Church (1) Foundation
Welcome back after our holiday gap in EmmDevs! We're resuming the series on the Creed and we get to the line: "I believe in the holy catholic church." We're going to explore this phrase in quite a bit of depth for the next few days.
| "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew16:15-18 |
There are only two places in the Gospels that Jesus uses the word "Church" (here and in Mt18:17). This is understandable because His earthly ministry was to announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God. After His death and resurrection the Church would be born at Pentecost.
But Jesus makes His intention clear here: He intends to build His church. But what kind of church will it be? What will its purpose be? And who can be part of this church? These are questions we must ask over the next few days.
The starting point of any building is its foundation. Jesus has been asking the disciples' opinion as to His identity. Peter nails it: "You are the Christ - the Son of the Living God."
Jesus makes a startling declaration in response to this. "On this rock I will build my church." Historically there has been some confusion about this because the name "Peter" (Petros in Greek) means Rock. But Jesus talks about building His church on "this petra" (which is the neuter form of petros). The petra is not Petros but the confession that he has just made.
Even without the help of the Greek, just looking at the text makes this obvious. It is the question of Jesus identity that is key. Simon-Peter is not so special for seeing this: God revealed it to him - which makes his confession all the more true.
The Church stands on this solid foundation: "Jesus is the Christ(Messiah), the Son of the Living God." When we build the church on other personalities and ideologies it does not last.
