Matthew 16:13-20

In the gospel of Matthew, Peter says to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replies, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by any human, but by my Father in heaven."

This statement is not recorded in the gospel of Mark, but the gospel of Luke also reports the conversation. Only the gospel of Matthew, however, contains the assertion by Jesus that Peter is the rock on which the church will be built and the one to whom the keys to the kingdom of heaven will be given. The gospel of Matthew looks to Peter (his Greek name), also known as Simon (Hebrew) or Cephas (Aramaic), as the authority for the church.

The gospel of Mark looks beyond Peter and all the other disciples to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. The gospel of Luke is the first volume of a narrative that tells the story of how the church that originated in Jerusalem under the leadership of Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, became through the ministry of Paul a movement of Greek-speaking Gentile churches within the Roman Empire.

Grace and peace...Bob