“The Church is not a building!” This has been a popular cliche for some time, and it has recently found renewed popularity as many have argued, in the time of COVID, that the Church can do just fine as Christians worship in private or online. While it is not my aim to address the shutdown situation here, this past Sunday’s Gospel lessona, Matthew 16:13-20, goes against the grain of this thinking. Of course, the Church is not constituted by the roof and walls in which congregations congregate; I know of no one who believes otherwise. And yet, a building is precisely how our Lord describes His Church.
On This Rock
Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, and receives from Peter one of the most clear confessions of Jesus’ identity in Matthew up to this point: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s bold confession receives a profound, astounding response from the Lord: “… you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church…” This statement is one of the most discussed and debated verses in the New Testament. What is Jesus saying?
Jesus uses a clear pun in the Greek: the name Peter comes from the word for stone. It is Petros is Greek, and the term for stone used here is petra. Translating this literally would sound something like, “You are the Rock, and on this rock I will build my church.” He is clearly “punning” on Peter’s name. The question that has come up in the Church’s history is, what is the rock upon which Jesus says He will build His Church? Is it Peter? Is it the truth in Peter’s confession?
The Roman Church has found in this verse a support for the supremacy of the Pope of Rome. Peter was (according to their argument) the first bishop of Rome, and Christ built the Church upon him; thus, the bishop of Rome, the Pope, is the human head of the true Church. On the other hand, many Protestants will argue that what Jesus was actually saying was that it’s not Peter, but the content of Peter’s confession (that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God) that is the rock upon which the Church is built. It’s not Peter, but true doctrine.
Neither of these positions- that Christ confers supremacy to Peter and his successors, or that He is only talking about true doctrine- seem to fit with the text. Jesus’ response is a response to the confession Peter makes. It is also clear though, from the pun Jesus uses, that He is identifying Peter as the rock upon whom He builds the Church. Considering the nature of this “building project” according to the rest of the New Testament will help us make sense of this.
Built on the Apostles and Prophets
“Upon this rock I will build my Church,” Jesus says. The Church is a building. We’re used to hearing the exact opposite: “The Church is not a building,” many say, emphasizing that the physical structure in which we meet does not constitute the Church. That’s true, in so far as it goes. But the Church is a building. It’s a building that’s not made of bricks or stones, nor even upon an abstraction or an idea, but upon persons. And the ultimate One upon Whom the Church is built is Christ Himself, the Chief Cornerstone.
The same Apostle Peter writes of this building in his first epistle: “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 2:4-5)
The Church is a building, a great house, being built up through history. We are a house made of living stones- you and me, together with all the saints!- and Jesus Himself is the cornerstone upon Whom we are built: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” (v. 7)
But Jesus identifies Peter, the leader of the disciples as this time, and says He is a rock upon whom the Church will be built. Jesus is saying the same thing that Paul says in Ephesians, that the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:20-22)
The Apostles and Prophets, joined with Christ the Cornerstone, form the unique foundation of this building. And what both Paul and Peter tell us is that this is a house in which God and man dwell together; that’s to say, a temple. The Church, in Christ, is the fulfillment of what the Temple pointed to.
The Church grows upon this foundation, Paul says, into “mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Eph. 4:13) Jesus will bring His Church to maturity; or, in the words He speaks to Peter, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18) Jesus assures us of victory. This is not a victory in our own strength; Peter himself, who is an example here of boldly confessing Christ, becomes an example of the fact that it’s in our weakness that Christ works. But He will win the victory through us; He will use us to disciple the nations, to make all His enemies His footstool.
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