If that is true, and if the origination of the church tells us about how the church continues to be built today, then this tells us something of great significance. If we want people to join in Peter’s great profession and to thus be admitted by Jesus into the saving company of His people, then we must not rely upon flesh and blood devices. We must not be tempted by the things that appeal to men and women today, and I especially think of the entertainment that so dominates our secular culture and sadly that of the church as well. We may make the most effective appeals to flesh and blood, to the things that are persuasive and enticing to the fleshly nature of mankind. But Jesus here assures us that by those means we will never bring about the saving faith first professed by Simon Peter. Instead, we must rely upon the one means God has provided, His Word. As we teach and proclaim and witness God’s Word, the Father in heaven reveals the truth about Jesus to the minds and hearts of men and brings them to true and saving faith.

Richard Phillips, I Will Build My Church, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals