For THEIR local church
THE church is built on Christ
Jesus told peter, I now call you Petros (small stone or pebble) and on this Petra (large stone or boulder) I will build my church
the rock the church was built on was not petro (little peter) but Petra, which was christ the son of the living God,
Hi EG,
I think you are saying that the "local church" is built on Christ. If so,
I agree with that. Paul even said to the Corinthian church about the church in Corinth that he is a master builder and that
he laid the foundation of that church and someone else is building upon it (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). Obviously Paul couldn't be the foundation of The Church since he wasn't even a Christian when Christ started The Church so it only makes sense that he is the foundation of the Corinthian church. Christ is the cornerstone of the foundation and Paul, and the other Apostles, are part of the foundation of The Church just like Scripture says. Paul, along with the other Apostles and prophets, are part of the foundation and then other men are "building upon it" according to Paul. (Probably someone like James who was a student of Paul.) Soooo if the other parts of the foundation (Apostles, prophets) are smaller than the cornerstone
will the foundation be solid and stand as it is being built upon? Of course not !!! So the Apostles are equal with Jesus in a sense but without Jesus, the cornerstone, you can not have a solid foundation AND you can't have a solid foundation made out of big and little rocks. They all have to be the same size.
Also, one needs to take into account what Jesus said to Peter in
context:
Peter, inspired by God, says, “
You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” So Peter, Simon Peter, confesses Jesus as the Christ.
In turn, Jesus says, “[Simon,]
you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church…the gates of Hell will not prevail…[and] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
So in other words, these things happen in this order:
1. Inspired by God, Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ; then Jesus confesses Simon as Peter
2. Then Jesus says that he’s going to build the church on the rock [
petra]
3. Then he personalizes it even more by giving the binding and loosing authority specifically to Peter
4. Then giving him the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Your interpretation of that passage is that “the rock is Jesus” turns it from Jesus blessing Peter to him switching blessing himself and then going back to Peter.
That is an unnatural exegesis; it doesn't work.
Bible Study Mary