"The Rock" Report #1

Now, let’s get to know that man upon whom the Church is built. Let's get to know Peter better. You know Peter, the fisherman-turned-apostle, the leader of the Apostles, but do you know what made Peter "the Rock"? The best way to know why he got his name is to reflect upon a powerful encounter Peter had with Jesus. In it, Jesus asked a question:

He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'

And Peter answered and said, 'The Messiah of God' (Luke 9:20, NKJV/NRSV).

Was Jesus happy with Peter's response? Yes, yes! He was super happy. Jesus was pleased and affirming. But you won’t understand why unless you read the complete encounter, so let’s do that. We just read Luke's report, now let's read the more complete report from Matthew.

"The Rock" Report #2

Here it is:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’

They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’

‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’

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. And I tell you that you are Peter [Petros = Stone], and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven’ (Matthew 16:13-18).

Is it clear? I mean, not only the greatness of Peter, because the Lord gave him a great position in Church history--he made him "the Rock"--but the greatness of God? Is it clear to you who Jesus is in relation to God? Peter declared that Jesus is the Son of the Living God.

Now, for Peter to refer to God as "the Living God" means that Peter was speaking particularly of the Father, the One God. Peter qualified as the Church's first leader because he got a revelation and he proclaimed it--a very specific revelation about Jesus' relationship to this One God, the Living God, the Father. And based on that revelation Peter became "the Rock" upon whom the Church was built.

Peter's Footsteps

To know why Peter's statement was so special, unique, and worthy of esteem, we must know what he meant by calling Jesus the 'Son of the Living God.' Practically nobody knows what it means for Jesus to be 'the Son of the Living God.'

The key is in the little word, the particle of. With it, Peter meant that Jesus belongs to God. If I say "This is the house of Maurice," the house belongs to Maurice. If I say "He's the president of the committee," the president belongs to the committee. He serves it. Well, likewise Peter said that Jesus is the Son of the Living God to communicate that Jesus belongs to God.

Peter was emphasizing two truths 95% of Christian communities deny these days: that Jesus was subordinate to God and that he was sent by God. Don't forget that in Luke, he calls Jesus 'The Messiah of God' (9:20), and in Matthew he calls Jesus 'the Son of the Living God' (Matthew 16:15). What both of these titles for Jesus have in common is the preposition of.

Of means that someone possesses something or someone. If someone says "That's the wife of Mr. Jones," you'd better stay away from that woman. She belongs to Mr. Jones.

Not only to Peter, but to anyone who has the faith to confess this truth—to those who make a bold profession of faith in Jesus as being of God, as Peter did—Jesus grants the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Just as Risky Now

Are you able to confess it? If so, you may be the next person upon whom Jesus will build his Church. He's still building his Church, and he's recruiting people to be "Rocks" even now. Will you be another rock?

The revelation that Jesus is God's Messiah, and the Anointed One of God, is a revelation you only get from God. Therefore, getting this revelation demonstrates that you are sensitive to God's voice. Those who are sensitive to his voice are capable of leading. Jesus establishes that kind of person in Church leadership, like he did with Peter.

But sensitivity to God's voice is not enough. You also need to be brave. You need to speak out in spite of the opposition. To announce that Jesus is of God was risky in the times of Jesus and it's risky now. Are you willing to take the risk? Can you go out on a limb and state in public that Jesus is of God--and be clear in your declaration that he belongs to God?

We're now in part 15 of a series called "Jesus Proceeds from God." We're in lesson 15, and we're still not done with the topic! Wow--it's vast. It's a good time to take inventory and reflect on why the topic of Jesus proceeding from God requires so much study. Why does it demand so much investigation?

Here's why: We have to study a lot because we are going completely against a theological trend that started around 417 AD--a corrupt interpretation of the Scriptures that has had sway over many Christians for around 1,600 years. We say that Jesus is of God, but that's not what the popular trends in theology teach. Most churches today deny it in their Statements of Faith--in the first article. Why?

Well, when we say that Jesus proceeds from God, or that he is of God, we are declaring that he is subordinate to God. It was around 417 AD that a theological movement started under Augustine of Hippo through his work On the Trinity to counteract that truth--and his movement is still strong today. That movement denies the most fundamental Reality of Christianity: that the One God is the Father.

Survey Says

Now you get it, right? It was a big accomplishment for the Apostles to get to the point where they believed that Jesus proceeded from God. And so it is also a big accomplishment for you and me. But is it one of the accomplishments of today’s Christian church or is it not? Well, no. It's not. In fact, today's Church rejects that teaching.

The official position of 90% of church statements of faith is that Jesus is not subordinate to the Father. They even have a name for what they call our position, what they have deemed a "heresy." They call it subordinationalism. Christian churches everywhere condemn it.

If we performed a survey to see whether people in churches believe that Jesus proceeds from God, the results would be abysmal. There was a survey performed in 2025, in fact, and in it the Barna Pew Research team found out that church-goers know very little about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. On average, only 20% of church-goers believe that Jesus and the Spirit act under the headship of the Father.

So, hardly anybody will affirm Jesus proceeds from God. It’s been proven through the survey that in Christian churches in the United States, that most people don’t even know how to distinguish between Jesus and the Father. They constantly confuse one with the other in doctrine, worship, and in prayer. They conflate the two, and avoid conversation about the Holy Spirit altogether.

You’ve heard people praying to Jesus and calling him “the Only God,” and then praying to the Father and thanking him for shedding his blood on the Cross, haven’t you? You’ve noticed how they blur the Biblical distinctions, right? Well, that’s not a mistake, a slip, or an involuntary thought. It's been very strategically sown in their hearts through false doctrine--much of it starting in 417 AD with Augustine of Hippo--but we can't place the blame completely on him.

You know the original source of false doctrine, don't you? It's the Devil.

Knowing Jesus

The bottom line is that most of today’s self-identified Christians consider their fundamental doctrinal position to be faith in a kind of God who is not One, but actually Three-in-One. Some of them call him the “Triune God” while others say he is the “Godhead.” Many call him the “Trinity”--a term they stole from the Church Fathers and rebranded.

Those who call their One God the "Trinity" have been deceived with respect to how "trinity" was originally used. We are the true "Trinitarians." They have hijacked the term, and they have no right to use it. Like they've done with other terms like "Godhead," "Person," and "Essence," they have twisted vocabulary to serve their needs, not to serve God.

The Church Father Tertullian coined the term trinity in 213 AD and used it (instead of unity) to describe the quality that characterized the relationship established by the Father with his Son Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. He never used it to describe a Being. In fact, no Christian theologian did that until Augustine in 417 AD.

We, stick with the original orthodox doctrine: that Jesus is of God. But they have lost all sense of orthodox doctrine. They can’t see Jesus for who he is: the man who is of God—the Son of God!

Never mind. They can't, but can you? Can you see Jesus that way--the way Peter saw him? Is he for you the Son of the Living God--the Messiah of God?