us asked his disciples about his own identity, Peter answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
Jesus blessed Peter for this confession and said: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17–18).
This raises an important question: What exactly is “the rock” on which Jesus said he would build his Church?
In one sense, the Church is built on Peter together with the other apostles and prophets. Scripture says that the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). This is why, in the Creed, we confess our faith in the “apostolic Church.” The Church is founded on the teaching of the apostles — above all, their witness to who Jesus is and what he has done to save us.
Peter was certainly a leading figure among the apostles, but the New Testament does not present him as the supreme ruler of the whole Church. He is named alongside James and John as one of its leading apostles (Galatians 2:9). Over the centuries, church structure evolved, and the role of the bishop of Rome gradually took on the central authority now known as the Papacy.
The Church is not built on Peter as a person, or even as a leader, but on the faith he confessed, namely Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. Remarkably, even the Catholic Catechism affirms this truth, noting that “it is on this faith, confessed by Peter, that Christ built his Church” (CCC 424).
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by questions about the Church, but the Bible brings us right back to what matters most.
- Who is the head of the Church?
Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior(Ephesians 5:23). - What is the foundation of the Church?
No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).
How should these truths affect us personally? We should ask ourselves: Am I truly part of Christ’s Church? Do I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal Son of God, who became man and gave himself for my sins? May each of us be able to say from the heart, “Yes, I trust in the Son of God. Jesus is my Saviour. Jesus is my Lord.”
Then we can have confidence that we belong to the Church built on Christ, the solid rock. And just as the Lord blessed Peter, He blesses each of us who join Peter, the apostles, and millions of believers throughout the ages in declaring: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.