Matthew 16:18 — "Upon This Rock"

Biblical Unitarians accept the traditional Protestant reading that 'rock' (petra) refers to Peter's confession of faith in Jesus, not to Peter as a person invested with perpetual ecclesiastical authority. However, they reject both Catholic claims that this verse establishes papal primacy and the Trinitarian reading embedded in Matthew 16:16 ('You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God'). In their interpretation, the confession 'the Messiah, the Son of the living God' means that Jesus is God's appointed human Messiah, not that Jesus is co-eternal and co-equal God.

Biblical Unitarians emphasize that the church is built on faith in Jesus as Messiah and God's Son, and that Peter's leadership was functional and local, not absolute or perpetual. The 'keys of the kingdom' represent the authority to teach and preach the gospel, not infallible doctrinal authority. This view aligns with the broader New Testament pattern in which no single individual claims absolute jurisdictional power, and all authority is understood as delegated from the risen Jesus.