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Matthew 16:18: Peter is not "this rock"
By Dan Curry
PART 3
Second, many Early Church Fathers (ECF's) understood Matthew 16:18 to mean that Peter was NOT "this rock", as I will now document. I do not feel the need to thoroughly comment on these quotes, as I feel that they speak quite clearly for themselves.
Augustine - Sermons On the Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XXVI, par. 1-2
When the Lord Jesus Christ asked, whom men said that He was, and when the disciples gave the various opinions of men, and the Lord asked again and said, "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." One for many gave the answer, Unity in many. Then said the Lord to Him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven."(2) Then He added, "and I say unto thee." As if He had said, "Because thou hast said unto Me, 'Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God;' I also say unto thee, 'Thou art Peter.' " For before he was called Simon. Now this name of Peter was given him by the Lord, and that in a figure, that he should signify the Church. For seeing that Christ is the rock (Petra), Peter is the Christian people. For the rock (Petra) is the original name. Therefore Peter is so called(3) from the rock; not the rock from Peter; as Christ is not called Christ from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. "Therefore," he saith, "Thou art Peter; and upon this Rock" which thou hast confessed, upon this Rock which thou hast acknowledged, saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, will I build My Church;" that is upon Myself, the Son of the living God, "will I build My Church." I will build thee upon Myself, not Myself upon thee.
For men who wished to be built upon men, said "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas,"(4) who is Peter. But others who did not wish to be built upon Peter, but upon the Rock, said, "But I am of Christ." And when the Apostle Paul ascertained that he was chosen, and Christ despised, he said, "Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?"(5) And, as not in the name of Paul, so neither in the name of Peter; but in the name of Christ: that Peter might be built upon the Rock, not the Rock upon Peter.
Here, Augustine clearly denies that Peter is the rock of Matthew 16:18. We are not to be built upon Peter, but upon the Rock, which is Christ.
Augustine - Tractate CXXIV - Chapter XXI. 19-25.
(Peter) represented the universal Church, which in this world is shaken by divers temptations, that come upon it like torrents of rain, floods and tempests, and falleth not, because it is founded upon a rock (petra), from which Peter received his name. For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, "On this rock will I build my Church," because Peter had said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."(2) On this rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed. I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ;(3) and on this foundation was Peter himself also built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.(4) The Church, therefore, which is rounded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church.
Here, Augustine elaborates as to what Peter's role in Matthew 16:18 is: He is the representation of all believers, or an example of what one becomes if he is built upon the Rock, which is Christ.
Augustine - OUR LORD'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. BOOK II. ON THE LATTER PART OF OUR LORD'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT, CONTAINED IN THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH CHAPTERS OF MATTHEW.
87. Hence we must take special notice how terribly the conclusion of the whole sermon is introduced: "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, is like(1) unto a wise man, which built his house upon the rock." For no one confirms what he hears or understands, unless by doing. And if Christ is the rock, as many Scripture testimonies proclaim(2) that man builds in Christ who does what he hears from Him. "The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat(3) upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."
Here, Augustine makes another clear statement that it is Christ who is the rock.
Augustine - SERMONS ON SELECTED LESSONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. SERMON LXXIX. ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, JOHN V. 39, " YE SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES, BECAUSE YE THINK THAT IN THEM YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE," ETC. AGAINST THE DONATISTS.
8. Understand then, my Brethren, our language and theirs, and look which ye would choose. This is what we say; "Be we holy, God knoweth it; be we unrighteous, this again He knoweth better; place not your hope in us, whatsoever we be. If we be good, do as is written, ' Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.'[3] But if we be bad, not even thus are ye abandoned, not even thus have ye remained without counsel: give ear to Him, saying, ' Do what they say; but do not what they do.'"[4] Whereas they on the contrary say, "If we were not good, ye were lost." Lo, here is "another that shall come in his own name." Shall my life then depend on thee, and my salvation be tied up in thee? Have I so forgotten my foundation? Was not Christ the Rock ? s Is it not that he that buildeth upon the rock, neither the wind nor the floods overthrow him?[6] Come then, if thou wilt, with me upon the Rock, and do not wish to be to me for the rock.
Here, Augustine makes another clear statement that it is Christ who is the rock.
Augustine - THE HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS, BOOK II: CHAP. I TO CHAP. XXXI
...the Lord said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church."(6) But we are not to understand that that was the time when he first received this name; but we are rather to suppose that this took place on the occasion when it was said to him, as John mentions, "Thou shall be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, A stone."(7) Thus the Lord could address him at that later period by this very name, when He said, "Thou art Peter." For He does not say then, "Thou shalt be called Peter," but, "Thou art Peter;" because on a previous occasion he had already been spoken to in this manner, "Thou shalt be called."
Here, Augustine elaborates on the specific naming of Peter as "Cephas". "Cephas", he argues, should be interpreted as "a stone". And if, as Augustine has previously stated, Peter represents those who are the Body of Christ, then all who are the Body of Christ are therefore "stones".
Augustine - ST. AUGUSTIN: TEN HOMILIES ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. HOMILIES IX TO X.
What the devils said, the same said Peter also. When the Lord asked them who He was, and whom did men say that He was, the disciples made answer to Him, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God."(7) And this he heard from the Lord: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." See what praises follow this faith. "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church." What meaneth, "Upon this rock I will build my Church"? Upon this faith; upon this that has been said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Upon this rock," saith He, "I will build my Church." Mighty praise! So then, Peter saith, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God:" the devils also say, "We know who thou art, the Son of God, the Holy One of God." This Peter said, this also the devils: the words the same, the mind not the same. And how is it clear that Peter said this with love? Because a Christian's faith is with love, but a devil's without love. How without love? Peter said this, that he might embrace Christ; the devils said it, that Christ might depart from them.
Here, Augustine gives a verbatim explanation for the question when he says: "What meaneth, 'Upon this rock I will build my Church.'? Upon this faith; upon this that has been said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God'." In is not Peter on which the Church is built, but rather it is upon that which Peter believed that the Church was built, namely, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Tertullian - THE PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS (ELUCIDATION)
III. (Peter, cap. xxii. note 6, p. 253.)
In the treatise of Cyprian, De Unitate, we shall have occasion to speak fully on this interesting point. The reference to Kaye may suffice, here. But, since the inveterate confusion of all that is said of Peter with all that is claimed by a modern bishop for himself promotes a false view of this passage, it may be well to note (1) that St. Peter's name is expounded by himself (I. Peter, ii. 4, 5,) so as to make Christ the Rock and all believers "lively stones"--or Peters--by faith in Him. St. Peter is often called the rock, most justly, in this sense, by a rhetorical play on his name: Christ the Rock and all believers "lively stones," being cemented with Him by the Spirit. But, (2.) this specialty of St. Peter, as such, belongs to him (Cephas) only. (3.) So far as transmitted it belongs to no particular See. (4.) The claim of Rome is disproved by Proescription. (5.) Were it otherwise, it would not justify that See in making new articles of Faith. (6.) Nor in its Schism with the East. (7.) When it restores St. Peter's Doctrine and Holiness, to the Latin Churches, there will be no quarrel about pre-eminence. Meantime, Rome's fallibility is expressly taught in Romans xi. 18-21.
Tertullian corroborates Augustine. He explictly states that "all believers are 'lively stones'--or Peters--by faith in Him (Christ, the Son of the Living God)." He even explicitly states that what is occuring in this passage is a play on words! Interestingly enough, he ends his paragraph by saying that Rome is fallible. There is no way to conclude that Tertullian believed that the person of Peter is the rock upon which the Church would be built.
Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus - (Letter CXLVI). Letter To John the OEconomus
Let no one then foolishly suppose that the Christ is any other than the only begotten Son. Let us not imagine ourselves wiser than the gift of the Spirit. Let us hear the words of the great Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."(1) Let us hear the Lord Christ confirming this confession, for "On this rock," He says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."(2) Wherefore too the wise Paul, most excellent master builder of the churches, fixed no other foundation than this. "I," he says, "as a wise master builder have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."(3) How then can they think of any other foundation, when they are bidden not to fix a foundation, but to build on that which is laid? The divine writer recognises Christ as the foundation...
Theodoret confirms all this by claiming that it is Peter's confession of the person and nature of Christ that is "this rock", in Matthew 16:18. He acknowledges that it is the person of Christ, or the confession of Peter, not the person of Peter, that is the "rock".
Origen - COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW: BOOK XII
10. THE ANSWER OF PETER.
And perhaps that which Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,"(1) if we say it as Peter, not by flesh and blood revealing it unto us, but by the light from the Father in heaven shining in our heart, we too become as Peter, being pronounced blessed as he was, because that the grounds on which he was pronounced blessed apply also to us, by reason of the fact that flesh and blood have not revealed to us with regard to Jesus that He is Christ, the Son of the living God, but the Father in heaven, from the very heavens, that our citizenship may be in heaven,(2) revealing to us the revelation which carries up to heaven those who take away every veil from the heart, and receive "the spirit of the wisdom and revelation" of God.(3) And if we too have said like Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," not as if flesh and blood had revealed it unto us, but by light from the Father in heaven having shone in our heart, we become a Peter, and to us there might be said by the Word, "Thou art Peter," etc.(4) For a rock(5) is every disciple of Christ of whom those drank who drank of the spiritual rock which followed them,(6) and upon every such rock is built every word of the church, add the polity in accordance with it; for in each of the perfect, who have the combination of words and deeds and thoughts which fill up the blessedness, is the church built by God.
Origen further corroborates the views of the previous people. He says explicitly that all those who believe what Peter believed (that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God), we become as Peter. We become a Peter. We become stones, or as Origen says it, "For a rock is every disciple of Christ". We are equal with Peter in this sense, and in no way is the person of Peter the rock on which the Church is built.
Origen - COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW: BOOK XII
11.THE PROMISE GIVEN TO PETER NOT RESTRICTED TO HIM, BUT APPLICABLE TO ALL DISCIPLES LIKE HIM.
But if you suppose that upon that one Peter only the whole church is built by God, what would you say about John the son of thunder or each one of the Apostles? Shall we otherwise dare to say, that against Peter in particular the gates of Hades shall not prevail, but that they shall prevail against the other Apostles and the perfect? Does not the saying previously made, "The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,"(7) hold in regard to all and in the case of each of them? And also the saying, "Upon this rock I will build My church"?(8) Are the keys of the kingdom of heaven given by the Lord to Peter only, and will no other of the blessed receive them? But if this promise, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,"(9) be common to the others, how shall not all the things previously spoken of, and the things which are subjoined as having been addressed to Peter, be common to them? For in this place these words seem to be addressed as to Peter only, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,"(1) etc; but in the Gospel of John the Saviour having given the Holy Spirit unto the disciples by breathing upon them said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit,"(2) etc. Many then will say to the Saviour, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;" but not all who say this will say it to Him, as not at all having learned it by the revelation of flesh and blood but by the Father in heaven Himself taking away the veil that lay upon their heart, in order that after this "with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord"(3) they may speak through the Spirit of God saying concerning Him, "Lord Jesus," and to Him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."(4) And if any one says this to Him, not by flesh and blood revealing it unto Him but through the Father in heaven, he will obtain the things that were spoken according to the letter of the Gospel to that Peter, but, as the spirit of the Gospel teaches, to every one who becomes such as that Peter was. For all bear the surname of "rock" who are the imitators of Christ, that is, of the spiritual rock which followed those who are being saved,(5) that they may drink from it the spiritual draught. But these bear the surname of the rock just as Christ does. But also as members of Christ deriving their surname from Him they are called Christians, and from the rock, Peters. And taking occasion from these things you will say that the righteous bear the surname of Christ who is Righteousness, and the wise of Christ who is Wisdom.(6) And so in regard to all His other names, you will apply them by way of surname to the saints; and to all such the saying of the Saviour might be spoken, "Thou art Peter," etc., down to the words, "prevail against it." But what is the "it"? Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the church, or is it the church? For the phrase is ambiguous. Or is it as if the rock and the church were one and the same? This I think to be true; for neither against the rock on which Christ builds the church, nor against the church will the gates of Hades prevail; just as the way of a serpent upon a rock, according to what is written in the Proverbs,(7) cannot be found. Now, if the gates of Hades prevail against any one, such an one cannot be a rock upon which Christ builds the church, nor the church built by Jesus upon the rock; for the rock is inaccessible to the serpent, and it is stronger than the gates of Hades which are opposing it, so that because of its strength the gates of Hades do not prevail against it; but the church, as a building of Christ who built His own house wisely upon the rock,(1) is incapable of admitting the gates of Hades which prevail against every man who is outside the rock and the church, but have no power against it.
Origen is crystal clear: All members of the Church are rocks, or as has been the term used before, stones. He clearly states that all authority which was given to Peter is also given to all those who are like Peter, namely those who derive their surname from Christ. There is no need to comment further.
St. John Chrysostom - ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, HOMILY LIV. MATT. XIV. 13.
3. What then saith Christ? "Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas."(9) "Thus since thou hast proclaimed my Father, I too name him that begat thee;" all but saying, "As thou art son of Jonas, even so am I of my Father." Else it were superfluous to say, "Thou art Son of Jonas;" but since he had said, "Son of God," to point out that He is so Son of God, as the other son of Jonas, of the same substance with Him that begat Him, therefore He added this, "And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church;"(10) that is, on the faith of his confession.
It is not the person of Peter that the Church is built upon, but rather the faith of his confession.
Pope Leo the Great - SERMON LXII.
...Rightly was the blessed Apostle Peter praised for confessing this union, who when the Lord was inquiring what the disciples knew of Him, quickly anticipated the rest and said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God[2]." And this assuredly he saw, not by the revelation of flesh or blood, which might have hindered his inner sight, but by the very Spirit of the Father working in his believing heart, that in preparation for ruling the whole Church he might first learn what he would have to teach, and for the solidification of the Faith, which he was destined to preach, might receive the assurance, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it[3]." The strength, therefore, of the Christian Faith, which, built upon an impregnable rock, fears not the gates of death, acknowledges the one Lord Jesus Christ to be both true God and true Man, believing Him likewise to be the Virgin's Son
Again it is the faith of Peter which is the "rock", only being the rock because it is built upon Christ...the "impregnable rock".
The ECF's are wholly silent on the notion of papal primacy (or, the idea that it is the person of Peter on which the Church is built, and that Peter held a particular "office" which has successors). Neither did they teach that Peter was the only one to recieve the "keys", but taught, on the contrary, that all Christians are in possession of them. Neither do they teach that Peter is the head of the Church.
source: http://www.geocities.com/apologeticsrepo/R.../4Catholic.html
PART 4: continued in next post.
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