ONE ROCK, CHRIST!

 ARE YOU IN, THE CHURCH THAT BUILT ON THE, ROCK?

Apostle James R, Winfree, Sr, I Am Mandated By The Lord To Cultivate, Enlighten, Empower, God's Nations Son's And Daughters In His Love:

Today is your day to make a turn for the better!

( Matthew 16:18 )

"Our Only Spiritual Teacher, Teach Us Holy Spirit In Jesus Name."

The debate rages over whether “the Rock” on which Christ will build His Church is Peter or Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God, meaning God in Man or God with us” ( Matthew 1:23 ). In all honesty, there is an absolute, way for us to be 100% sure which view is correct. The Rock is Christ He is the only true foundation... The first view is that Jesus was declaring that Peter would be the “rock” on which He would build His Church. Jesus appears to be using different words. “You are Peter ( Petros ) and on this Rock ( Petra ) I will build my Church.” Since Peter’s name means rock, and Jesus is going to build His Church on the Rock, it appears that Christ is linking the two together. God used Peter greatly in the foundation of the Church. It was Peter who first proclaimed the Gospel on the day of Pentecost ( Acts 2:14-47 ). Peter was also the first to take the Gospel to the Gentiles ( Acts 10:1-48 ). In a sense, Peter was not the rock “ the foundation of the Church is on Christ the solid Rock We stand All other ground is sinking sand.

The other popular interpretation of the rock is that Jesus was referring not to Peter, but Peter’s confession of faith in verse 16: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God as it is written in Isaiah 9:6-7.” Jesus had explicitly taught Peter and the other disciples the fullness of His identity, and He recognized that God had sovereignly opened Peter’s eyes and revealed to him who Jesus really was. His confession of Christ as Messiah poured forth from him, a heartfelt declaration of Peter’s personal faith in Jesus. It is this personal faith in Christ that is the hallmark of the true Christ Believers Faith. Those who have placed their faith in Christ, as Peter did, is the Church of Jesus Christ. Apostle Peter expresses this in ( 1 Peter 2:4 ) when he addressed the believers who had been dispersed around the ancient world: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

At this point, Jesus declares that God had revealed this truth to Peter. The word for “Peter,” Petros, means a small stone ( John 1:42 ). Jesus used a play on words here with petra (“on this rock”) which means a foundation boulder, as in ( Matthew 7:24, 25 ) when He described the rock upon which the wise man builds his house. Peter himself uses the same imagery in his first epistle: the Church is built of numerous small Petros “living stones” ( 1 Peter 2:5 ) who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and those confessions of faith are the bedrock of the Church.

Besides, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation ( Acts 4:11, 12;) ( 1 Corinthians 3:11) and the Head ( Ephesians 5:23 ) of the Church. It is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the Apostles played a foundational role in the building of the Church Body ( Ephesians 2:20 ), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter. So, Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone. And Christ Himself is called the “Chief Cornerstone” ( 1 Peter 2:6, 7 ). The Chief Cornerstone of any building was that upon which the building was anchored. Christ declared Himself to be the Cornerstone, how could Peter be the rock upon which the Church was built? It is more likely that the believers, of which Peter is one, are the stones which make up the Church, anchored upon the Cornerstone, “and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame” ( 1 Peter 2:6 ).

Brother Peter is not the rock in ( Matthew 16:18,) this is meaningless God's sons and, daughters... the Church of Jesus Christ He Himself added too in Acts. Scripture nowhere records Apostle Peter being in Rome but in Jerusalem where God Himself said He would place His Name and temple, the Church. Scripture nowhere describes Peter as being supreme over the other Apostles. The New Testament does not describe Peter as being the “all authoritative leader” of the early Church of the Way. The origin of the Church of Jesus Christ is not in the teachings of religions or any other worldly faiths. Apostle Peter truly was the Preacher and, Apostle who Jesus used to help birth the Church Believers in Acts 2:36-38, it would be in full agreement with what Apostle Peter taught ( Acts chapter 2 where he baptized in One Name, which is Jesus, His Name is The Name of The Father, and, Holy Spirit, ( John 17:12) ( John 14:26 ). Amen.

Shared And, Given By, Apostle James R, Winfree, Sr.

My Life's Aim, Mission, Ministries Is To Get All To Fall In Love With Jesus Christ,

And, Help To Get You All Names Written In God's Lamb's Book Of Life, In Christ Love.

Apostle James R, Winfree, Sr, Online Worldwide Nations Social Media Ministries:

apostlejrwinfree@gmail.com

( ACTS 5:29 )