Who or what is the rock?

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says: And I say 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.
Who or what is the rock Jesus is referring to?

The rock in this case is the theological assertion that precedes this verse.

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it.

Jesus' words "this rock" refers to Peter's statement, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God", the revelation from the Father on which the Church is built. Each person who is a member of the Church has this revelation from the Father.

The Word.
Luke 21:33
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

The Rock is the foundation (Jesus) but men built the visible NT church upon that Rock. God is building the invisible church.

Jesus Yeshua is making reference to Himself.

Do you believe that the "wheel within a wheel" in Ezk, harmonizes with the visible and invisible church?

I have no idea.

Jesus is the Rock of our salvation. God is the only Rock of our salvation.

Psalm 78:35
And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.

Genesis 49:24
But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of the
Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

Deuteronomy 32:15
"But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- You are grown fat, thick, and sleek-- Then
he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation.

2 Samuel 23:3
"The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, 'He
who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God,

Psalm 42:9
I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why
do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

Isaiah 30:29
You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, And gladness of heart as when
one marches to the sound of the flute, To go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

Habakkuk 1:12
Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die You, O LORD,
have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.

2 Samuel 22:32
"For who is God, besides the LORD? And who is a rock, besides our God?

Psalm 18:31
For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God,

1 Samuel 2:2
"There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no
one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

Isaiah 44:8
'Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?
And you are My witnesses Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.'"

Deuteronomy 32:31
"Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.

Deuteronomy 32:37
"And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?

Psalm 144:1
Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle;

Deuteronomy 32:4
"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Psalm 92:15
To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Psalm 62:7
On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

Psalm 28:1
To You, O LORD, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me, For if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit.

Psalm 31:1-3
In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me.
Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me.
For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me.

Psalm 61:2
From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 71:3
Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have
given commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.

Isaiah 26:4
"Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

Psalm 94:22
But the LORD has been my stronghold, And my God the rock of my refuge.

2 Samuel 22:3
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence.

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in
Whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 95:1
O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

2 Samuel 22:47
"The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

Psalm 18:46
The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation,

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 62:2
He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

Psalm 89:26
"He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'

Isaiah 17:10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your r
efuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god.

Isaiah 8:14
"Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike
and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28:16
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly
cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.

Matthew 21:42[/B]
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS [/B][/B]
BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?[/B]

Mark 12:10[/B]
"Have you not even read this Scripture: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;[/B]

Luke 20:17
But Jesus looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'THE STONE
WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone'?

Acts 4:11
"He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.

1 Peter 2:6-7
For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE
WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for
those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"

Matthew 21:44
"And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."

Luke 20:18
"Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces;
but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."

Romans 9:32-33
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled
over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING
AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

1 Peter 2:4-8
And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and
precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house
for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER
stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

.
As for me: the identity of the rock is trivial in comparison to what Jesus said
about the "my church".

"the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

The "my church" isn't an institution, it's a human body. In point of fact, it
consists of Jesus' human body that died on his cross. (Eph 1:22-23, Eph
5:30)

The "hell" in view is translated from the Greek word haides, which is an
afterlife world where all the dead at one time retired-- the good dead as well
as the bad dead regardless of age, race, religion, and/or gender identity.

Now when Jesus died, his crucified dead body wasn't laid to rest in haides.
His friends tucked it away in a tomb. However, Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:25
32 verify that Jesus was simultaneously in haides. Well, within three days he
escaped haides, was reunited with his body, and it was restored to life. So in
his case for sure, the gates of haides failed to prevail: he won, it lost

So what? Well, were it possible for Jesus' body to be reckoned your body,
then you too would've defeated the gates of haides; which is pretty much
what Romans 6:3-11 is saying.

In a nutshell: seeing as how the resurrection of Jesus' crucified dead body
can't be undone with any more ease than recalling the gong of a bell or the
toot of a horn; then the same is true for folks whose body is reckoned his
body, i.e. their own resurrections are just as much a done deal as his, and it
is God's will that they not doubt, rather, accept it as fact.

The icing on the cake? Jesus' crucified dead body was restored to life fully
immune to the wages of sin (Rom 6:9-10) and do I really need to elucidate
how that applies to the members of his body? Yes; they too are fully
immune to the wages of sin because God-- by some strange process that I
have yet to figure out --reckons Jesus' body as their body.

So, with the assurance that Jesus' resurrection has already been
accomplished, and thus theirs too, the members of his body are encouraged
to anticipate their resurrections' finality. (Rom 8:23-25)
_

Hi Cameron!

I could go into the Greek words for rock/ stone, but will just use the English. Most of us don't speak Greek anyhow. I'll leave that for my Greek friend if she wants.

Answer this question and you will have your answer.
Here is the same book of Matthew in chapter 7. Jesus spoke to Peter and the others before your reference, so they knew Who Jesus spoke of from here.
Who is the rock in this passage?

" 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: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine."

Jesus uses the term underlined, therefore.
What is it there for?
A: It points to the statements before.
Let's see what He is talking about.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

This is talking about the judgement of the lost damned sentenced to hell. MANY will say to Jesus the righteous Judge in that day......see verses 21-23.
This list is a sample of what people will say to justify their reasons why they think Jesus should let them into heaven.
Verse 21 Lord.....They made Jesus Lord of their lives or at least recognize Him as Lord.
Verse 22 They preached in the name of Jesus.
They cast out devil's (exorcists), and in the name of Christ did many wonderful works.

Jesus'response was what?
"I never knew you."
They were never saved. Not as if they made a commitment, asked Jesus into their hearts, went to Church, or prayed with Pat Robertson on TV and promised to serve Him all the days of their lives.
These are false substitutions for the Savior, sand, even iniquity as Jesus says it best.
So what SHOULD we do? Good works?
Absolutely NOT. Jesus just made that clear that it's like building a beach house along the shore on the sand.
You must believe on Jesus Christ alone, the Rock of salvation. He is the Only way to Heaven, not Peter, the church, or the R.C.'s popes. Many add to the true Savior their own "wonderful works. ". This is not acceptable with Him.
What about when He said,

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. "

Does that mean doing every single thing ever written from Genesis to Revelation?
Some like those Jesus described above would want you to believe that, but He just got done teaching that good works never saves.
Here is the answer.

"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."

Im going to leave you with something already on my clipboard that explains this well. Please feel free to contact me here or PM with any questions and will try to get back this evening. Have a great day.
☕🙂👍

Tje revelation that Jesus is the Lord.

I greatly appreciate your answer and concern for me spiritually. I seldom ask a question that isn't already settled in my heart and mind. I generally post questions that I think are valuable for people to consider and may not have. There exist on this site a plethora of teachers who are not only apt to teach but also who's hearts are touched to care for others deepest longings. Mostly I'm attempting to facilitate learning while learning more in the process.
And, as always, a pleasure to hear from you.

Look at what they were talking about just before

“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

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.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:15-18‬ ‭KJV‬‬


it’s peters belief that Jesus is the Christ , the son of God. If a Christian won’t acknolwedge that nothing in scriptire will make sense and they will never be able to build on the foundation but when we do acknolwedge that truth

that Jesus is the Christ which the Old Testament foretells the son of God then we’re here on a foundation that won’t fall but will overcome the world

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭5:1, 5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Paul’s first message the rock of faith

“And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭9:20‬ ‭KJV‬‬

It’s the purpose of johns gospel

“but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
‭‭John‬ ‭20:31‬ ‭

“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭8:37‬ ‭KJV‬‬


If we believe that Jesus is who the Bible said would come in the Old Testament the “ messiah “ also called the “ Christ “ knowing the Christ, is the son of God ( God manifest in the flesh of a man )

that’s the founding rock of all faith in Christ of we don’t believe that we can’t believe anything else if we have that true belief with our heart like Jesus told Peter that’s something God reveals To us himself and is something Satan cannot overcome in a believer

if we say it is one thing but if we believe , it’s going to bring us to repentance and obedience in him knowing he is the only salvation that is ever going to save us

the rock is the belief that Jesus is the promised Christ , the savior of the world the son of God which the Old Testament continually promised would come to save us who put our trust in him


To know and believe who Jesus said he is is not a foundation that can be broken if it’s planted in the heart it draws all
Men to him because the Christ and son of God is himself eternal salvation for all men who believe both male and female

Joh 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.

pet'-ros
Apparently a primary word; a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037); as a name, Petrus, an apostle: - Peter, rock. Compare G2786.

Mat 16:18 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.

pet'-ra
Feminine of the same as G4074; a (mass of) rock (literally or figuratively): - rock.

Peter is referred to as petros which is a piece of a rock.

In Matthew the rock is referred to as petra a mass of rock.

Which Jesus is referred to as the rock for He is the head of the Church and the cheif cornerstone.

But Peter was the first person added to the Church built upon Christ which Paul said the Church is like a building where the saints are built upon each other.

If it referred to Peter then it means he was the first person added to the Church built upon Christ then the rest of the Church would be built upon Peter.

But Jesus is the foundation of the Church and the rock meaning for Peter and the rock in Matthew 16:18 are different in name and the size of them.

Peter is a piece of rock where the rock in Matthew is a mass of rock.

None of the above.

Cesarea Phillipi is the location...which is very important for this lesson. If you don't know the history and anthropology of the city you will give all the worthless answers that are above.

While these are well intentioned answers and people intend the best...they are still wrong without telling the most important things about this story in Matthew's gospel. The answers above are the worn out "church answers " that don't hold the truth for all ages.

The TRUTH is available for those who truly seek it.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer. But so far you have only said what you believe it is not. Can you say what you believe it to be?

A picture of Daniel 2:35 comes to mind,

Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

The location of the action is the Pan Temple at the base of Mt Hermon which had one of the three springs that fed the Jordan River. The water gushed with such force it was thought to be fed by the River Styx itself.
Worship of the god Pan was done by sexual excitement. And the place had the reputation of being the world's largest outdoor orgy.

Also, this action happened just weeks before Jesus's crucifixion. If Peter didn't know by this point that Jesus was the Messiah he would have had severe short term memory loss....because he obviously recognized Jesus as being such for a long time already....even asked for a seat at his right hand. So the Revelation that Jesus was the Son of God was not a new one.

So....

Let's try again with these obvious observations and see what is or is not being discussed within the passages.

I appreciate your answer and that is some wonderful symbolism it still doesn't explain explicitly the rock.