1. It is said that the rock mentioned by Jesus here is Peter and thus it is over him that the Christian Church is being built. Hence, it is said that Apostle Peter is the Prince among the apostles. This is a wrong doctrine. The rock mentioned here does not denote Peter in anyway. First let us find out on what foundation is the Christian Church is being built. Paul makes this amply clear – ‘For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 3:11). Hence, it is evident that Jesus is the rock upon which the church is being built. Peter identified Jesus as the Christ and that belief of Jesus as Christ is the rock upon which the Church is being built. That is what Jesus is saying. How so? The meaning of the word Christ is Messiah. Jews considered the Messiah to be their promised Saviour. In the same way, the foundational doctrine or the rock of the church is the belief that Jesus is the saviour of the world. But, some may ask why did Jesus have to say ‘You are Peter’ first before talking about the rock upon which the church is built. When we speak, at times we use rhyming words to emphasise and also to attract attention. In the same way, Jesus mentioned the name of Peter to make the sentence rhyme such that it was catchy and drew people’s attention. In Greek, the meaning of the word ‘Peter’ is rock. The Greek word for Peter is ‘Petros’ (Strong’s No: 4074). The word ‘rock’ used by Jesus herein is ‘Petra’ in Greek, which also means rock (Strong’s No: 4073). Evidently, Petros and Petra rhyme with each other, don’t they? They also have similar meaning and henceforth Jesus structures his sentence to make it rhyme, i.e. ‘You are Petros and on this Petra I will build by Church’. If Jesus had meant Peter as the rock, he would have simply said ‘You are Peter and upon you I will build my Church’. On the contrary Jesus adds a ‘on this Petra’. The ‘this’ of that phrase flows from the ‘this’ of the previous sentence – for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven – and what does that ‘this’ denote? It clearly denotes Peter’s faith that Jesus is the Messiah. That was indeed the secret revealed by the Father in heaven to Peter. Hence, it is certain that the rock being mentioned by Jesus is that faith. Truly, the foundation of the faith of the Christian church is the belief that Jesus is the Messiah of the world.
2. Some say that since Peter was given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, he had the authority to determine what is wrong and right in this world. Some others fine-tune this and say that this authority rested with all the apostles including Peter. Both are wrong ideas. Firstly, what does the key mean to Peter? – ‘whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’. But we see from Matthew 18:18 that this very same authority was given to the entire church by Jesus. Therein Jesus spoke to all his disciples and hence this authority is not limited to the apostles of Christ (See Matthew 18:1). Truly, every follower of Christ has been provided with the keys of heaven. What are these keys though? The New Testament itself makes this clear –
* ‘I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’ (Rev 1:18).
* ‘Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering’ (Luke 11:52)
The first key that one requires to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is the one held by Jesus that enables us to overcome the curse of death due to Adamic Sin – ‘the keys of death and Hades’. We discussed about this keys in an issue of Scripture Study (See Scripture Study – Blossom 10 : Nov’ 10, Para 02). When we accept Christ, these Keys which Christ won through his ransom sacrifice release us from Adamic Sin. Next, we also get the key of Knowledge through the receiving of the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth. It is these aforementioned keys that Jesus promises to give to all the church. But does that mean each individual church member has the power to decide what is right and wrong? No, that will only lead to anarchy. What is to be noted here is that there is an alternative translation which makes better sense – ‘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’ (NASB). That is, since the followers of Christ have the key of knowledge through the Holy Spirit, they will know what are bound (Considered Wrong) in heaven and also what are not bound (Considered right) in heaven. And hence, when they, filled with the Holy Spirit, deem something as wrong in this earth, it shall have been already bound in heaven. In the same way, what they approve off shall have been already approved in heaven. Hence, God did not grant an authority to bind or loose to either the apostles or to the Church. That would have been most inappropriate. Infact, the Roman Catholic Church wreaked havoc in the middle ages claiming such authority. On the contrary, Jesus is just saying that the Church would be so one in mind with him and God, that they will be in sync with what is bound or loose in heaven. Not only the New American Standard Bible’s rendering but also other translations like Amplified Bible, Young’s Literal Translation and Holman Christian Standard Bible support the alternate interpretation. Even the New International Version Bible notes this possibility in the margin.