Let’s take a read at Jesus’ statement (Mat 16:18) (KJV) And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The name Peter means " a piece of rock", or a “stone”. Reading in (John 1:42) And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
Therefore, Peter’s name ( Cephas) means stone- a rolling stone. Therefore, the “rock” that is mentioned in Mat. 16:18 is not Peter. The " rock" is Jesus Christ, in which the true church will be built upon. We read in 1 Peter 2: 6-8, that Jesus is our chief cornerstone and our rock of offense.
You’ve grabbed verses here and there then tied them together to form a belief. Sometimes, this works, but to work well, this method must not contradict the basic principles of hermeneutics and exegesis.
The first principle is to base any interpretation of Scripture to its specific context: verse, chapter, book, and Testament.
Let’s take a look at how that plays out.
Matthew 16:17-19: "Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (NIV)
This is the full context of what you cited. Since Peter means rock, and from what follows in verses 18-19, the obvious interpretation is that Peter, the first of the Apostolic ministry, is the rock, who will receive the “keys of the kingdom.”
As to the “…gates of Hades will not overcome it…”, the logical interpretation would be against the Church, the Body of Christ, not Peter.
If we tie the two interpretations above together, the result will read something like: Jesus builds His church on the rock–Peter, as the first leader of the Apostolic ministry, and the gates of hell will not prevail against that church, which is the Body of Christ.
Paul tells the Corinthians who the “rock” is… (1Co 10:4) And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4: “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” [NIV]
The wandering Jews drank from “spiritual rock…Christ.” Paul typed the Exodus to salvation of believers through Jesus. Jesus is the rock from which we drink, and we–believers–are the Body of Christ. But the rock on which Jesus built the church was the Apostolic ministry represented initially by Peter. Support of this interpretation can be based on the first twelve books of Acts, which clearly portray Peter as the leader and chief spokesman of the early church.
In the verse below the wise man will build his faith upon the “rock”, upon Jesus.
(Mat 7:24) Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Matthew 7:24-28: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (NIV)
Your interpretation is not supported by the full context of these verses. In fact they more easily agree with Matthew 16:17-19. Believers build their houses on the words of Jesus, which they receive through the rock, the Apostolic ministry, in the church, the Body of Christ. Of course, believers also have to put those words into practice.
At the time of Moses, Jesus was the rock…(Deu 32:4) He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
Deuteronomy 32:4: “He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.”
This verse certainly coincides with 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, but this Rock from which we drink, is not the church, except as the church is the Body of Christ. This is not the rock of Matthew 16:17-19. Jesus undeniably named Simon Peter then told Peter He would build His church upon Peter, and “the gates of Hades” would “not prevail against it. (the church)”
The final point of Mat. 16:18 is that it states that " the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it". If " it" and the the “rock” were Peter… this statement would be conflicting because the gates of Hades did prevail against him (Peter) when he denied the Lord with cursing and swearing. When the “rock” and “it” are Jesus Christ the Gates of Hades will never prevail.
You’ve confused the subject of the pronoun. The rock was Peter. The “it” was the church, which was built on the Apostolic ministry initiated by Peter as previously cited.
