Catholics consider Peter to be the rock upon which the church is founded. I was curious about this, so I looked up every time the reference to rock was listed in the Old and New Testaments.
I wrote the following a couple of years ago:
[note: all emphases in Scriptures are the author's. Quotes are from the NIV for the sake of clarity in English but any of the standard translations can be used for references; the meanings are not different.]
Roman Catholics claim that they are the church begun by Christ and then empowered by Him to lead Christianity. This is based on Matthew 16:16-19 and parallel verses. Christ did not leave a church to govern or teach. He left the Apostles.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, with CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF as the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20)
Jesus Christ HIMSELF is the stone, or rock, of Matthew 16:18 and parallel verses. Please take a look at some of the Scriptures the disciples, and all Jews, knew:
Genesis 49:24 -- But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
bacause of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd the Rock of Israel,
because of your father's God, who helps you...
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 -- I will proclaim the name of the LORD,
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.
Deuteronomy 32:15 -- Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, he became heavy and sleek.
He abandoned the God who made him
and rejected the Rock his Savior.
Deuteronomy 32:18 -- You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Deuteronomy 32:30 -- How could one man chase a thousand,
or two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?
For their rock is not like our Rock,
even as our enemies concede.
Those verses are from the Torah -- the first five books of our Old Testament, which are referred to by Christ and all Jews as The Law. It is very clear in The Law who the Rock is.
But let's keep going:
1 Samuel 2:2 is part of Hannah's prayer --
There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
2 Samuel 22:32 -- For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?
2 Samuel 22:47 -- The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!
Psalm 18 repeats these sections of 2 Samuel 22
Psalm 19:14 -- May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 28:1 -- To you I call, O LORD my Rock;
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
Psalm 42:9 -- I say to God my Rock,
'Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
Psalm 62:1-2 -- My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my Rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Psalm 89:26 -- "He will call out to me, 'You are my Father,
my God, the Rock, my Savior.'"
Psalm 92:15 -- The LORD is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.
Psalm 95:1 -- Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Psalm 144:1 -- Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
Isaiah 8:13-14 --
The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,
and he will be a sanctuary;
but for both houses of Israel he will be
a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
Isaiah 17:10 -- You have forgotten God your Savior;
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Isaiah 26:4 -- Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 44:8 -- You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, THERE IS NO OTHER ROCK; I KNOW NOT ONE.
Consistently, in the Law, the Poetry, and the Prophets, "Rock" is used to describe God. It should be noted in the Isaiah verses quoted that not only is God the Rock at that time, but that He will be (8:14) and that he is the Rock eternal (26:4). This eliminates any other "Rock" in which to trust or believe in Jewish or Christian theology. Every single one of the disciples was Jewish and had been bar mitzvahed. They KNEW their Scriptures. When Jesus declared to them, "And on this Rock I will build my church" they would have known IMMEDIATELY what He was referring to. He was identifying Himself as God, in agreement with Peter's statement of faith.
The saddest thing to me, of all this, is that the Roman Catholic Church counts on the fact that their members DON'T know the Scriptures. I urge Catholics to read God's Word for themselves. There are three legs supporting Roman Catholicism: ignorance, money, and fear. Take any one of those away and the Roman Catholic church will totter and fall.
It is NOT a matter of "only Bible." It is a matter of not knowing the Bible, regardless of what is added to it. At least, all who consider themselves Christians should know that one book, so that if something contradicts it, the person will know. I am convinced that this is why the Catholic church does not encourage its members to read or know the Bible on their own; too much in Roman Catholicism contradicts God's Word.