Sermon - St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles 2025 - Matthew 16:13-19

Saints Paul and Peter, Santa Maria Maggiore Altarpiece, 1427

The Rock of Bold Confession

1. Sts. Peter and Paul made bold confessions and were executed for it

2. Their bold confession is the gospel of free forgiveness for the sake of Christ Jesus

3. Let us confess boldly, and not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it

A blessed Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! On this day, June 29th, the church remembers our brothers in Christ and fathers in the faith, Peter and Paul, who were on this day 1,957 years ago, in the year of our Lord 68, martyred for their faith by Emperor Nero in Rome. 

Peter, perhaps the most prominent of the twelve apostles, had preached the faith to Jew and Gentile alike. We remember Peter especially during Holy Week, when Jesus told him that he would be sifted like wheat and deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows. Sadly, the Lord’s words were accurate, and Peter denied Christ. Yet, at the end of John’s Gospel, we see Peter being restored when Jesus asks him three times if he loves Him, and three times Peter replies in the affirmative. 

Afterward, Jesus told Peter: “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this “to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.” Indeed, Peter obeyed the word of the Lord, and he followed Jesus to death. Peter was arrested and sentenced to death in Rome by crucifixion. Peter pleaded that he might be crucified upside down, since he didn’t feel worthy enough to die in exactly the same way as his Lord Jesus.

Paul, unlike Peter, was not one of the twelve apostles. In fact, Paul had been a persecutor of Jesus’ disciples, having many arrested and killed for the faith. But the Lord saw fit to convert Paul to faith in Jesus, and the Lord put Paul to great use in making multiple missionary journeys throughout the mediterranean, preaching of Jesus and planting numerous churches. 

At the end of the book of Acts Paul is under house arrest in Rome. But according to tradition he was released from that imprisonment and permitted to go on to Spain in order to preach the Gospel in that place. Shortly later however, Roman Emperor Nero put Paul back in prison and sentenced him to death. Because Paul was a Roman citizen he wasn’t crucified, since that death was too violent for Romans. So he was given a swift and merciful death by beheading. Yet, Paul’s confession to Timothy remains true: “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Nero may have removed Paul’s head, but what is that, for the Lord Jesus Christ shall give Paul a new head and place upon it a crown.

Both Saints Peter and Paul were executed for confessing the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaiming the Word of the Lord. It’s one thing to privately believe the Gospel in your heart, but that privately held faith must not remain hidden inside of us, but it must be confessed. “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Or as Jesus says more sternly: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Thus, Jesus knew the hearts of His apostles, He knew their private convictions and beliefs. But He asked: “Who do you say that I am?” He wanted them to confess with their tongues their saving faith. So the apostle Peter opened his mouth and confessed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This faith which Peter confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart didn’t come from his own mind, “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Peter believed in the Lord Jesus Christ not because he had seen the proof with his eyes, but because the Heavenly Father revealed this to him.

This confession remained Peter’s and became Paul’s and they continued to confess this faith before all. Years later at the Jerusalem Council, which we heard about in the reading from Acts, Peter and Paul needed to confess the truth of the Gospel before false brothers who were leading people astray. Some were making the argument that salvation was through obedience to the law of Moses. So Peter and Paul confessed: “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing, but the gift of God, so that no one may boast. The content of their confession is adherence to the truth of God’s word and to the clarity of the free gospel of Jesus Christ.

When they were faced with others who claimed to be part of the church, and yet were “false brothers secretly brought in - who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery,” they did not give in! “To them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” Peter and Paul, like our Lord Jesus, were no respecter of persons, regardless of how influential the person was, since God makes no distinction. When it comes to the truth of the word of God, we must be clear and neither add to it nor take away from it, but confess only what God has given us to confess.

Peter and Paul faced persecution not only from false Christians, but even from the Roman Emperor himself. They followed the Lord Jesus Christ, they denied themselves and took up their crosses, quite literally, and lost their lives for the sake of Christ in order to find their life in God’s eternal kingdom. Their bold confession of the faith is what we remember them for today, and by the grace of God, we pray that we too may confess Jesus Christ no matter the cost.

Jesus promises Peter and the Apostles: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” I know the Roman Catholics claim that this somehow means that Jesus is building the church on Peter, the person, and therefore Peter and later popes are the foundation of the church. But that is not the historic position of Christianity, nor is that the obvious meaning of Jesus’ words. Jesus is not building the church on Peter the human, but He builds the church on the confession of faith which Peter had just made.

In a sense, the church is built upon Peter, because Peter was a confessor of the faith. But the church is built upon all faithful confessors! You are built upon Peter and Paul and all of the apostles, and all of the Christians who have come before you. “You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

So, built upon the solid rock of Christ’s church, the Lord further promises that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The simplest way to understand this phrase is that the demonic soldiers streaming out of the gates of hell will not conquer the solid rock of Christ’s church. Though they crucify Jesus and Peter, behead Paul, and execute countless other Christians, they will not win the victory. 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the lessons for us here are emboldening and encouraging. Firstly, your privately held faith cannot remain hidden in your heart, but it must be spoken with your lips. This is one of the reasons we attend the public divine service, because we are coming together as one body to confess our faith. We stand here and confess the creed with our lips, as one body, and we do so publicly. But we must not only confess our faith within these walls, but we must continue speaking outside of this place, for the good of our own souls and for the good of our neighbors. Although it may make you nervous to speak the truth of the Bible before others, it’s necessary.

Secondly, speaking the true faith does not just mean speaking it to those who don’t know it, but it also means speaking the truth to those who claim Christianity but do not live as Christians in word or deed. The culture we live in today generally has a negative view towards Christianity, and so many who claim to be Christians have embraced worldly and godless lifestyles. We must not be enticed by these people, but rather we must continue to confess our faith even if it costs us. “To them we [must] not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”

Thirdly, I know there are earthly consequences for speaking the truth of the Gospel. Maybe you don’t get beheaded today in America, but that day may come. Already if you speak up you may cause tension in your family or lose a friend, you may get passed over for promotions or conveniently let go. Peter and Paul knew this well and yet they continued to confess the faith. Why? Because not even the gates of hell shall prevail against the church. 

Be unafraid, my friends, and speak the truth. Boldly proclaim that salvation is in Christ Jesus alone. Proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. Confess that there is no salvation outside of Christ, and that those who live in opposition to His Word will not be saved. Do not yield even an inch to false teaching. And the Lord Jesus Christ shall in the end rescue you from death and bring you into His kingdom of everlasting glory. Be faithful unto death and He shall give you the crown of glory. No matter how loud the demons growl or fierce their bite, the Lord Jesus has conquered the power of sin, death, and hell by rising from the grave. The victory belongs with Christ, and the victory is yours through Him.