You Are Peter...What?

The phrase in Matthew 16 in the exchange between Jesus and Peter has always bothered me. I knew the Catholics did not have it right (with all due respect Francis). But, our play on the words "stone" which translates Peter and "rock" was really not working for me either. It always seemed so forced as an interpretation. I do believe the idea of confession is the key to understanding this exchange. Perhaps if we see it in light of Matthew 10:32-33 we might have something.Jesus tells His apostles if they confess Him before men He will confess them before His Father in heaven. But, if they deny Him before men He will deny them before His Father in heaven.  What had Peter just done in answering Jesus question? Right! He confessed Jesus before men. So what did Jesus do? Right! He confessed Peter before His Father who was in heaven, the one who revealed that Jesus was the Son of God. This makes so much sense. Once this key idea is seen, then the more theological doctrine of the church can be seen.

The basis for the idea of "church" which Jesus was building is fellowship, the relationship between the Head and the rest of the body. There has to be a connection between Jesus and His followers. This connection constitutes the church. When a person recognizes the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God and confesses Him as such as Peter did, Jesus will in turn acknowledge who you are before His Father. Remember when the apostles returned from that limited commission where they went out and confessed Jesus before men, and healed and casted out demons? They were so excited that even the demons submitted to them. Jesus said that that was really not the most important thing. He tells them to "rejoice because your names are written in heaven." This mutual confession is the foundation of the church. The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom.8). This why Peter's temporary denial of Jesus was a big deal. He unconfessed Jesus. But Jesus gave him the opportunity to reconfess him (John 21).

Jesus clearly says, "And I also say to you that you are Peter..." I feel sure if Philip had spoken up first it would have been his name inserted there (and then the Catholics would say Philip was the first pope--sorry to be on the Catholics today, but they are in the news). Imagine what would have happened if it were Judas who had spoken up first? That would cause some problems for us all, wouldn't it? Unless you see that mutual confession seals the deal. This is exactly what the Jewish and Roman persecutors focused on when they tried to destroy the church. They wanted to attack the very foundation of the church by getting Christians to deny Jesus. It had the opposite effect. The more they killed these confessors, the more who confessed that Jesus was the Christ.  Truly confession is essential to salvation after all!!!