Confession of Peter

[10][11] The setting is near Caesarea Philippi, northeast of the Sea of Galilee and within the Tetrarchy of Philip, and is at the beginning of the final journey to Jerusalem which ends in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.

"[2] The disciples provide a variety of the common hypotheses at the time, ranging from John the Baptist to Elijah, Jeremiah,[12] or one of the (other) prophets.

[2] The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, following Jewish medieval rabbi David Kimhi and theologican John Lightfoot, suggests that Jeremiah "is mentioned as a representative of the Prophets, because in the Jewish Canon the book of Jeremiah came first of the Prophets, following the books of Kings.

This begins with: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.

[5] In this assertion, by endorsing both titles as divine revelation, Jesus unequivocally declares himself to be both Christ and the Son of God.

[16] In Matthew 16:18 Jesus then continues: 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.

A distinction that petros meant a stone and petra a solid piece of rocky ground is sometimes suggested, but Greek use in antiquity seems to have been less precise.

[17] The word "church" (ekklesia in Greek), as used here, appears in the Gospels only once more, in Matthew 18:17, and refers to the community of believers at the time.

[citation needed] All three of the Synoptic Gospels end the account with Jesus telling the disciples not to reveal that he was the Messiah to anyone—an instance of the motif of the Messianic Secret.

[21] Some Protestants believe that the verse states that Peter was the foundation stone of the Church, but do not accept that it applies to the continuous succession of popes, as the Bishops of Rome.