Outline of Sections
A. Peter IS INDEED the “Rock”—Exactly THREE Times!!!
    A-1. Peter Is the Rock, Who Raised the Dead
    A-2. Peter Is the Rock, Who Wrote Two Letters
    A-3. Peter Is the Jasper Rock, of New Jerusalem
B. Peter Is NOT the Rock of Rome, or Anything Else!
C. List of the Good and the Bad, About Peter


A. Peter IS INDEED the “Rock”—Exactly THREE Times!!!

Matthew 16:18,19, “ And I [Jesus] say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [Greek: petros (masculine)], and upon this rock [Greek: petra (feminine)] I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Greek: hades] shall not prevail against it.  And I will give unto thee [Peter] the keys [Greek: kleis] of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians are ALL WRONG about Peter and the rock (in Matthew 16); they debate over whether the rock is Peter himself, or his confession, or Christ Himself (see #1).  But Peter IS INDEED the “rock” (much MORE than just a pebble); and NOT merely in one sense, but in THREE BIBLICAL WAYS!!!  Yet Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians don’t understand even ONE of these three ways, correctly—even though all three ways are positively and indisputably taught, in the Bible.  Peter’s confession of faith is NOT the rock, except in a very minor sense: his confession is recorded in the Bible; and God’s word—the entire Bible, not just Peter’s confession—is one application of the rock (see A-2).


A-1. Peter Is the Rock, Who Raised the Dead

Jesus Himself is the “rock [same Greek: petra]” (see Matthew 21:42-45; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Ephesians 2:20; etc); and He said: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am [resurrected, and] alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys [same Greek: kleis] of hell [same Greek: hades] and of death.” (Revelation 1:18).  So Jesus Himself has power to raise the dead—even from a rock tomb, and tombstone (see Mark 15:46; John 5:25-29; 10:17-21; 11:1-45; etc).

Gates of Hell: the grave (hades) did not prevail against Dorcas, a faithful member of Christ’s church.  And she, in turn, represents all the faithful church members—who will be resurrected, at Christ’s return (https://7grails.world/7-literal/1-wedding/).

Keys to Bind and Loose: Jesus did indeed give Peter these keys—to “loose” or unlock the grave, and raise the dead; and it was even a feminine person, named Dorcas (see Acts 9:36-43).  Again, the Greek word for rock, petra, is feminine.


A-2. Peter Is the Rock, Who Wrote Two Letters

The word of God (the Bible), is also the “rock [same Greek: petra]” (see Deuteronomy 4:13; 5:7-22; Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49; 1 Peter 2:4-8; etc); and Peter himself said that Christ’s church is built upon His word (see 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Ephesians 2:19,20; etc).

Gates of Hell: did not prevail against the Bible, Christ’s word; and Jesus even stated this fact again, about six months later: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35).  The true biblical canon, of 66 books, has been supernaturally preserved by God (https://7grails.world/babel/66books/); so indeed, hell has not prevailed against God’s word—including 1 Peter and 2 Peter!!

Keys to Bind and Loose: out of the 12 main disciples, less than half of them wrote even one single book, of the Bible; but Jesus did give Peter the keys (see Luke 11:52)—or the infallible authority—to write two of the 66 books, in the Bible (1 Peter; 2 Peter).  “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. … To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word [God’s word], it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:16,20).


A-3. Peter Is the Jasper Rock, of New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:10-20, “… the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,  Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone … And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles [including Peter] of the Lamb. … And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.  And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation [Peter] was jasper; the second [James of Zebedee], sapphire; the third [John], a chalcedony; the fourth [Andrew], an emerald;  The fifth [Philip], sardonyx; the sixth [Thomas / Barnabas], sardius; the seventh [Bartholomew / Nathanael], chrysolyte; the eighth [Matthew], beryl; the ninth [James of Alphaeus], a topaz; the tenth [Simon], a chrysoprasus; the eleventh [Judas of Alphaeus], a jacinth; the twelfth [Matthias], an amethyst.” (see Acts 1:13,15-26, KJV; see Matthew 10:2).

The holy city, New Jerusalem, is founded upon 12 “stones” (Greek: lithos); this Greek word is parallel with the Greek word petra, “rocks” (see Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8; etc).  This means that Peter is not merely one, of the twelve foundational rocks—but his rock is jasper, the very “first foundation” (see Matthew 10:2); and foundations are “built” from the bottom up, so Christ’s ultimate church (New Jerusalem) is built upon Peter’s rock: “… thou art Peter, and upon this [jasper] rock [petra (feminine)] I will build my church [the feminine bride of Christ, New Jerusalem] …” (Matthew 16:18; see Ephesians 5:25–32; Revelation 19:7-9; 21:2-10; 22:14-19; etc).  Please notice also that this foundation stone is 1,600 MILES LARGER, than a pebble (see Revelation 21:16); this Peter rock makes the largest boulder currently on earth, look like a pebble (in comparison).  So this 1,600 mile ROCK utterly devastates the false Protestant claim, that Jesus said Peter was merely a pebble (supposedly not a rock, not a boulder, etc).

Gates of Hell: will not prevail against the New Jerusalem; quite the opposite, we find the following prophecy: “And they [Satan and his hosts] went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” (Revelation 20:9; see 3:12; 21:2,10).  Some say that Peter’s boat represents the church, which will not fail—because the fishing net did not fail in the second case, like it did with the first case (see Luke 5:4-9; John 21:3-11).  Even if this illustration is what God intended: the failed net, first, represents earthly churches which DO FAIL; the second net, which did not fail, represents the New Jerusalem church—which comes second, after earthly churches, and THIS is the church that will never fail!

Keys to Bind and Loose: this third application is the primary one, and also the most literal (the other two are symbolic rocks, etc); in fact, the New Jerusalem has 12 literal gates (see Revelation 21:12-15,21,25).  And gates are not much value, without locks and keys (see Acts 12:3-10); therefore, Peter would be the one, with the literal keys to lock and unlock (bind and loose) these 12 gates!  Finally, all 12 are both the gates of hell, and also the gates of heaven—hell is outside of these gates, and heaven is inside of these gates (see Psalm 37:4; Proverbs 11:31; Revelation 3:12; 14:10; 20:9; 21:2,10; 22:1,2,14,15; etc).


B. Peter Is NOT the Rock of Rome, or Anything Else!

Matthew 16 is the primary passage, in the Bible, used to support popes and the papacy; and therefore, in turn, to support the entire Roman Catholic Church.  Yet there is not a single verse, in the entire Bible, which represents Rome—or anything uniquely in Rome (the church of Rome, or the bishop of Rome, etc)—as a rock; that idea is entirely a foolish fictional fantasy, designed to support man’s unbiblical and ungodly ambitions.  Nor is there any Bible verse even hinting that the gates of hell won’t prevail against the bishop of Rome, the city of Rome, or any institution in Rome; quite the opposite, in the Bible, Rome is the headquarters of corruption!

Furthermore, there are ONLY THREE rocks, that represent Peter: #1 Jesus Himself, and His power to resurrect the dead (Jesus gave Peter the power to raise Dorcas); #2 the books of the Bible (Jesus gave Peter the power to write two, of the 66 infallible books); #3 the foundation stones of New Jerusalem (Jesus gave Peter the first layer, Jasper, and thereby Jesus built His invincible church—from the bottom up—on Peter’s rock).

There is no fourth application in Rome, or anywhere else (or anything else); and the Peter “rock” (petra) is FEMININE—yet Roman Catholic popes are not female!  God foresaw the foolishness of man; so He made sure that THREE is repeatedly associated with Peter: he was one of the THREE main disciples (Peter, James, and John); Peter suggested “THREE tabernacles” (Matthew 17:4); he denied Christ THREE times (see Luke 22:34); and Christ’s THREEfold question to Peter (see John 21:14-17; Acts 10:16; etc).  Furthermore, many Bible passages have “two or three” applications (see Exodus 31:18; 32:15; 34:29; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 1:1-18; 8:17,18; 10:24,25; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28; 1 John 5:6-8; Revelation 1:1,2; 11:3-10; etc); but very rarely, does any verse have four or more true applications: so any teaching with more than three applications, of any passage, should be considered highly suspicious—at best!  And in this case, specifically, God has shown us that THREE is the number for Peter (not two, four, or five, etc); so there is absolutely no room, to squeeze in another application with Peter and Rome—especially since Peter was the bishop of Philippi, NOT ROME (https://7grails.world/7-symbolic/sis/syntyche/).


C. List of the Good and the Bad, About Peter

Peter’s Good
Peter was the rock, in three ways (see A-1, A-2, & A-3)
Peter is usually first, in Bible lists of the disciples—because he is the foundation rock, of New Jerusalem (see A-3)
Peter was one of the inner three at the Transfiguation, and Gethsemane, etc (Peter, James, and John)
Peter was the speaker, just before and on the antitypical day of Pentecost (see Acts 1:15-22; 2:14,37,38)
Peter raised the dead; plus other miracles, recorded in the holy Bible (see Acts 3:1-16; 5:15,16; 9:32-42; A-1; etc)

NOTE: None of these above attributes are true, about even one of Peter’s supposed successors.

Peter’s Bad
Peter nearly drowned, because of his lack of faith (see Matthew 14:24-33)
Jesus rebuked Peter, for not understanding His message (see Matthew 15:1-20)
Jesus said to Peter: “… Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matthew 16:23)
Peter was a BAD spokesman, claiming that Jesus should pay tribute; but Jesus corrected him (see Matthew 17:24-27)
Peter thought forgiving 7 times was generous; but Jesus said no, forgive 70 x 7 (see Matthew 18:21,22)
Peter argued with Jesus, about washing his feet (see John 13:5-10)
Jesus said Peter was not converted, and would deny Him; but Peter thought Jesus was wrong (see Mark 14:27-31; Luke 22:31-34)
Christ rebuked Peter for sleeping, three times—precisely when he needed to stay awake, and pray, more than ever (Mark 14:32-41)
Peter impulsively cut off the ear, of Malchus; and Jesus rebuked him for it (see John 18:10,11,26)
Peter lied three times, denying that he knew Jesus—even with cursing and swearing (see Mark 14:66-72)
The angel said: “… tell his disciples and Peter …”; and Jesus told Peter to “feed” His lambs / sheep (Mark 16:1-7; John 21:15-17; see Luke 22:31,32; 1 Peter 5:2).  This is NOT something good, for Peter (not supremacy, or primacy, or first among equals); instead, it is something good FROM Jesus—in spite of Peter’s terrible fall (he was the worst, and last among the 12, other than Judas Iscariot): Jesus was showing His redeeming love and mercy to Peter, by restoring him to his previous position among the 12 (NOT exalting him to a new and higher position)
James, NOT Peter, issued the ultimate and final “sentence”—at the one and only biblical council (see Acts 12:16,17; 15:13-21; 16:4; 21:25; Galatians 2:9, KJV)
Peter was a BAD leader, that Barnabas followed; and Paul even called Peter a “transgressor” (see Galatians 2:11-18)
Peter’s wife was into satanic sorcery; although eventually she repented, and reunited with him (https://7grails.world/7-symbolic/sis/syntyche/)
John, not Peter, had ALL 4 of the following: #1 John was the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; etc); #2 Christ gave John the responsibility, to care for His own mother (see John 19:26,27); #3 John was married to the sister, of Christ’s bride (see next link); and #4 John was honored with being the step-father, for the bloodline twins (https://7grails.world/7-literal/1-wedding/)

NOTE: Do the supposed successors of Peter claim similarity to him, in these BAD areas??  It’s true, in the Old Testament system, that God had one primary leader (the high priest); however, NONE of them were ever infallible (NO ex cathedra)—and many of them were very corrupt, like Caiaphas (the same could be said of the kings).  Also, in the New Testament system, Jesus is our High Priest (see Hebrews 2:9,17; 4:14,15; 5:5-10; 9:11; etc)—not fallible humans, who have little if any parallel with Peter’s good attributes (listed above).



Get Involved, and Make a Difference!

Your contribution can help us continue our mission, and make a positive impact in people’s lives.

Image is in the public domain:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Jerusalem,_1645.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-US-expired



Scroll to Top
⚡ Cached with atec Page Cache