"I Will Build My Church"
Text: Matthew 16:18
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Show from the tense of "I will build" that the church was still future at Matthew 16 and began at Pentecost.
- Explain why Peter is not the foundation, and Christ is.
- State what the "keys of the kingdom" were and how Peter used them.
Thesis
When Jesus said "I will build My church," He spoke of a body still future — built on Himself, not on Peter — which He established at Pentecost; Peter merely used the keys by announcing the terms of entrance, and the church is entered as a new creation in Christ.
Burden
Few sentences have been more fought over than "I will build My church." A whole system of human authority has been built on the claim that Peter is the rock and the first in a line of rulers over the church. But the sentence itself, read carefully, says something very different — and far better. Jesus points away from Peter and to Himself, away from a present institution and toward Pentecost, away from a man's throne and toward a new creation. Reading it rightly guards both the foundation of the church and the way into it.
Introduction
Is "I will build My church" a promise or a declaration? Some make it a promise to Peter; it is better understood as Christ's settled declaration of what He would do. The outline works it in five movements: the church still future, Peter's relation to the church, Christ's relation to the church, the keys of the kingdom, and the church as a new creation.
I. The Church Was Still Future (Matt. 16:18)
"I will build" — the verb (Gk. oikodomēsō) is future. At Matthew 16 the church did not yet exist:
- the kingdom had not yet come — Jesus still taught men to pray "Your kingdom come" (Matt. 6:10) and said some standing there would see it come "with power" (Mark 9:1);
- the King had not yet been crowned — He was enthroned at His ascension (Acts 2:33-36);
- therefore the church had not yet been established.
It was established at Pentecost (Acts 2), when the Spirit came, the gospel was first fully preached, and the Lord began adding the saved. So the church is not an afterthought or a Plan B; it is exactly what Jesus said He would build, built on schedule.
II. Peter Is Not the Foundation (Matt. 16:18)
The wordplay in the verse points away from Peter:
- "You are Peter (Petros, a stone)" — but "upon this rock (petra, bedrock) I will build My church." The two words differ; the rock is not the stone.
- The rock is the truth Peter had just confessed — "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16) — and the Christ that confession names.
- Peter was not the first stone of the spiritual temple, nor its base; he is, with the other apostles and prophets, part of the building laid on the one foundation (Eph. 2:20).
No man is the foundation of the church, and no man inherits a place that was never Peter's to hold.
III. Christ Is the Foundation and Head (1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 5:23)
Scripture is plain about who the foundation is: "no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11; cf. 10:4, "the rock was Christ"). Jesus is the first to use the word "church" here, and again in Matthew 18:17; its synonyms in His teaching — "little flock" (Luke 12:32), "disciples," "kingdom" — show the same body under different figures. And "Christ is the head of the church" (Eph. 5:23). The foundation is Christ; the Head is Christ; the church is His.
IV. The Keys of the Kingdom (Matt. 16:19; Acts 2)
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom" — keys (Gk. kleis) stand for authority, the right to open.
- Peter was to use them first — and he did.
- He announced the terms of entrance into the kingdom: first to the Jews at Pentecost ("repent, and... be baptized... for the forgiveness of your sins," Acts 2:38); then to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10).
- The keys were not a throne but an assignment — the privilege of first preaching the conditions of pardon. And the power to admit, by announcing the terms, carried with it the power to exclude, by the same terms. What was bound and loosed on earth had already been settled in heaven (Matt. 16:19).
There is no papacy here — only an apostle entrusted to open the door of the kingdom by preaching the gospel.
V. The Church Is a New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
How does one enter the body Christ built? As a new creation:
- by faith in Christ (Mark 16:15-16);
- by repentance, a reformed life (Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2:38);
- baptized into His death, buried and raised with Him (Rom. 6:3-4);
- becoming a new creature in Christ — "the old things passed away" (2 Cor. 5:17);
- so that Jew and Gentile alike are created into one new man (Eph. 2:15).
The church is not joined like a club; it is entered by being made new in Christ.
Application
Build your confidence on the right foundation. If the church rests on Christ, then no human office, however ancient its claim, stands over it; submit to Christ alone. If Pentecost is where it began, then look there — to Acts 2 — for how to enter it, and you will find faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, the same keys Peter turned. And if entrance is a new creation, then do not settle for joining something; come to be made new. Test every claim of religious authority by this verse: it exalts Christ and sends you to the gospel, not to a man.
Conclusion
"I will build My church" — future then, fulfilled at Pentecost; built on Christ, not on Peter; entered through the keys Peter used to preach the terms of pardon; received by being made a new creation in Christ. The sentence that men have used to build human authority actually tears it down and leaves Christ alone as foundation and Head. Come into the church He built, the way He said.
Invitation
The keys still hang where Peter left them — in the gospel of Acts 2. The terms have not changed: believe that Jesus is the Christ, repent, confess Him, and be baptized into His death for the remission of your sins, and rise a new creature in Christ (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:17). Christ promised to build His church, and He adds to it all who obey. Enter it as a new creation today. Come while we sing.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I will build | oikodomēsō | the church was still to come; it began at Pentecost | Used in this sermon to establish the biblical meaning of the term | the church was still to come; it began at Pentecost | Matt. 16:18 |
| Peter / rock | Petros / petra | a stone versus the bedrock | distinct words | distinct words; the church is built on the petra (Christ, and the confession of Him), not on Petros | — |
| Keys | kleis | authority to open; here, the privilege of first announcing the gospel terms of entrance into the kingdom | Used in this sermon to establish the biblical meaning of the term | authority to open; here, the privilege of first announcing the gospel terms of entrance into the kingdom | — |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| Church still future; began at Pentecost | I | Matt. 16:18; Mark 9:1; Acts 2:33-36 |
| Peter not the foundation | II | Matt. 16:16-18; Eph. 2:20 |
| Christ the foundation and Head | III | 1 Cor. 3:11; 10:4; Eph. 5:23 |
| Keys = authority to announce terms | IV | Matt. 16:19; Acts 2:38; 10 |
| Entered as a new creation | V | Mark 16:16; Rom. 6:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:15 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 24. Doctrinal audit: core-framework — church future at Matt. 16, established Pentecost (present kingdom); Christ (not Peter) the foundation; the keys = apostolic announcement of gospel terms (rejects papal interpretation); entrance by faith/repentance/baptism into Christ as a new creation. No correction. Style audit: heavy OCR cleanup ("Oihodomeo"→oikodomeō; "Ecclesia"→ekklēsia; "Kleis"; references normalized).
