“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 ESV).
After Simon confessed Jesus as the “Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus blessed him and gave him a new name, calling him, “Peter,” or in the Greek, “Πέτρος” (“Petros”). Jesus used a play on words saying, “You are “Petros” and on this “πέτρα” (“petra”) I will build my church. In the Greek, this might be literally translated, “You are a ‘small rock’ (petros) and upon this ‘immovable bedrock’ (petra) I will build my church.”
Although Simon Peter will be important to the founding of the church, the emphasis on the word “petra” clearly points not to Peter himself, but to Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It is this confession that is the foundational bedrock of the church.
And it is upon this confession that Christ has promised to build His church. He says, “I will build my church.” He doesn’t tell His disciples to build the church. He says that He will do it. So what is our part? Our part is to confess and proclaim Jesus as the Christ. And not only that, but we are we to proclaim Christ crucified and raised up. For as Christ is recorded saying in John’s gospel, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).
So Christ has said He will do the “drawing” and the “building,” if we will do the confessing and the proclaiming. In other words, if we will be the church, Christ will build the church.
PRAYER: Dear Father, strengthen us to confess and proclaim Your Son to everyone and to leave the results up to You. For You alone can save. We cannot save, but we can tell others about the Savior. Lord, empower us to be the church and to trust Christ to build the church. In Jesus’ name, amen.