Apostles

THE APOSTLES : M.M.NINAN
And this Church, symbolized in its generality, was personified in the Apostle Peter, on account of
the primacy of his apostleship. Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself built.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.
Again, Peter is representative of the universal Church and Jesus himself, as rock, supports that
Church. The rock did not take its name from Peter, but Peter had his name taken from the The
In harmony with his ecclesiology, but against the meaning of the text, Augustine rigorously
separated the name-giving from its explanation: Christ did not say to Peter:
Therefore, Peter served as a great prototype for the Church because in many ways, he was
representative of the everyday Christian: sometimes he is strong (confessing that Jesus is the
Christ); at other times he is weak (rebuking Jesus about his imminent death). Like everyone else,
he is fallible, and needs to be grounded upon something stronger than himself, namely Jesus.
Summary
For Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Augustine the rock of Matt 16:18 was neither Peter nor his
confession, but Jesus himself. It appears that the Pauline epistles, particularly 1 Corinthians,
greatly influenced the writings of these fathers. The rock metaphor of Matt 16:18 stressed the
strength of the Church
Peter's Testimony
Finally here is what Peter himself will have to say about the rock in his first Epistle.
. Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious;
and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to
offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (). For it stands in scripture: a
stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to
shame.To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, very stone
which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,A stone that will make men
stumble, a rock that will make them fall
It is clear that Peter was refering to Jesus as the living stone / corner stone into which the
church is built by each believer as living stones.