Matthew 16 · a question people ask
Who or what is "this rock" (16:18), and what are the keys Jesus gives Peter (16:19)?
Jesus says to Simon, "I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (16:18), and "I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven" (16:19). Matthew doesn't explain the rock or the keys. In the Greek, Peter is Petros and rock is petra, and these notes draw no conclusion from the two words. The words about binding and releasing are spoken again in 18:18, in Jesus's words to the disciples who had come to him (18:1): "whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven" (18:18). In John, Jesus says to his disciples, "If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them" (John 20:23). Christians who share the same beliefs read "this rock" in more than one way, and these are the main readings. Many hold the two together. All agree that the assembly is his, "my assembly", and that "the gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (16:18). These notes say nothing about any church, office, city or leader today, or about the history of any church.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Peter himself
Those who hold this view read "this rock" as Peter, to whom Jesus has just said, "you are Peter" (16:18). They point to Matthew's list of the twelve apostles: "The first, Simon, who is called Peter" (10:2). They also point to the apostles as a foundation: "being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:20), and the wall of the city in Revelation has "twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:14). And they point to Peter standing up to speak in Acts: "Peter, standing up with the eleven" (Acts 2:14), and later, "Peter rose up and said to them" (Acts 15:7).
Matthew 16:18 · Matthew 10:2 · Ephesians 2:20 · Revelation 21:14 · Acts 2:14 · Acts 15:7
What Peter confessed, or Christ himself
Those who hold this view read "this rock" as what Peter had just said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16:16), or as Christ himself. 1 Corinthians has, "For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). 1 Peter calls him "a living stone" (1 Peter 2:4), and gives the words of Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious" (1 Peter 2:6).
Matthew 16:16 · 1 Corinthians 3:11 · 1 Peter 2:4-6
The verses
“I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.””
“In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?””
“Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”