The Evangelical Covenant Church interprets Matthew 16:18 within a broadly evangelical Protestant framework. The 'rock' refers to Peter's confession that Jesus is 'the Messiah, the Son of the living God.' Peter is affirmed as a foundational apostle, but the ECC does not accept the Roman Catholic doctrine of papal primacy or papal infallibility.

The ECC's emphasis on the confession of faith rather than on Peter's person reflects its Protestant heritage. The confession—not Peter himself—is the foundation upon which Christ builds his church. This interpretation highlights the centrality of personal faith in Christ and the community's role in bearing witness to that faith.

The keys of the kingdom are understood as authority given to the apostolic office and to the church as a whole. The ECC affirms apostolic succession in a broad sense (the church's continuity with apostolic faith) but not in the medieval Catholic or Orthodox sense. Local church authority is significant, but no single person or institution claims universal ecclesiastical authority.