Whoever attentively reads Matthew 16: 18 will establish that the Lord did not say, “Thou art Peter, and on thee I will build my church,” but “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” It is not admissible to take a single verse and interpret it arbitrarily. In order to obtain a clear answer it is necessary to read the whole context.

In both, Old and New Testament the Lord is often denoted as a rock, but a man never once. Peter had just been given the divine revelation concerning Christ, and a few minutes later had to recognise his failure, his fallibility. Only a few verses after, the Lord said to the same Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Mt. 16: 23). That should cause all to think, who presume to be able to bring their own thoughts into the Word of God. Everything not in agreement with the written Word comes from a false inspiration. The same words that the Lord once said to Peter, who in that moment did not think in a divine manner, but along human lines, He says today to everyone standing under a false inspiration.

In the spiritual realm, it is not a matter of whether we promote thoughts that seem to be good and plausible, but whether we promote God’s eternal thoughts, which He has expressed clearly in His Word. There are only two sources of inspiration. The individual draws either from the one or from the other. With the first human beings in the garden of Eden Satan began by giving the Word his own interpretation. Eve first listened to it, and then Adam in turn listened to her. In this way the whole plight on earth began. It must surely be clear to all that Satan will never appear with a proclamation separate from God and the Word. That would be too obvious. He always makes use of God’s Word, but quotes it in a distorted form. For only inasmuch as he succeeds in satisfying people that they would be doing the work of God, can he deceive them. Therefore what he says always sounds all along very pious and godly.

From the account of the temptation of our Lord it is clear that the enemy also came to Him with Bible quotations, which he had however torn out of their context and falsely applied. The Lord responded to him each time with, “But again it is written …” Reference to Biblical quotations therefore means absolutely nothing, if they are not in agreement with the total testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Although the enemy will always appear citing the Bible, he leaves no citation in its original context.

Whoever attentively reads Matthew 16: 18 will establish that the Lord did not say, “Thou art Peter, and on thee I will build my church,” but “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” It is not admissible to take a single verse and interpret it arbitrarily. In order to obtain a clear answer it is necessary to read the whole context.

In both, Old and New Testament the Lord is often denoted as a rock, but a man never once. Peter had just been given the divine revelation concerning Christ, and a few minutes later had to recognise his failure, his fallibility. Only a few verses after, the Lord said to the same Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Mt. 16: 23). That should cause all to think, who presume to be able to bring their own thoughts into the Word of God. Everything not in agreement with the written Word comes from a false inspiration. The same words that the Lord once said to Peter, who in that moment did not think in a divine manner, but along human lines, He says today to everyone standing under a false inspiration.

In the spiritual realm, it is not a matter of whether we promote thoughts that seem to be good and plausible, but whether we promote God’s eternal thoughts, which He has expressed clearly in His Word. There are only two sources of inspiration. The individual draws either from the one or from the other. With the first human beings in the garden of Eden Satan began by giving the Word his own interpretation. Eve first listened to it, and then Adam in turn listened to her. In this way the whole plight on earth began. It must surely be clear to all that Satan will never appear with a proclamation separate from God and the Word. That would be too obvious. He always makes use of God’s Word, but quotes it in a distorted form. For only inasmuch as he succeeds in satisfying people that they would be doing the work of God, can he deceive them. Therefore what he says always sounds all along very pious and godly.

From the account of the temptation of our Lord it is clear that the enemy also came to Him with Bible quotations, which he had however torn out of their context and falsely applied. The Lord responded to him each time with, “But again it is written …” Reference to Biblical quotations therefore means absolutely nothing, if they are not in agreement with the total testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Although the enemy will always appear citing the Bible, he leaves no citation in its original context.