What did Jesus mean when He said “Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”?
The church was not built on Peter, but rather upon Peter’s confession – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is the truth the church was to be built on, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Jesus did not say “upon you, Peter” or “upon you and your successors”.
- Petros (Πέτρος) – masculine, meaning a small stone or piece of a rock.
- Petra (πέτρα) – feminine, meaning a large rock, bedrock, or foundation stone.
In the original Greek, the play on words is clear: “You are Petros, and upon this Petra I will build my church.”
“Thou art Petros“, meaning, “a little stone“, or “a piece of a rock“.
“Upon this Petra“, meaning, “a giant stone” or “a mass of rock“.
The church was not to be built upon a little stone, or a piece of one, which described Peter, but a giant one. Petra is also feminine, and would not refer to Peter. Also if Jesus had been referring to Peter, He would’ve used the same word. However, they’re different.
For additional proof, just a few verses down, the gates of hell did prevail against Peter, when Jesus said “Get thee behind me Satan”. And they prevailed against him again when he denied The Lord 3 times. So it’s obvious He was not referring to Peter in His statement.
Jesus did the same thing back at the temple in Jerusalem. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. He wasn’t speaking of the physical temple, He was speaking of His body.
Christ is the cornerstone, not Peter.