Matt. 16:16-19 is a hotly contested passage amongst Catholics and Protestants. Catholics see it as the installment of Peter as the first Pope. Protestants see it as God praising the revelation Peter gets, and not conferring any special status on Peter.
I see it as a bit in the middle of these 2 camps:
Audio Transcript (Auto-Generated via Microsoft Slack)
0:00Okay, so I wanted to address something here.
0:03was asked this question about in Matthew 16 when jesus talks to Peter and he says, And this is amusing, the King James version because it separates the the you singular.
0:19So, you know, it’s talking about just Peter Thou when it says that or ye which is like you all, it’s the you plural.
0:26So anyway, if that makes sense, I wanna read this in context, it’s Matthew 16, Jesus.
0:32And we see this, jesus says, but whom say ye that I am?
0:37And Simon Peter verse 16 of Matthew 16.
0:40And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the christ, the son of the Living God.
0:44And verse 17, and Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon bar Jonah for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.
0:53But my father, which is in Heaven verse 18 and I say unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against him, and I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.
1:09And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
1:15So the question is, how much is it talking about Peter Catholics will use this to say, see, Peter’s the Pope, this is jesus confirming him as the Pope.
1:23And to that, I would just add that just a few verses later jesus says to Peter, get behind me, satan, I don’t mean to make that trivial, but if he’s the Pope, he’s a pretty pretty flimsy place to put my trust, let’s put it that way.
1:39because he here he’s blessed as one who God reveals something to.
1:43But then right after this, he’s cursed is one who is following after satan.
1:48So I hope that our hope is not in Peter as a pope.
1:52Let’s put it that way.
1:53but instead, I do think Peter does have a revelation here.
2:00It’s clear that Peter specifically is the one who speaks this and gets this revelation.
2:05And then, and then there’s a play on Peter’s name, verse, let’s see 18.
2:18well, 17 and 18 I think are both a play on name.
2:20So first in 17 blessed art you art thou Simon bar, Jonah.
2:26So it’s Son of bar means son of Jonah, I guess john or joe I don’t remember the whole thing.
2:34But Simon, son of you know, your earthly father for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father, which is in heaven.
2:44So you are Simon your your son of this father.
2:48But it was actually God in heaven who revealed this to you.
2:52It wasn’t any earthly father who revealed to you, but my father in heaven revealed this to you.
2:56So this is a revelation sent by God in heaven verse 17.
2:59And then verse 18,, you are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church.
3:10Okay, so the question is, what is the rock?
3:14Peter means it means stone or a part of a bigger rock.
3:22So they’re in the greek, there’s a little separate thing, here is Petros.
3:27and then Petra is the rock verse 18 that that you are Peter, Petros, small small rock.
3:34And upon this rock, Petra big rock boulder, I will build my church now.
3:44the question is, what is this rock?
3:45So the Catholics would say, see, Peter is the one who is building the church on.
3:49And I think but then then the protestant response is usually no, no, the revelation that Peter gets, that’s what he builds the church on its by the revelation.
4:02So basically it’s the God revealing who he is by revelation is what it’s built on and versus the person of Peter is what it’s being built on.
4:13And but then before we jump into that verse 19 and I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.
4:22Now, that’s two Peter.
4:23Specifically, the is there it’s only you and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever thou shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven.
4:31So, again, this is used to say, see Peter’s Pope first Pope, the Catholics would say this, see he has all this power.
4:38I think a better read is is this, I do think Peter is considered kind of how do you say it’s like amongst the apostles, he is a leader of the apostles.
4:54We one way you can tell this is there’s four different times that all of the names of the apostles are mentioned like all 12.
5:01And and there’s interesting things you can read in the why?
5:05Because the order of the names is different in each arrangement and the interesting things why it’s arranged one way or another.
5:14I won’t go into that.
5:16D.
5:16A.
5:16Carson I think does a great job on this.
5:17But one thing that he points out and others have said this to D.
5:25A.
5:25Carson points out is that in all the list of the names judas, Iscariot has always listed the last name and Peter is always the first name listed.
5:36So I do think you know you don’t want to put too much weight on that, but at the same time it’s part of scripture.
5:41It’s something to consider that Peter is mentioned first and I do think that is a pattern.
5:46even more what I think and I think what 19 might be getting too is if you think about when the revelation of christ came to, let’s start with the jews first acts to when it came to the jews, who was the mouthpiece of God to speak to them and acts at Pentecost, it says pretty Peter Rose up and preached.
6:06So he if you think of what a key is a key is something that unlocks the door right?
6:11A key passes the revelation on.
6:13If you will.
6:14Peter was the one to pass that revelation on in verse, in acts two of at Pentecost.
6:20Well then you think what about gentiles?
6:22How did the gentiles come in?
6:23Will you read in acts 10 that about Cornelius household and who did God send to pass that revelation to the gentiles, Peter again.
6:33So peter is passing the key so to speak, which I think that’s what 19 is getting too.
6:40He’s he is a leader amongst the apostles and he is passing the key of the revelation to the jews and to the gentiles.
6:48So he does have a place to play here now like I said he is an unstable rock.
6:54The catholic rendering of this is faulty, very faulty to make peter the human the rock, it’s all this rock and this is a solid rock.
7:05No jesus is the rock first Corinthians 10 4 I am the rock Matthew seven my words jesus said my words are the rock.
7:14Anything else eligible in is the sand and like I said later in Matthew 16 peter is called, satan get behind me, satan so peter is not meant to be the rock, you put your weight and support on.
7:26so and what part I do think back to 18 part of the rock that God is giving is I do think it’s revelation.
7:38It’s clearly not Peter himself, but it’s revelation that Peter holds, but I also think Peter’s name is rock.
7:47And so there’s a certain maybe play on that to to say you are part of how I’m, how I’m going to pass on my revelation to the jews and the gentiles.
7:57So as a leader among the apostles, as a, as a conduit to bring the mouthpiece in X two and X 10 to the jews and gentiles.
8:06You are a kind of a part of this greater rock, but the the ultimate rock is jesus and his word and then it’s revelation that’s given to Peter.
8:19And then Peter is the conduit of that, but he’s not always good.
8:22Like I said later in Matthew 16, he’s a flimsy rock.
8:25If he’s you don’t put your weight on him, but you say God is using these faulty people.
8:29Peter is is chief here mentioned because he’s the one who has the revelation of God who is talking Christ is talking to about this and he was given the keys to pass on in a special way that he’s chosen in a special way.
8:41You can’t get past that.
8:44but again, this this does not mean some infallible way, this does not mean some Peter is, you put your weight in him more than jesus in the word or or he’s equal to jesus in the word and his false get behind me, satan he says and Galatians two is another one where paul rebukes peter for his wrongdoing and he was right to do so.
9:09And then paul actually, Galatians one, he says if I or an angel speak something different than the Gospel and God’s word, let us be accursed.
9:16Then in Galatians two, he’s like look at even peter, he’s gonna be a curse, I’m gonna call him out for this because he’s speaking contrary to the Gospel, he’s acting contrary to the gospel.
9:26So peter is not the benchmark if you will, he’s not the ultimate rock.
9:30But so I guess all to say, I do think, I guess I think it’s a little blurred.
9:36It’s not that it’s totally it’s only talking about the revelation of the rock being the revelation of christ that Peter has, that’s part of it, I do think.
9:45but I also don’t think the category, it’s only talking about Peter.
9:50and he and he’s a special, it’s a special person.
9:55that also is part of it in the sense that Peter is a select chosen person, he’s selected among the apostles.
10:03So he’s he’s again the first one to usher in this revelation, he’s the first one listed in the names of the apostles.
10:10So he’s select in that sense, but it’s only to the degree, he’s only good to the degree that he has the true revelation of christ.
10:18He’s only good to the degree that he’s following the true jesus.
10:20He’s only good to the degree that he’s following the bible and that’s where the Catholics missing.
10:27Oh, I might add one last quick thing here.
10:30you see in Matthew 16 verse 19, it talks about Peter, it mentions whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, I think.
10:48So then you could say, Oh does Peter have some special authority of binding and loosing again?
10:53That would be the Catholic way the pope can has this special, like whatever he says goes, well not so fast because just two chapters later in Matthew 18, he’s talking about if someone sins against you and it says bring him to the whole church and the whole church.
11:09This is a whole group, local church is it says you know, if they decide no, there needs to be disciplined, then it says verse 18 very, this king James again verily, I say unto you whatsoever, you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
11:31Again, I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of of my father, which is in Heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name, There am I in the midst of them.
11:43So now it’s not talking about Peter in particular was talking about two or three gathered in the Lord’s name.
11:50And I think that’s important because it’s consistent because it’s under the Lord to be under the Lord’s name means you’re under his authority.
11:58So it’s not just two or three agreeing on any what something just like it’s not just Peter just saying any what something or the pope, whatever he wants, he just says he binds and loses, he’s got that power.
12:09No no no no no no no.
12:11It’s it’s as you’re in agreement with the Lord’s name as your under his authority where there’s two or three agreeing under his authority under his word and revelation then That’s the kind of power you have.
12:25So again, Peter as representative as an example, he’s a leader amongst the apostles and but this is conferred to all the apostles both later in Matthew 18 the same kind of thing is said at the end of John to all the apostles.
12:42and so again this is not a peter specific pope specific kind of thing but it is the authority that the church itself has as she is under the Lord’s authority.
12:54The scripture, the revelation of Christ
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