It is an admitted fact that someone built the church of the New Testament. It did not just happen without some intelligence and power creating it. Paul said, "For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God" (Heb. 3:4). The church is called the "house of God" (1 Tim. 3:15). Christ is called God (Heb. 1:8; Isa. 9:6), therefore, the "house of God" is the same as the church of Christ. The Psalmist said: "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it" (Psa. 127:1). The church, if not built by the Lord, would be labor in vain. Christ is the builder of the church.

In response to the statement of Peter that Christ was the Son of God, Christ said, "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" (Matt. 16:18). Christ promised to build his church, and he said it would be built upon "this rock." What was the rock upon which Christ was to build his church?

A foundation is essential to the erection of any structure, and no structure is stronger than its foundation. If the foundation be weak, the building will be weak; but if the foundation is sure and firm, the building is likely to be as strong.

There has been a great deal of dispute as to what or who is the foundation upon which the New Testament church is built. We have been told that it was built upon Peter as the rock. We can be certain from Matthew 16:18 that a rock is the foundation. Christ asked the apostles what they thought of him in contrast to what other men thought. Peter spoke out and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This was a truth - a fact demonstrated to the apostles by God. Christ then said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matt. 16:18). Only two things could be the rock upon which the church was built: 1) Peter or 2) Christ - the truth that he is the Son of God. Let us put these two to the test and determine which is the foundation.

Isaiah prophesied concerning the foundation to be laid in Zion when he said, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation" (Isa. 28:16). The prophet could only refer to Peter or to Christ, since Christ said he would build upon the rock when he spoke to Peter. We can easily ascertain which of the two is the rock.

1. A Tried Stone. Both Peter and Christ were tried by the tempter. Christ said to Peter just before he was betrayed, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:31-32). This concerned Peter's denial of Christ. The Lord said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren," indicating that Peter needed converting. By reading further in Luke we learn that Peter denied the Lord and succumbed to the tempting of Satan. If Peter is the rock (foundation) upon which the church was built, it is not the rock that stood the trial of Satan. He would not fit the prophecy of Isaiah that a "tried stone" would be laid for a foundation.

But Christ was also tried by Satan in the wilderness. (Matt. 4:1-11). He did not yield to a single temptation, thus proving that he was the tried and sure foundation of which Isaiah spoke.

2. The Precious Corner Stone. Certainly no one who believes Christ to be the Son of God would contend that Peter is precious as a corner stone above Christ. The Psalmist said Christ: "The Stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner" (Psa. 118:22). Jesus is also called the "chief corner stone" (Eph. 2:20). Peter is never called precious nor corner stone. Christ is called both.

3. The Sure Foundation. Christ said the gates of hell would not prevent the building of his church. If the foundation could be crushed by the gates of hell, surely the building could not be completed. "Gates" is the symbol of entrance into and exit from a place. Gates of "hell" must refer to the entrance into and exit from the grave. Christ must die before the foundation is sure against the gates of hell. Christ died but the gates of hell could not hold him, and on the third day he arose from the grave. Satan held the keys of the gates of hell when Christ died. "That through death he (Christ) might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). But now because of the victory of death, Christ holds the keys to death and hell. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:18).

Peter is still locked in the gates of hell and will remain there until the general resurrection. If Peter be the rock upon which the church is built, it is not a sure foundation, and the gates of hell have prevailed against the very foundation of the church. This establishes beyond question that the foundation was not Peter but Christ.

Furthermore, the church could not be built until the foundation was tested and tried and made sure by the gates of hell. Christ said the gates of hell would not prevail against the "building" of his church. That means that the "gates of hell" stood between the time the statement was uttered and the building of his church. Peter had not entered the gates of death when the church was built, and if he was the foundation, the church was built before the foundation was made sure. Peter did not die for a number of years after the church was established.

It has been argued that the term Peter means rock, which proves that Peter was the rock of Matthew 16:18. The "rock" to which Christ referred as the foundation of his church was the confession made by Peter that Christ was the Son of the living God. This truth cannot be destroyed, and as long as it stands, the church will stand. The kingdom (church) which rests upon Christ can never be destroyed (Dan. 2:44; Heb. 12:18).

But even more evidence that Christ is the Rock or foundation upon which the church of Christ was built is found in expressions in the New Testament that call him the Rock or Foundation. The household (church) of God is built "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (which means the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets) Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Eph. 2:20). Here Christ is said to be the corner stone. Speaking of the Israelites drinking from the rock in the wilderness, Paul says, "And that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4). Paul settles the matter forever with these words: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11). Christ is not only the foundation, the tried and sure rock, upon which the church is built, he is the only one - no other can be laid. That includes also Peter.

- Searching the Scriptures, Nov. 1963