Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 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. 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.” Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. (Matt 16:13–20)

When they had presented diverse human origins concerning Him, He asked what they themselves thought about him. Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But Peter had pondered the nature of the question. For the Lord had said, “Whom do men say that the Son of man is?” Certainly, His human body indicated He was a Son of man. But by adding “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus indicated that they should consider something besides what He seemed in Himself, for He was a Son of man. Therefore what judgment concerning himself did He desire? It was a secret He was asking about, into which the faith of those who believe ought to extend itself.

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 16.6

This is not the property of Peter alone, but it came about on behalf of every human being. Having said that his confession is a rock, He stated that upon this rock I will build my church. This means He will build His church upon this same confession and faith. For this reason, addressing the one who first confessed Him with this title, on account of his confession He applied to him this authority, too, as something that would become his, speaking of the common and special good of the church as pertaining to him alone. It was from this confession, which was going to become the common property of all believers, that He bestowed upon him this name, the rock. In the same way also Jesus attributes to him the special character of the church, as though it existed beforehand in him on account of his confession. By this He shows, in consequence, that this is the common good of the church since also the common element of the confession was to come to be first in Peter. This then is what He says, that in the church would be the key of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone holds the key to this, to the church, in the same way he will also hold it for all heavenly things. He who is counted as belonging to the church and is recognized as its member is a partaker and an inheritor of heaven. He who is a stranger to it, whatever his status may be, will have no communion in heavenly things.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Fragment 92