Many people believe that Jesus made the statement that Peter would be the foundation stone of his church. They point to what Jesus said to his disciples when he made a comparison between the Apostle Peter’s name and the greek word for "rock". It is found at Matthew 16:18, "Also, I say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my congregation, and the gates of the Grave will not overpower it." So, the question is whether Jesus meant that Peter would be the rock that was to be the foundation of the Christian Church.

In this comment Jesus used two different words for "rock", or more precisely, he used a male gendered form of the word for one and a female gendered form of the word for the other. That is "petros" (masculine) for Peter, since that is what his name meant, and "petra" (feminine) for the foundation rock of the Church. In other words, Jesus was drawing a contrast between the two words for rock. In greek, the two words have slightly different meanings: petros refers to an ordinary stone, whereas petra refers to a solid rock or boulder. By using both words Jesus was making a pun to emphasise the difference between these two things, referring to Peter as a small stone but to himself as a massive, immovable, solid foundation.

It should be noted that Jesus was not talking specifically to Peter alone, but to all of his disciples. Verse 13 says, "When he had come into the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples: ′Who are men saying the Son of man is?′ " This makes it clear that the subject he was discussing with his disciples at the time was who he (that is, Jesus) was.

Please read this whole section of Matthew’s account, rather than a single sentence taken in isolation, because it then becomes clear that Jesus was talking to all of his disciples, not just Peter, and that he, himself, was the subject of the discussion. The context is important to understanding it.

Note that Peter, himself, said that Jesus was the foundation stone of the Church in 1 Peter 2:6-8, "For it says in Scripture: ′Look! I am laying in Zion a chosen stone, a precious foundation cornerstone, and no one exercising faith in it will ever be disappointed.′ It is to you, therefore, that he is precious, because you are believers; but to those not believing, ′the stone that the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone′ and ′a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.′ " The "stone that the builders rejected" is clearly a reference to Jesus’ murder, so according to Peter, Jesus is the chief cornerstone of his Church, the "rock" on which it is founded.

Note also that when Peter refers to the person who is the foundation stone, he says, "He is precious" and not "I am precious", thereby making it clear that the foundation of the Church is someone other than himself, and he then identifies that other person as Jesus. The Apostle Paul also acknowledged this in 1 Corinthians 3:11, "For no one can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

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