You are Peter and on this rock I will build My Church. The Body of Christ forms the Church of Jesus Christ. It was headed by Peter, a Jewish believer in the Messiah, and was originally the Apostolic Catholic Church. It was too small a thing for it to remain only for a select few.
God is faithful to all who by faith believe in the salvation provided by Jesus Christ.
Perhaps a most pivotal passage of the Bible which divides Roman Catholic Christians from Protestant and Pentecostal Christians is the scripture where Christ singles out Peter from the rest of the Apostles for special consideration and authority. The Catholic Church teaches that the first principle of hermeneutics, the science of the translation and interpretation of the Bible, is the literal meaning of the text.
The definition of the literal sense: The sense which the human author directly intended and which his words convey.
The question to be asked in seeking to grasp the literal meaning of Matthew in conveying what Christ had in his mind in these words to Peter is what was understood by Peter and the other apostles and what was handed on (paradosis) by the Apostolic Church and the constant faith and practice of the Church regarding the meaning of these words of Christ.
Tertullian (Rome, 160 - 220 AD), On Monogamy, Chapter 8
Peter alone do I find ... to have been married. Monogamist I am led to presume him by consideration of the church, which, built upon him, was destined to appoint every grade of her Order from monogamists.
Clement (Alexandria, 150 - 215 AD), Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?, Chapter 21
Therefore, on hearing those words, the blessed Peter, the chosen, the pre-eminent, the first of the disciples, for whom alone and Himself the Savior paid tribute, quickly seized and comprehended the saying. And what does he say? "Lo, we have left all and followed Thee.”
Cyprian (Carthage, 200 - 258 AD), On the Unity of the Catholic Church, Chapter 4
Upon him (Peter), being one, He (Christ) built His Church and although after His resurrection He bestows equal power upon all the Apostles, and says: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Receive the Holy Spirit: if you forgive the sins of anyone, they will be forgiven him; if you retain the sins of anyone, they will be retained" (Jn 20:21), that He might display unity, He established by His authority the origin of the same unity as beginning from one.
Cyril (Jerusalem, 315 - 387 AD), Catecheses, No. 2:19
Peter, the chiefest and foremost of the Apostles, denied the Lord thrice before a little maid: but he repented himself, and wept bitterly.
Augustine (Numidia, now Algeria, 354 - 430 AD), Letters, No 53
For, if the order of succession of Bishops is to be considered, how much more surely, truly and safely do we number them from Peter, to whom, as representing the whole Church, the Lord said: "Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”
you are Peter… There is a wordplay here, as the name Peter is associated with the word for “rock” in both Greek and Aramaic (the language spoken by Jesus and the disciples). Interpretation of Jesus’ meaning hinges on how the wordplay is understood.
Simon Peter
on this rock This may refer to Jesus, Peter as a leader, Peter as a representative of the leadership of the church, or the Church in general. Faithlife Bible.
The keys of the kingdom may refer to Peter’s opening the kingdom to various groups of people (Jews in Acts 2; 3; Samaritans in Acts 8:14–17; Gentiles in Acts 10). The keys would open doors to lost people. However, this term may have further significance. The keys seem to be explained by the binding and loosing discussed in the last part of the verse. In rabbinical literature, binding and loosing refers to what was permitted or not permitted. So this passage may refer to judgments that Peter would make about what would be permitted or forbidden in the church, the body of believers. NKJ Bible.
Matthew 16:18–19 (NKJV)
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Ephesians 2:20 (NKJV)
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
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