From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Foundation of the Church – Part 1

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.”
                                (Matthew 16:18a)

Here Jesus addresses Peter as representative of the apostles, which explains two different Greek forms for “rock”: petros for Peter the man and petra for Peter as group spokesman. The foundation of Christ’s church is the apostles as His uniquely appointed teachers of the gospel. Because it is God’s Word that the disciples, and subsequently the true church, always taught, Christ is the cornerstone of its foundation (John 5:39).  Paul declares, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20).

The early church gave highest priority, not to the prestige of the apostles as persons or title holders, but rather to their doctrine — “continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42a). Peter himself warned the crowd not to credit him only with the healing of the crippled man: “Why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” (3:12). He did command the man to walk (vs. 6), but he spoke on God’s behalf and his fellow apostles’ as well as his own.

Because they joined the apostles in proclaiming the gospel, the prophetic teachers of the young church were also part of the church’s foundation. Martin Luther noted that “All who agree with the confession of Peter are Peters themselves setting a sure foundation.” That process continues through believers today, “as living stones . . . Built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5).

Ask Yourself:
Are you ever guilty of taking too much credit for what God accomplishes through you, enjoying the insufficient, temporary fruits of pride, forgetting that you are just a vessel of His goodness and glory? How do you counteract this, and why is it so terribly important to do so?