For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Hebrews 6:4-6, ESV)

The passages of Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-30 have filled many with trepidation and angst over the fear of having lost any hope of salvation. This is a fear that has no comparative horror. Yet, sadly, many who go through this have nowhere to turn and are given unsatisfying explanations. It is uncomfortable, and the verses are difficult, therefore, very few are willing to sit with a person in this struggle. Many have struggled alone for years without any real answers. I hope to give some comfort to those who have experienced this. These verses are not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to make you tremble, but they are there to give you hope in the one that holds you as you tremble.

When we are reading the Bible, it is important to understand the context. The New Testament is saturated in Old Testament imagery and references that are often missed with a casual reading. As you read these passages, it is important to understand that there is a story and a rich context from which these statements are being made, which cannot be seen if you are just trying to define each word. Though important, we are not going to understand it by trying to have the definition of “enlightenment” or “taste” pat down in a lexicon. These things become more evident as we are entrenched in the same story as the author.

Jewish Background

This letter was written to Jewish Christians. Though we don’t know the full context of the situation, it is clear that the audience of this letter were struggling with whether or not to leave the covenant of Jesus and go back to being under the covenant of Moses and perhaps whether they still needed the sacrificial system along with Jesus, just as in Galatians, Paul addresses the teaching that gentiles needed circumcision in addition to Jesus. Some of the context of Hebrews gives us a picture of persecution under the Jews and pressure to go back to the Mosaic sacrificial system. Historically, we do know this persecution happened. The writer of Hebrews is dealing with whether a return to the covenant under Moses is possible.

Put yourself in their shoes. For centuries, you have had a valid means of coming to God and being reconciled through repentance by presenting a sacrifice, washings, and rituals. You and your father and your father’s fathers have in obedience and in reverence for God have been faithful in this. The practices of the Mosaic covenant were deeply ingrained in the very core of who they were. To give this up is to ask them to give up all that they have known. But also, the Mosaic covenant had been proven true and trustworthy for centuries. It would make sense for them to fall back onto the well-known and well-established Mosaic covenant, something they felt confident in as a means of repentance and acceptance with God, if they were unsure of their Gospel confession or buckled under persecution or faltered in the sufficiency of the work of Jesus. And maybe they were trying to hold on to both, perform the sacrifices to appease the Jewish leaders, while still holding to their faith in Jesus. In all these, there was a temptation to go back to the law. The writer of Hebrews is just as clear as Paul in his letter to the Galatians, when they were tempted to go back to the law, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (3:10a, ESV). And just as Paul pleads with the Galatians, “Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?” (3:4-6, ESV), so too, the author of Hebrews exhorts his readers to not grow weary, even in suffering, and to hold fast to their confession (Hebrews 4:14).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23, ESV).

The Mosaic Covenant is obsolete

Hebrews follows the argument Paul made to the Gentiles, that they could not be placed under the law, and can be summarized in this statement, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13a). In other words, now that the Gospel has come there was no Mosaic covenant to return to. We must keep in mind that this was a radical and uncomfortable statement for the Jews. They are being told that what they were called to be faithful to for generations upon generations is now obsolete. Not only obsolete, but what was once beautiful and holy, and a blessing is now destructive and a curse. The Gospel shook the very foundations of all that they had known. And with this in mind, the writer of Hebrews argues that the Mosaic sacrificial system is no longer a viable means of repentance, and those who go back to it have fallen away from the only hope and means of repentance, which is through Jesus.

Moving on from the basics

Keeping this background in mind, let’s look at these verses,

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. (Hebrews 5:9-6:3, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews wants to say more about Jesus “being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek”, but he is not sure if they fully understand the basics of how Jesus fulfills the Mosaic law and how Jesus fulfills all that the Old Testament taught about “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment”. Later in this letter, he writes of how Jesus fulfilled the law, using similar language,

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:6-14, ESV)

They ought to know that “[t]hese [Mosaic covenant practices] are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17, ESV), for this is the very milk by which they enter the Gospel. The author of this letter wants to move on from this and wants them to understand that Christ has done more than just fulfill the Mosaic covenant and law with its ritual washings, laying on of hands, and sacrifices. He wants to take them ever deeper into the wonders of the Gospel. Christ has fulfilled something much more profound and encompasses something that predates Moses, and of whom their ancestor Abraham, himself, was subservient to. Jesus has come as our high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The Sword

Wanting to move on, the author of Hebrews demonstrates that if one does not understand that Jesus has fulfilled the Mosaic law with its rituals, and if they are not relying on the blood of Christ to “purify our conscience from dead works [the law] to serve the living God”, the very milk of the Gospel, but instead after hearing the Gospel, because of a hard heart, fall back to the Mosaic covenant as a means of repentance, then they fallen away from the only hope they have. In other words, if you do not have faith that Jesus has not fully satisfied the Mosaic covenant, you will not find salvation anywhere else, not even in the place that was once secure for your father and their fathers for generations, for the Mosaic covenant could not stand up under the majesty of Jesus. “This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27). Those who rely on these things will be destroyed alongside them. This is why the author of Hebrews makes this statement,

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

Remember, this passage is written to the Jews who once had a valid and God given means of repentance through the Mosaic covenant. Before the Gospel came, their sacrifices, washings, and laying on of hands were acceptable to God. But now that the Gospel has come, it brings a “sword” that pieces our heart, thoughts, and soul. It not only calls the Gentiles to leave their idolatry and immorality, but it also calls the Jews to leave their dead works under the law. When Simeon held Jesus, he told Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34b-35). Or as the Hebrews author puts it, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12–13, ESV). When presented with Jesus, will you come to him?

The Power of the Gospel

When the Gospel is preached, it is not just mere speech. When the Gospel is preached the Holy spirit is present and at work and there is a tangible presence of the Word of Christ, as the hearers are hearing the very words of Jesus himself (Romans 10:17). When the Gospel is preached there is a real encounter with the Kingdom of God for both those who believe and those who remain in unbelief that can be described as “having once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come”. In a very authentic way, when the Gospel is preached, we are experiencing the Kingdom of God breaking through, just as the Israelites experienced this at Mount Sinai, despite their unbelief. Be assured, the preaching of the Gospel is more powerful than God delivering Israel from Egypt. Paul echoes this Hebrews passage in his first letter to the Corinthians,

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness (10:1-5, ESV).

In this passage, Paul is warning the Gentiles, you have experienced the power of God and His Kingdom through proclamation of the Gospel. And just as the Hebrews passage warns the Jews, Paul warns them not to have a hard heart that turns way and holds on to things that are dead and bring no life. In John 6, you have group of people who are described as believing in Jesus and disciples who were recently ready to make him king, but when Jesus’ message of the Gospel gets hard and brings the “sword”, “his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66, ESV). We also see this kind of “belief” not accompanied by faith in the parable of the seeds. This theme is stitched throughout the scripture into a tapestry warning us to place our faith in Jesus alone.

And why did God reject the Israelites in the desert? It was despite having experienced the power of God and believing God exists, they continued to walk in unbelief. Just as the disciples in John 6 followed Jesus and were even ready to make him king, so to were the Israelites ready to follow Moses out of Egypt and ready to make a covenant on Mount Sinai, but when tested, they rebelled and walked in unbelief, revealing the true nature of their belief.

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16–19, ESV)

Jude comes to the same conclusion,

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe (Jude 5, ESV).

Like rain, the Gospel rains on both the righteous and the wicked. Both encounter the power of God through the Gospel, but they do not have the same response to this encounter.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:7–8, ESV)

Now that the Gospel has been preached and the Kingdom of God has broken through, the message to us all is, “a sword will pierce through your own soul, also”. We are warned, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12, ESV). “For the good news came to us just as to them [the Israelites in the wilderness], but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened (Hebrews 4:2, ESV).

It is impossible for the law to restore one to repentance

Hebrews 6 is a continuation of this message. The author of Hebrews goes on to tell them that if they fall away from Christ, thinking that Mosaic covenant sacrifices will be a legitimate means of repentance, it will have no such power. Though the Mosaic law previously generation after generation, could restore them to repentance through the sacrifices and once a year as the high priest made atonement, this is no longer the case. The Mosaic covenant has no power to restore them again to repentance as it once did. They are asking the impossible. On the contrary, if they rely on sacrifices, whether in an attempt at repentance or in order to appease the Jews and avoid persecution, they are saying Jesus’ death on the cross is not sufficient and that a continual sacrifice is needed. When they continue in these sacrifices, they are symbolically saying Christ needs to die once again and putting the work of Christ to open shame. Just as Paul writes to the Galatians, warning them if they try to hold onto anything other than Jesus,

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6–9, ESV)

Hebrews 10 gives the same warning,

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26–30, ESV)

Psalms 95, quoted in Hebrews, also gives us the same warning,

   do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
   and put me to the proof, 
   though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, “They are a people 
     who go astray in their heart,
   and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
   “They shall not enter my rest.”

(Psalm 95:8–11, ESV)

And so, the thrust of the passage is that if we keep on willfully sinning against the covenant under Jesus and reject the Gospel, there is no other sacrifice. work, or effort that will be able to restore us to repentance, not even if we sought it with tears. There is nothing left to rescue us from the wrath of God. Yes, “The Lord will judge his people”; being a Jew and a descendent of Abraham will not save them. Nor will being amongst the body of Jesus in the Church.

The root of bitterness

In Hebrews, we are given the example of Esau,

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15–17, ESV).

When Moses was giving his final words to the Israelites, he, too, warned them against a bitter heart,

“You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law (Deuteronomy 29:16–21, ESV).

In Sinai, those who walked in unbelief longed to go back to Egypt. Despite being in the desert where God’s presence was, they did not press into the Promised Land. Those with a bitter heart are those like Esau that long for the things of this world, who like the Israelites despite hearing the message of the Gospel want to go back, whether it is to the law or to the world.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

I want to touch on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as described in Matthew 12:31-32 and Mark 3:28-30.

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31–32, ESV)

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:28–30, ESV)

As with Adam, we have rejected God the Father to go our own way. And as with Israel and the gentile Romans, we in our rebellion have crucified Jesus, for it is our sins that held him there. Our blasphemies against the Father and the Son have been outrageous, but even then, Jesus says that this blasphemy can be forgiven. The Holy Spirit moves to reveal the Gospel and calls us to come and experience the forgiveness that was accomplished in Jesus. If we reject that call, if we reject the Holy Spirit, there is nowhere else to go in this age or the one to come for forgiveness. We will be left without hope.

For the Jewish leaders, this was both a message of warning and hope. The Holy Spirit was at work revealing who Jesus was with magnificent signs. Would they persist in unbelief as Israel in the wilderness? What more proof could they be given? What they spoke at this moment revealed their hearts, claiming about Jesus, “‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘by the prince of demons he casts out the demons’” (Mark 3:22, ESV). God himself was standing before them, performing miracles, and providing evidence for them to believe, and yet in the bitterness and hardness of their heart, they chose what Jesus showed to be a feeble argument in order to lead people away from Jesus. They were resisting the Holy Spirit, but not only that, they were attributing the work of the Holy Spirit, which was there to bring conviction as an unholy thing and even Satan. More evidence could not have been provided. And more evidence would not have convinced them, for their hearts were hard? To give an example with another subject, for some, because of the gymnastics they have allowed their brain to go through, no amount of evidence would convince them that the world is not flat. In John 9:41, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (NIV). None of the passages that address this issue speak of a casual occurrence. It is described as high-handed, willful, deliberate, ongoing.

The Warning

So, there is a warning in these scriptures, both in Hebrews and elsewhere. And this is a warning to those who have heard the Gospel, yet neglect to come to Jesus. In Deuteronomy 29, Moses says the root of bitterness is rejecting God and his covenant in Jesus. If you reject the Gospel, the root of bitterness, if allowed to grow, will choke out the hope of the Gospel and create a heart that is willfully and deliberately resistant to the Holy Spirit. It is a warning just as urgent as the angels who warned Lot to get out of Sodom. It is a warning for “Today”, not tomorrow. If we continue to reject the Gospel, our hearts will eventually get so hard and our hearts so bitter toward God that we may come to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, the only one who can change our hearts. The “sword of the word of God” will test our hearts.

Interestingly in the Matthew account you get parables and events surrounding this passage like the discourse about persecution, John’s messengers, unrepentant cities, yoke, the soils (Sower), weeds, treasure, net, the tree and its fruit, and Jesus being rejected at Nazareth that fall within theme of these things. All these give you the picture of the “sword” that divides belief from unbelief. As said earlier, there is a tapestry of scripture that warns us to not neglect the Gospel while it is called “Today”.

Our sure and solid hope

One note here: the scripture is clear that this hardness of heart is not a casual thing. It is a willful and high-handed continual and ongoing rejection of the Gospel. The scripture says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” If at some point, we cease to “go on sinning”, and turn to Christ, we will be met with the open arms of the Gospel. The promises of God do not change. They do not grow weary. They are not weaker than our most severe sins. Though the warning of a hardened heart is real, the offer of the Gospel is never ever ever ever taken away from those who repent and come to God. In Hebrews 6, the same passage that says it is impossible to restore them to repentance it also encourages us to hold on to our confession because God is faithful,

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:11–20, ESV)

When Jesus spoke of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, though his exchange with the Pharisees and scribes was a warning to those around him to be careful that their hearts did not become hard and reject the Holy Spirit. Perhaps for some who had not fully hardened their heart, this might have been a message of hope in the darkest place. Soon, the Jews, with the help of the Gentiles, and likely some present at this exchange, would blaspheme and crucify Jesus. If they came to understand the Gospel, they could look back at Jesus’ words spoken on this occasion and understand and know they could be forgiven, even of this, if they did not also speak against and reject the call of the Holy Spirit in the gospel. What a message of grand hope for us all who have committed such atrocities against God!

David, knowing all of this, in the midst of his sin, says in Psalm 32:9-11,

Be not like a horse or a mule, 
     without understanding,
   which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
   or it will not stay near you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
   but steadfast love surrounds 
     the one who trusts in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, 
     O righteous,
   and shout for joy, 
     all you upright in heart! 
       (Psalm 32:9–11, ESV)

In Hebrews 11, we find that many have found that God’s promises are sure and faithful. The writer goes on and says,

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV)

In light of this and the surety of the work of Jesus and the promises of God,

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16, ESV)

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church

On this rock I will build my church

The term “church” means “assembly” a term often used of Israel in the Old Testament. There is no controversy that Jesus is talking about the raising up and the building of a people of God, a holy nation. And this is what the Gospel has done as it has spread across the world. But what is the foundation for the church, this assembly, this people or as Peter will later call it a “spiritual house”? Who or what is Jesus referring to when he says, “this rock”? And how does this all relate to the “gates of hell” and the “keys of the kingdom of heaven”? And how does this all center around “You are the Christ, the son of the living God”?

Is the rock Peter?

The Catholics believe that “this rock” refers to Peter and in turn the succession of popes. If the term “rock” is referring to Peter as the leader or “pope” of the church, we don’t see this elsewhere. And this understanding does not appear to be clear either to Peter or the other disciples because they argued multiple times about who would be the greatest after this event. Also, immediately after this Jesus rebukes Peter and says, “Get behind me, Satan”. And the reason Jesus rebukes Peter is because he has strayed from the foundation of the faith. There being no other passage associating Peter with being the foundation or rock of the church, this verse is not the most solid grounds for claiming scriptural support for the pope. There is no scriptural or historical reason to assume that Peter is the “rock” Jesus is referring to, without bringing something outside of the scripture into the text.

How is the symbology of the rock used elsewhere?

However, we do get a consistent theme that is carried throughout scripture of the “rock”, “stone”, or “foundation” upon which the church is built all referring to this central phrase, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God”. When these illustrations are used, they are referring to Jesus, Jesus’ words, or the teaching of the Gospel.

Jesus quotes the Old Testament

Jesus earlier in a sermon talked about a house built on a rock, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24, ESV). Jesus also talks about the cornerstone, the stone the builders rejected, referring to himself and the message of the Gospel (Mt 21:42, Mk 12:10, Lk 20:17). Jesus takes this from Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16 both of these verses talk about putting ones trust in this cornerstone for salvation.

     Open to me the gates of 
     righteousness, 
          that I may enter through 
            them 
          and give thanks to the 
            LORD. 
     This is the gate of the LORD; 
          the righteous shall 
          enter through it. 
     I thank you that you have 
     answered me 
         and have become my 
          salvation. 
     The stone that the builders 
     rejected 
         has become the 
          cornerstone. 
     This is the LORD’s doing; 
         it is marvelous in our 
          eyes. 
     This is the day that the LORD 
     has made; 
          let us rejoice and be 
          glad in it. 
       (Psalm 118:19–24, ESV) 

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone, A precious cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. The one who believes in it will not be disturbed. (Isaiah 28:16, NASB)

Paul’s use of these terms

Paul also uses these symbols in relationship to the Jesus and the foundational teaching of the Gospel. In his letter to the Ephesians he writes,

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:17–22, ESV)

Paul also writes to the Corinthians, making it clear that, “no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). He later tells the Ephesians, “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (4:15-16, ESV). Paul warns the Galatians, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6,7, ESV). Paul makes it clear that this distinction and honor does not fall on Peter, “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23, ESV).

Paul also makes it clear that it is by our confession and belief in Jesus that the church is built. In Romans 9:32-33, he summarizes these two passages in Isaiah

And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” (Isaiah 8:14-15, ESV)

therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ (Isaiah 28:16, ESV)

This is how he understand the meaning of these passages,

Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:32-33 ESV)

Notice that the distinction for Paul is belief in who Christ is. And it is this belief that Peter is confessing in this passage. When Jesus says on this rock I will build my church, he is referring to Isaiah 28:16, and the true Zion, whose foundation is built on the confession of faith.

It is clear from these Paul’s writing that the rock, the stone, the foundation of the church is Jesus and the teaching of the Gospel, which was given by the apostles, but how did Peter to whom Jesus spoke the words “on this rock I will build my church” see this? As we will see Peter will confirm this understanding and say that we who believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God are by this confession built together into the temple of God.

Revelation

 When John describes Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, he describes “the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:14). This is similar to Paul’s description of “of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone”. Notice Peter is not singled out, but instead this refers to the teaching of the apostles as they spread the Gospel throughout the world. The apostles had the unique role of initiating teaching to others the words of Christ as a firsthand account. Both Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant agree that the apostles’ teachings are foundational to the church.

Daniel

Daniel in his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar dream describes a stone,

As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:34–35, ESV)

It is clear that this stone that becomes a mountain is the Kingdom of God, or the church, as it spreads, and the message of the Gospel conquers the hearts of men throughout the whole world. This dream emphasizes the fact that this stone was cut out by no hand, or no human. Paul also describes, “For we know if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1, ESV).

The writer of Hebrews describes this mountain,

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

(Hebrews 12:18–29, ESV)

Peter’s understanding of the rock

So who or what did Peter believe “this rock” to be? Peter is the one to whom Jesus is talking to when he says, “this rock”, and therefore has some authority in interpreting Jesus’ words and defining what Jesus meant by this phrase. So how does he use this symbology. In Acts 4:11, Peter clarifies who the cornerstone is, “This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”. This statement is similar to when Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God.” When Peter made this declaration, he is declaring Jesus to be the foundation and the one by whom we are saved. Elsewhere when Jesus asks his disciples if they too will leave him as many others had, Peter responds, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68,69). Peter understood who the foundation of the church was.

In Peter’s first letter in the Bible, he writes,

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

     “Behold, I am laying in 
     Zion a stone, 
          a cornerstone chosen 
          and precious, 
     and whoever believes in 
     him will not be put to 
       shame.” 
     So the honor is for you 
     who believe, but for those 
     who do not believe, 
     “The stone that the 
     builders rejected 
          has become the 
          cornerstone,” 
     and 
     “A stone of stumbling, 
         and a rock of 
          offense.” 

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

(1 Peter 2:4–10, ESV)

It is clear that Peter understood that the church was built on and centered on Jesus and the teaching of the Gospel and it is on this foundation alone that we as living stones are being built into the temple of God.

Next . . .

               In coming posts, we will explore how the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” and Jesus’ comment about the “gates of hell” fit in with the theme of the Gospel being preached to the world, further confirming that this is what Jesus meant by the “rock” and that this passage centers around Peter’s confession.