"The First Confession In Jesus' Testament"

This confession is not of sins which John the Baptist preached but is required of all when the New Testament came into force (Hebrews 9:17; Acts 8:36f).

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 16:13-20, KJV)

Jesus asks his disciples, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?"

After they reply, He asks, "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. 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. 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."

THEME: THE CONFESSION OF WHO JESUS IS.

The passage is considering the answer to Jesus' question, "But whom say ye that I am?" The identity of Jesus is the basic purpose for Jesus' session with these disciples at this time. Who do the disciples say He is? Peter's answer is given. It is a confession of who Jesus is.

This passage is misused by some in Christendom because of at least two false interpretations based on ignorance of how to interpret the pronouns referenced.

Interpretation #1: "You are Peter." The name "Peter" means a type of "rock" in the original. Some teach that Jesus is telling Peter that he is the foundation rock on which the church is to be built. This means to me that a human is the foundation of and will rule the church and since humans die, there must be a human successor. In addition, somehow this authority will make rules to obey from a central place in perpetuity.

Interpretation #2: Hell versus the church. The interpretation is "The gates of fiery hell and demons will not touch members of this church" as long as this church is following the succession of Peter. The church protects one from hell; the church will escape confrontation with fiery hell and its punishment.

THE FIRST FALSE INTERPRETATION:

IS PETER THE CHURCH'S FOUNDATION? "I say unto you [Simon] that you are Peter (Greek: masculine, Petros^G4074), And upon this rock (feminine, petra^G4073) I will build my church." Is Peter the ANTECEDENT of the rock? Grammar decides for us.

"In English grammar, an antecedent is a person, place, thing, or clause represented by a pronoun.” ⁱ

English Grammar denies that Peter is the referenced rock of the church.

GRAMMAR ANTECEDENT RULES. A fundamental application of plain English grammar rules clarifies the issue. In communicating one must use one of the three personal pronouns in order to be understood. If the speaker is referring to himself, one must use the "first" personal pronoun ("I", "we" or "our", etc.). Jesus refers to Himself as "I." Therefore we know who He means. If reference is to one's listener, the "second" personal pronoun is used (i.e., "you", "yours"). Therefore, Jesus refers to Simon Peter as "you" ( "thou"). To refer to his confession or what is said, one must use the "third" personal pronouns (such as "he", "him", "she", "her", "it", "them", or "they") or its demonstrative, such as "this", “that”, “these”, “those.” The third person pronouns are referential which means they can be substituted by a demonstrative pronoun. This is true in both languages, original Greek and translated English.ⁱⁱ

Each pronoun (or its demonstrative) and its antecedent must agreeⁱⁱⁱ in (1) number, (2) person, and (3) gender.^iv

AGREEMENT OF PERSON. When Jesus appointed the twelve apostles a couple of Passovers earlier, He had surnamed (nicknamed) Simon, Peter (Mark 3:16). Greek pronouns (or demonstratives like "this") in English must agree with its antecedent in number, person, and gender. The number is singular for both Peter and Rock. However, if Peter is the antecedent of "this rock" as some argue, then "Peter" must be in agreement also in "person" with "this rock." But, Peter is in the second person "you." "I say unto you that you ..." But Jesus purposely uses "this" for the rock He mentions which is in the "third" person. The "rock" cannot grammatically refer to the one spoken to; i.e., Peter. "You", second person pronoun, is not used. Jesus is referring to something else. It has to be Peter's confession of who Jesus is.

AGREEMENT OF GENDER. If Peter is the rock, then Peter and rock must be according to the rule of the same gender. Jesus knew how to communicate. To say Jesus got it wrong is to deny Peter's confession itself. "Rock" can be stated in Greek in the two genders. But Peter is masculine ^v in gender (Petros). But "this rock" (petra) is feminine^vi. I submit that the difference in grammar "gender" proves that Jesus is making a contradistinction and not an equivalency. At best, a play is made between the rock words "Peter" and "petra." That is, the assigned nickname of the one confessing is compared to his important "foundation confession" of who Jesus is. This rock cannot gramatically be a "feminine reference" and represent masculine Peter.

LOCATING THE CORRECT GENDER ANTECEDENT. Upon "this" rock. Not upon "you", Peter. The only "this" being considered in this passage is Peter's confession. "This" has to refer to the substance of Peter's confession (which is a clause) that "Jesus is the Son of God." This is what some differentiate as the comparative gigantic, solid rock (petra) on which the church (the assembly, the kingdom on earth) is to be built (Colossians 1:13,18).

FOUNDATION IS GREATER THAN A MERE MAN. Who is Jesus? Peter says Jesus is not just a prophet (i.e., a mere man) but deity. Peter is an apostle but yet just a man and one who often sins and must repent. He even rebukes Jesus later in this passage. He denies the Lord three times at His crucifixion. He later rejects fellowship with non-Jewish Christians in the church (Galatians 2:11). Paul actually publicly corrects him. To build the church upon a mere man contradicts the whole Bible's teaching of the Lord God being our only Spiritual Rock.^vii 1 Corinthians 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” It is like building one's salvation upon the sand. Remember, Jesus taught in Matthew 7:26, “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” If it is not Jesus, it is like sand! Jesus is pointing out that the foundation of the church must be upon who Jesus is; i.e., the Messiah, the Son of God, and consequently, upon His sayings. Just as grammar rules out Peter as being the foundation for the church, so does the fraility of any human being. The confession of who Jesus is rules out who Jesus is not, simply a man. Jesus has to be the foundation of the church.

THE SECOND FALSE INTERPRETATION: "GATES OF HELL" AND "IT"

"GATES OF HELL." What does this mean?

Does Jesus refer to Peter's confession being challenged by demons of hell or to Jesus' newly introduced church being challenged by them? The pronoun "it" here is "autos" which is feminine singular. This does not help us since both "rock" (confession of "who Jesus is") and "church" are both feminine singular. But remember a pronoun "it" like "this" can refer to an entire previous clause which in this case is in summary is "building the church upon the rock." If we apply this as a rule to this passage, then "it" would refer to the idea of what Jesus the Son of God is doing; i.e., "building His church" and "the gates of hell" will not prevail against it.

History shows that this is exactly what did happen. The "gates of hell" did not "prevail" over Jesus' promise to build His church upon the rock of His deity? The word hell is not talking about demons or their residence in fiery hell. "Hell" is not translated from the "Gehenna" (fiery) Hell but from simply Greek "Hades", which is the "grave" or "death" in Greek. Peter's grave has historically proven that for 2000 years the gates of death have prevailed over Peter.^viii

The Revised Standard Version actually chooses “death” for Matthew 16:18: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it."

Robertson's Word Pictures reminds us that the Bible consistently, such as Isaiah 38:10; Psalm 9:13; 107:18; and Job 38:17 uses the expression “gates of Hades” for simply death. The grave or death will not and did not stop Jesus from establishing His church. In the first gospel sermon on Pentecost in Acts 2, Peter proclaims that Jesus was not permanently left in the grave of death but that He was raised from the gates of Hades. In the first mention of the church being established Peter quotes the Messianic Psalm 6:10's prophecy (in Acts 2:27) to prove that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah, “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Hades. death), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” It is not the picture of Hades attacking Christ’s church, but of death’s losing to Jesus building His church!

CONCLUSION

Following the conclusion of the confession session Jesus uses this as an opportunity to begin clearly teaching his apostles of His impending suffering, death and resurrection from the grave (recorded in the next paragraph in Matthew 16:21). Indeed, an appropriate conclusion to the promise of fulfilling deity's destination of bringing salvation to His disciples. The confession of Peter and the victory from death is a preamble of what the Spirit requires of us in Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” The confession by Peter is not only the first confession then in the NT, it is the basic and initial one for us all. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? The Ethiopian eunuch said that he did and he was baptized for the forgiveness of his sins (Acts 8:36-39; 2:38).

GAYLON WEST edited by Janie Ward and Mary West