Early Christian Views on “This Rock” (Matthew 16:18)

Jesus’ saying in Matthew 16:18 is often debated. One popular view is that “this rock” refers to Peter, and so Jesus was saying that he will build his church on Peter. It is sometimes even claimed that this view was unanimous among the early Christians!

However, when we actually look at the historical sources, we would find that this was not actually the case. It is certainly true that many early Christians thought that “this rock” referred to Peter. However, this was not unanimous. Many other early Christians had different views.

John Chrysostom was an early Christian leader who lived during the 4th century CE. In one sermon, he commented on Matthew 16:18:

“On this rock.” He did not say “on Peter”, because he built his church not on the man, but on his faith. And what is this faith? “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” — To Pentecost, Sermon 1.

Here, John Chrysostom explicitly taught that “this rock” did not refer to Peter. Instead, “this rock” was the statement of faith that Peter made in the previous verse.

This is significant because John Chrysostom was the Bishop of Constantinople. During his time, Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman Empire. It was one of the five major centres of the Christian world. As the Bishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom was one of the five most senior leaders in the Christian world. His view about “this rock” probably reflected the view of many early Christians.

Of course, we could disagree with John Chrysostom. Nonetheless, it was not the unanimous view of all early Christians that “this rock” referred to Peter.