"Jesus .... asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered saying, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matt.16:13-18.
The subject of this paragraph was not "Peter", a flawed, flesh and blood human, but Christ's question as to who He (Jesus) was and Peter's faithfully accurate answer, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." It is that confession of faith in Christ that is the rock upon which Jesus built his church, beginning in Jerusalem with the Apostles, and continuing throughout this Church Age. He is still building.
Christ's response to Peter's answer, "Thou art the Christ....", and knowing that Peter's name, Petros, was Greek for a brick sized stone, Jesus alluded to it as a building block which would be laid upon that "bedrock" confession of faith in Christ. That confession is the huge, foundational, understratum platform which, in Greek, is a petra slab of rock, not a brick sized petros. Like the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan, which is literally carved out of the side of a solid mountain of rock, or like the solid wall of rock from which Jesus' tomb was carved out of. (Matt.27:60) "... hewn out in the rock".
So Christ did not build His church upon Simon Peter, but upon the foundational Christian confession of faith "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". Jesus, Himself, being the "chief cornerstone" upon that petra. (1 Peter 2:6).
We Christians, beginning with Peter and the Apostles, who were the first row of stones laid on that foundation, all have the same confession of faith in Christ... as our messiah and Savior. With Christ's pronouncement that he would build His church on that foundation, he also promised that "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Understand that the primary purpose of "gates" is to defend ... not attack. Living the Christian life is an attack against the defended, double winged, swinging gates of hell, "which lead to destruction" (Matt. 7:13). Just as the holiness, power and glory of God were an offense against Lucifer, in heaven, who rebelled and was cast down and out by our God. Lucifer did not prevail. Like Lucifer, men may resist God and all that is holy, including Christ's true churches, but the "gates of hell shall not prevail against" them and their eternity bound confession of faith.
In Matt. 7:24-25 Jesus told of a wise man who "built his house upon a (single) rock (bedrock), and it stood through the wind and flood. The very next reference to that kind of rock (petra), follows in Matt. 16:18, our text, "Upon this rock...." Also, the Apostle Paul declared in 1 Cor.10:4, "That spiritual Rock", from whence poured out living water, "is Christ". Pouring out the water of life is the churches' function. To resist evil and attack the world's unholiness, and rebellion against Christ, with the sword of the Spirit, is a calling. The Holy Spirit arms us with God's word, Christian truth, Christ-like example and an invitation to come over to His side in this war of good against evil ... between God and Lucifer. We are "Soldiers of the cross".
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