The Foundation of the Church¶
There is in our midst a vast society named the Christian Church, the Church of God. If we are not already members of this society, we are at least conscious of its presence. What is the origin of the Christian Church; from whence did it come; who was its founder?
To this question there is but one answer, “The Lord hath founded Zion.”[1] It was through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of his Spirit, that the ancient Church of God passed into its catholic or world-wide phase on the day of Pentecost. Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, is the founder of the Christian Church.
This is clear from our Lord’s words to St. Peter, when he confessed him to be the Son of God,—“upon this rock I will build my Church.”[2] Jesus Christ regards the Church as his own, He speaks of it as “my Church;” and He claims to be its founder, for He says “I will build my Church.”
It is worthy of note that this is our Lord’s first mention of the Church. It was drawn from his lips, as it were, by the first confession of the truth of the Incarnation. St. Peter was the first to confess belief in the incarnate Lord; he had just owned “the Son of Man” to be “the Son of the living God.”[3] The promise of the Church is based upon this earliest confession of the Incarnation, and follows it as part of one and the same great design. The Church is the kingdom of the Incarnation: it is the sacred society in which the benefits which flow from the Incarnation of our Lord are extended from age to age. The Son of God came into the world to save men in a kingdom. This kingdom is his Church. It is the new creation of which He, the incarnate Lord, is the head and the life.
The work which the Church is planned to fulfil towards mankind, is too great to rest upon any but upon God himself. A Church founded by man, would be at best but a human society, subject to change and error, and liable to pass away. Such a Church would afford no security or safety to the soul. We could not rely upon it: we could not place any confidence in its offices towards us. Our hope of salvation in the Church, rests upon the fact that the Church is the kingdom of our incarnate Lord,-a divine kingdom of which He is the founder, and in which He has pledged himself to save men. Against this Church “the gates of hell shall not prevail.”[4]
It may be asked, are we joined to Christ by being joined to the Church, or are we joined to the Church by being joined to Christ? This question can only be answered by saying,Whichever way it is, the result is the same; for the Church is one with Christ, and He is one with the Church. “He is the head of the body, the Church.”[5]
Note on Christ’s promise to St. Peter¶
(St. Matt. xvi. 17-20.)
The Church has received no certain or fixed tradition as to what our Lord meant by “the rock” in this passage. Some of the fathers taught that Christ himself is the rock, others that the faith in his Godhead and Messiahship which St. Peter confessed is meant, others again that St. Peter is the rock. Several of the fathers held two of these opinions together, and some held all three. St. Augustine in his earlier writings taught that St. Peter is the rock, but he afterwards gave up that view, and held that Christ is the rock. His words are,—“I said in a certain place of the apostle St. Peter, that upon him, as upon the rock, the Church was founded… But I know that afterwards I most often expounded that saying of our Lord,—‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my Church’ as meaning upon him whom Peter confessed saying,—‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Let the reader choose which of these two interpretations is the more probable” (Retract. lib. i. c. 21). The fact that this great teacher changed his mind as to the meaning of the passage, and left it an open question to his readers, shews that he had no idea that any important doctrine depends on its interpretation.
It is very noticeable that, if we except the popes and persons closely associated with the Roman see, the fathers, who understand the rock to be St. Peter, in no way connect our Lord’s promise with the institution of the papacy.
St. Peter may be regarded as the rock, because he first confessed belief in the person and office of Christ, and first was nominated to be an apostle. He was first in order amongst the twelve, but had no jurisdiction over the rest of the apostles. He was not their lord, but their leader: he was ‘primus inter pares,’ i.e., first amongst equals. The fathers lay great stress on the equality of the apostles.
If St. Peter is a rock upon which the Church is built, we must remember that the other apostles are also spoken of as foundations of the Church (see Eph. ii. 20; Rev. xxi. 14). The power of the keys, promised first to St. Peter, was afterwards promised by our Lord to all the apostles in similar words (compare St. Matt. xvi. 19 with xviii. 18); and it was simultaneously communicated to all (St. Thomas excepted) by our Lord’s mysterious breathing, and by his words of power, on the evening of the day of his resurrection (see St. John xx. 21-24).
The Author is indebted to the Rev. F. W. Puller for the substance of the foregoing Note.