesus — Jesus goes to Peter, and he asks a question about his identity: "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They go through a number of different answers that all sorts of people would give, and Jesus says, "But who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter replies, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Then Jesus responds, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
And the words I want to focus on come next: "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. 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."
This passage — where Jesus speaks to Peter about the rock, the church, the gates of hell, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and binding and loosing — has been argued about for about 500 years now. The Roman Catholic Church makes a couple of claims based on this passage that I think are worth examining every once in a while, to see whether we think they're true. Now, spoiler alert: we in the Lutheran Church don't agree with them, but I do think it's good to examine these claims every once in a while, and look at what Jesus is actually saying.
Two Claims from Rome
The two claims that come from this passage are, first, that Christ made Peter the first pope and built the church on him — that Peter has the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the ability to bind and loose doctrine. That is, Peter is the first pope; he has the power to make doctrine and distribute the gifts of Christ, and all the popes who came after him derive that power from this passage. The second claim is that in this moment Jesus founded the Roman Catholic Church as the only Christian church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against that church.
I disagree. Let's take a look at why.
Was Jesus Making Peter the First Pope?
Let's take a look at the words. He says, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church."
Peter confesses Jesus as the Son of God — "the Christ, the Son of the Living God" — and so Jesus addresses Simon Peter and says, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah," which I think is an interesting point. Why here does he say "Simon, son of Jonah"? It's a contrast with "Jesus, Son of the living God." Simon is the son of a man; Jesus is the Son of God, and this is not revealed by flesh and blood, but by the Father who is in heaven.
Then he calls Peter the Rock, which is what Petros means, and he goes, "On this rock I will build my church." Is the rock Peter that he is building on? Is the rock the papacy? Of course not. It is the confession of Christ that empowers Peter. It is not his office, or being called this Petros — it is the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God that makes the church the church: the confession that Jesus came, died, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will return on the last day to give us eternal life.
The Church Fathers on the Rock
It is not just the Lutherans, starting in 1517, who believed this. If you look back into the history of the church, many others believed this as well. One of the great preachers of the Christian Church, John Chrysostom, said this in his sermon on Matthew chapter 18:
"And I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" — that is, on the faith of his confession.
Chrysostom goes on to use this example of Christ establishing Peter as someone to be a witness to the church, in the same way that he empowered the prophets like Jeremiah, who was to be "a bulwark and a pillar for the people of God." No one says that a church was built on Jeremiah — it's the confession of Christ upon which the church is based, upon which our faith rests, not on the office of a man, but on our Savior.
Similarly, Saint Hilary once wrote that the Father revealed to Peter what he should say — "You are the Son of the Living God" — and that therefore the building of the church is upon this rock of confession. This faith is the foundation of the church. No one is building anything on Saint Peter. Our faith is built on Christ and Christ alone, as we sing: "Built on that rock the church does stand, not on a man, but on Christ."
The Keys Given to Peter — and to the Whole Church
There are things Jesus gives to Peter here. He says, "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." The "you" there is singular. Jesus is saying to Peter, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven." It's a big step to move from that to saying that Peter is the pope, isn't it? Just the fact that Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven doesn't mean that he is some sort of pope.
In fact, Jesus says the same thing to the whole church in Matthew chapter 18 — the passage about confronting sin. If your brother sins against you, first go tell him face to face, then bring another along, so that every matter may be established by two or three witnesses. And if he won't listen to them, bring it to the church. And if he won't listen to the church, treat him as a tax collector or a sinner. And then Jesus says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
So here in Matthew 16 he speaks singularly to Peter, but two chapters later he speaks plurally to the whole church — "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I among them." So while Peter is given, singularly, the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the same authority is also given to the whole Christian church on earth only two chapters later.
Similarly, in John chapter 20, when Jesus appears to the disciples, he breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." He does this with the whole of the disciples, not Peter alone.
There is no papacy here, no supremacy for the office of Peter. There is no claim that the power of the church is based on Peter and Peter alone. Instead, Jesus gives the whole Christian church on earth the power to forgive sins — which is pretty cool. Because when you go out and forgive one another, Christ's death and resurrection empowers that forgiveness with the Holy Spirit, so that sins are actually forgiven. Or when you come into my office and do private confession, Christ's death and resurrection empowers you to receive the forgiveness of sin.
We shouldn't, however, overreact to this claim.
Peter's Real Role — Leader, Not Pope
It is okay for us to recognize that Jesus is speaking to Peter. Peter is, after all, the leader of the disciples — in the book of Acts, he and John go out and do a lot of the ministry, especially early on. But at the same time, when they come together to have the meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the problem of the Gentiles and whether they have to be circumcised, Peter is not the one leading. He is not the one establishing the doctrine of that place — James is the leader of that council, and the one who proclaims the decision of the group.
The biblical narrative simply does not say that the church is built on the pope and Saint Peter. And that leads us to another question: What then is the church, if it is not the hierarchy, if it is not the papacy, if it is not everyone under the pope? What is that thing of which Christ says, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it"?
What Is the Church, Then?
Ephesians chapter 2 talks about us being fellow citizens. Paul says:
"But you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord."
The church there is described as a temple built on the foundation of Christ and the apostles and the prophets, where all of us come together to be this one great building. Similarly, First Corinthians chapter 12 describes the church as the body of Christ. We all come together as one great body with Christ as our head. Every single one of us is a member of this church, bound together in Jesus Christ. The apostles, the prophets, the pastors are appointed for service in this body of Christ, but they do not make up the body of Christ.
The church, then, is all the people of God who have faith in Jesus Christ. It's not designed to be a particular outward organization. It's not a structure or a hierarchy or a constitution and bylaws or any sort of written agreement. It's all who come together in faith in Jesus Christ — which means the church is not just the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, or the Roman Catholic Church, or the Eastern Orthodox Church, or any particular body. It is all those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
That should give us a wonderful and beautiful faith and promise in the work of the ministry of God, because the Lutheran Church didn't begin when Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses. The Lutheran Church is part of the Great Church. We go back to the very beginning, because it's not about being Lutheran or Catholic or whatever the label is — the church is simply the church, the body of Christ, all who have faith in God. That is what Christ has established. That is the thing the gates of hell will not prevail against. We don't claim to be the only church, like Rome does. We are simply part of the great church that has always existed, founded on the rock of Jesus Christ.
The Central Lesson
So, if we were to come together and settle on the central lesson here, we would say: sure, Jesus is speaking to Peter when he says this, and he tells Peter, "You get these powers" — but he also says that to the rest of the Holy Church. We can confess that Peter, as part of the apostles, is an important figure in the history of the church, but he is certainly not a pope, or the hierarchy, or the one on whom the whole church is built.
Instead, this passage teaches us that Christ builds his whole Christian church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and pastors, with Christ as the cornerstone. And all of us together, those who have faith in Christ, are part of this holy Christian church on earth — a church against which the gates of hell will not prevail.
In Jesus' name. Amen.