The Confession and the Church
Notes
Transcript
Tonight we will be going verse by verse through Matthew 16:13-20. I understand that this isn’t everyones style of teaching. Some enjoy more topical teachings, with illustrations and stories. I’m not much of a preacher. I prefer to do more of a bible study and just share with you what i find. I hope it’s enjoyable for some of you, but more so i pray it’s fruitful and beneficial. There’s some interesting discussions around several of the verses in this passage. I really found a lot of information that shed light on its meaning in context.
Outline
Who do you say Christ is?
Who Christ truly is.
How Christ is revealed.
The Church and its foundation (and even a little something about the pope)
The Keys to the Kingdom.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Let’s focus on verses 13, and 14. But first, some background here. Jesus has very recently fed 4,000 with the 7 loaves and left by boat. He was asked for a sign from the Pharisees and He told them He would give no sign but the sign of Jonah; which is significant for a couple of reasons i believe. For one, Jesus has been slowly revealing His deity and authority to His disciples. And the sign of Jonah is clearly significant in His death, burial and resurrection over a course of 3 days. And a lot of what we will discuss tonight is rooted in the deity of Christ. Jesus revealing Himself to the disciples.
Another side note on the sign of Jonah, is Jonah was a prophet sent to call a gentile nation to repentance. Christ fed 5,000 men with the 5 fish and 2 loaves, but at the end of chapter 15, only 12 verses before tonight’s passage, Jesus fed 4,000 GENTILES with 7 loaves and a few small fish. How do we know this? A couple of things; first the parallel passage in Mark seems to set this feeding in the Decapolis, which is a Gentile region. Some other clues, the word used for baskets in the feeding of the 4,000 in the greek is a different word for basket than what was used in the feeding of the 5,000. The word in the feeding of the 5,000 is the word Kophinos, and is directly related to the Jewish provision basket carried in the day.
The word for the basket in the feeding of the 4,000 is the word Spyris, and is the same word that is used in the book of acts when Paul was let down in a basket in Damascus. More of a hamper, and not directly related to the Jews. So this really shows a distinction between the two feedings.
Lastly, we see that as Jesus was healing the crowd of 4,000 that He fed, they “Glorified the God of Israel”.
So why is this all important? The old covenant was between God and the nation of Israel. Jesus showed by feeding bread to the Jews first, and then the Gentiles, that He was the TRUE BREAD OF LIFE who would give sustenance to ALL who would believe. Jesus was bringing a message of repentance to the gentiles, just as Jonah, but Jesus unlike Jonah brought salvation. This would fit as well with the sign of Jonah.
So, after all of this, Jesus and His disciples withdrew away from crowds, away from the confrontation of the Pharisees and they come to Caesarea Philippi where Jesus brings this question to His disciples, and also revelation.
A quick application here. Are we taking time to withdraw with Jesus, so that He may question our hearts, our thoughts, our intentions, and to give us revelation? Or are we consumed with the busyness of life?
So here we are, in verse 13. Matthew 16:13
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Jesus wants to know what the Disciples are hearing about Jesus. What are the rumors? What do the people say about Him? Let me stop right there. Some may consider this a loose application, but i think it’s fitting. What are you LISTENING to when it comes to the topic of who is Jesus? I think we have to be very careful to what conversations, but especially what teachings we allow in our lives on the topic of the deity of Christ.
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
So this is what the people were saying. They seemingly left out that some (the Pharisees) thought He was a blasphemer who cast out Satan by the power of Satan. But predominantly these are the things that were being said about Jesus. What the people were saying about Jesus was significant. Let’s look at what they were saying.
SOME SAY JOHN THE BAPTIST. Why John the baptist? Well, John was a spiritual reformer.
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
John preached a tough message. Exposing sin and calling others to repentance. Separated himself from the world, living in the wilderness eating locust and wild honey. And this is a message very similar to what Jesus came preaching.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
But even more than just similar messages was the fact that John was killed and they believed Jesus, with His similarities, was John the Baptist risen from the dead.
1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,
2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
John the Baptist had called out Herod for marrying his brothers wife, who was actually both of their niece. Which also was not lawful. Herod feared John because the people regarded him as a prophet. Now it was never recorded that John had performed any miracles. And that’s probably why Herod said “He has been raised from the dead and THAT is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him”. This must have been a popular view as the disciples quoted this first.
Others say, Elijah. What is the significance of Elijah? There are 3 scriptures in the old testament that prophesied of a forerunner, one who comes before the Christ.
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
It is understood that Elijah would come before Messiah appears. Elijah was a prophet in the time of the Kings of Israel. In 2 Kings Chapter 2 Elijah was caught up in in a whirlwind to heaven. He never died. And so many thought Jesus was the forerunner for the true Messiah. Which is really interesting. Because Jesus makes it clear who came as Elijah.
10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”
11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.
12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
There’s a truth here we need to see that is directly related to why the people had incorrectly judged who Christ is. Look what Jesus says, “Elijah DOES COME and he WILL restore all things.” “But i tell you Elijah has ALREADY COME.
See the Jews had the coming of the messiah all wrong. They thought Messiah would come and take over with military might and set up His government and overthrow Rome. So what they saw in Jesus didn’t match up with their expectations. So at best, they considered Jesus and all of His miracles to be the forerunner for the Messiah. But Jesus shows their misunderstanding of a first and a second coming with His subtle comments about Elijah. He said Elijah HAS come and Elijah WILL COME. That word “will” in the greek is in the future tense. That means Elijah is still yet to come. This makes sense because John the baptizer himself denied it when the Pharisees asked if he WAS Elijah. Luke 1 makes it clear that John came in the SPIRIT AND THE POWER of Elijah. So just as Christ came, and will come again, John came in the spirit of Elijah, and it appears in the end times Elijah will appear; perhaps as one of the two witnesses that the book of Revelation speaks about.
So, i shared with you all of this to make this point. The people said Jesus was good. They thought He was a prophet, at minimum a man of God. But they didn’t see Jesus for all that He truly is. Application? Do we see Jesus for who He truly is? Do we worship the Jesus of the bible, or the Jesus of progressive society? Do we worship the Jesus who is full of grace and truth, yet still calls us to repentance? Or do we worship a Jesus who is there to answer our selfish prayers and condone our spiritual laziness? John Bevere in his book killing kryptonite would call it a knockoff Jesus.
So now that we’ve established who Jesus IS NOT. Let’s talk about who Jesus IS!
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
In contrast to what the world says about Jesus, we must firmly and confidently answer, “He is the Christ. The Son of the living God.” It’s so important we understand what being the Christ truly means, because just as the people in Jesus’ day; there are many religious groups who say that Jesus was good, but they don’t preach the truth of His deity. The Muslims say He was a prophet, and the mormons even say that He is the Son of God, but they don’t believe that He is ONE with the Father. But as for us, we must stand on the truth of scripture.
That word Christ is the greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah” and literally means “One who has been anointed”. It is also transliterated as God’s appointed one, or, the expected one, in the sense of one to whom everyone was looking for help and deliverance.
Jesus was the fulfilment of hundreds of old testament scriptures that prophesied of a Messiah who would deliver His people. Some scholars say there are north of 400 old testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, but conservatively we have at least 300 prophecies fulfilled in Christ. He fulfilled too many prophecies to speak on tonight, but just to name a few..
The virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) Called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1) The Root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) Son of David, The Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) Riding on the Foal of a Donkey (Zechariah 9:9) , The Resurrection (Psalm 16:10)
These are just a very few of the scriptures in the old testament that pointed towards the Messiah. But if we are to have a true confession of Christ, we must have an understanding of the greatness of what He accomplished.
We must understand that the first century Jew would have recognized the depths of confessing Jesus as the Christ. That it would be the fulfilment of a promise founded in Genesis. This is not just a name, or a title. This is the Wisdom of God, the plan of salvation from before time, here, on earth, in the flesh.
So what did the Messiah come to do? As we mentioned before, they thought He was here to set up His physical kingdom, to overthrow the enemy of Rome. What they didn’t understand; He was here to take care of our true enemy. SIN.
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
As you read through the old testament, Israel was constantly in bondage to other nations. God would send a deliverer, and shortly after they would find themselves right back in bondage. It would seem their biggest need for deliverance was from other people. The philistines, the midianites, the babylonians, bring it to the time of Jesus, now the Romans. The Jewish people had the wrong idea of what they truly needed free from. What they needed, what we all needed was deliverance from our sin.
The application here is, our greatest enemy is not the world, it’s not an unbeliever, and it’s not even the devil. It’s sin. And if you are in Christ, your sin has been paid for. It’s taken care of. But it is still your enemy. This flesh will hinder you in your spiritual growth, it can ruin relationships, ministry opportunities, families. There is always consequences for sin. Period.
But the good news is, that just as Jesus died and rose again, never to die again; believers now walk in newness of life, with the power to walk away from sin readily available to us. But we also, like Christ will be resurrected, making the statement “the Son of the LIVING GOD” extremely significant. Jesus said He is the God of the living, not the dead. We know we too shall live forever.
There’s so much more we could say about Jesus. He is truly God, truly man; He is ONE with the Father, (unlike what mormonism teaches) He is the third person of the Godhead, He is our high priest, the firstfruits of many brethren, He is our Savior, Our Lord, and our God. These are foundational truths, non negotiable. This is who Christ is.
With so many people who don’t truly have a revelation of Jesus; the question remains. How is Christ revealed?
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Jesus told Peter it wasn’t man who showed him this revelation. See, man had a whole lot to say on who Jesus was. But it was the FATHER who is in heaven that showed Peter the truth of Jesus Christ.
The immediate application here is that man cannot reveal the truth of Christ to you. It must come from God. There’s a lot of reading here, but it’s so important that we see this. Let’s go to
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
We must preach the Gospel, but we must understand it’s not in our words, it’s not in our eloquent speech. It is in the power of God. When one hears the Gospel, it is the power of the Holy Spirit at work, piercing our hearts, giving us revelation of the truth of the Gospel. This is why the intellectual cannot reason out the deity of Christ. No human mind can truly comprehend in the natural the person of Christ. We see this supported in Matthew 11:25-27
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
We have to understand in our personal lives and in our ministry that the truth of Christ is not something to be reasoned out with our mind. It is something we must have revealed to us. That is the importance of scripture. That is the importance of a life devoted to study and spiritual discipline. It also takes humility. So many fail to come to Christ because they can’t understand logically the salvation of Christ. But the word says it is foolishness to the natural man, to those who are perishing. We must be humble enough to recognize that we aren’t smart enough. It is the wisdom of God, and it takes spiritual discernment, which is only the gift of God.
Okay let’s move on to The Church and its foundation.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
I spent hours on these two verses alone. Looking up words in their original language. So many commentaries, so many positions on these two verses. And i think it’s lost on us the amount of controversy that has extended from these verses. Let’s start with v18.
In response to Peter saying, “You are the Christ”, Jesus says, “And I TELL YOU, YOU ARE PETER” and on this rock i will build my church. There are 3 main views you find (technically 4 views, but 2 stem from 1 view) for what is the rock on which Christ will build His church.
Jesus Himself - He of course is the chief cornerstone.
Peter as the supreme leader, the pontiff.
Peter as the leader of the disciples
The confession that Peter gave.
Really we will find that to all but one of these, the answer is yes.
Jesus says you are PETROS (which is translated Peter but means a piece of rock) and on this PETRA (bedrock) i will build my church.
We see here Jesus acknowledges Peter. So for us to say Peter is not in any way a foundational piece would be inaccurate. In fact, Jesus shows us that Peter is a PIECE of the foundation by His choice of words. Peter is a A PIECE OF ROCK, and on THE BEDROCK Christ will build His church. So we have to admit that Peter is in some way, shape or form the foundation. With that being said, let’s talk about the papacy.
The Roman Catholics take view number 2, that Peter was elected the Supreme Leader of the Church. The Pontiff. But clearly we see nothing infallible or supreme about Peter’s position. This is evidenced first, about 4 verses after Jesus declared Peter as a rock, Jesus called him satan, for he was urging Jesus to forgo the will of God just as satan did in the wilderness. We also see in the book of Galatians Paul rebukes Peter to his face PUBLICLY for being hypocritical, treating the Gentiles differently when the Jews who still felt as though they must keep the law came around. We also see Peter fade to the background in the book of Acts and the Apostle Paul take the forefront. Clearly there was no state of supremacy recognized by the other apostles.
The Catholic Church has passed down this oral tradition for years. (Interesting, the Sanhedrin and the Jews of Jesus day passed down oral traditions that they treated more highly than Gods Word according to Jesus..)
The Papacy has zero biblical grounds to stand on.
So Peter is part of the foundation, not supreme or infallible as in the perversion of the Roman Catholic church and the position of the Pope. But it’s clear he is foundational. But how?
We see Peter seemingly take control in the book of Acts, being the first to stand on the day of Pentecost, he preached and 3,000 were saved. He was also the first to bring the Gentiles into the Christian community. We see that Jesus used Peter as a foundation to build His church from the very beginning. And why was Peter chosen? It was his CONFESSION his REVELATION!
Let’s look at a couple verses to help further explain the foundation of the church.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Paul makes it clear right here. The household of God is built on THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND THE PROPHETS, WITH JESUS BEING THE CORNERSTONE.
It was Peter as a piece of rock, that helped make up the bedrock of the apostles, based on the confession of Christ which the church would be built upon. So the simplest terms we can put this in, is this.
The rock of the church: the people of God proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. That, today still, is what Christ is building His church upon. With Himself as the very cornerstone.
What is the Church? That word in the greek means ASSEMBLY. It is the gathering of GOD’’s PEOPLE. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Meaning death cannot stop the Messiah, nor will death, or any schemes of the enemy destroy the church of Christ. The Church will continue on into eternity with Him, forever. God’s people will continue into eternity with Him. Forever.
So what about the keys to the kingdom? What are these keys? The keys were a form of authority.
22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
This key is a key of authority. As a steward over the house of God. And we see later in Matthew 18:18, that this authority was passed on to all of the disciples, not just Peter. As Christians we have the ability to unlock the gates to the kingdom of heaven to all who will receive the gospel. We literally have the key to unlock eternal paradise to any soul that will listen. We can confidently say, by the authority of Christ, “If you repent of your sins and believe, your sins are forgiven and you will live forever with Him. But if you will not repent, it will be eternal damnation.”
This is further highlighted in John 20:23
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Not the ability to actually forgive sins. But Peter confidently preached and told all on the day of pentecost to repent and be baptized and washed clean from their sin (Opening the kingdom of heaven) he also told Simon the sorcerer his heart was clearly not right and he was in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity (closing the door)
Another quick note about the keys. It is recorded that scribes in that day would receive a key from their rabbis when they were approved to now teach their brethren, interpreting the law and the torah. It is fitting that Jesus told the disciples they were to now be scribes, teachers and interpreters of JESUS, which is the KEY to the entrance of heaven, believing the truth of the Gospel of Christ. It also works in context, as on the boat in the previous chapter, Jesus warned the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, meaning their teaching.
Application? We must rightly divide the word of truth, we must be willing to preach and teach the uncompromised Gospel, and have the compassion and the awareness to know that we HOLD THE KEYS to an eternal realm, to salvation and forgiveness, and an eternity in heaven. Are we so bold to unlock the Kingdom to the lost and hurting around us? Listen
WE ARE THE GATEKEEPERS! WE ARE AGENTS OF DIVINE REVELATION.
What about binding and loosing?
Looking back at the language of the days, this binding and loosing is very common with Rabbis, it means to PROHIBIT AND PERMIT. As the foundation of the church, Peter was to establish what was right and what must be done, and what was wrong and must not be done. Once again, Matthew 18 showed us that this authority was not just for Peter, but all of the disciples. Matthew 18 also puts it in the context of church discipline, furthering proving that as teachers and interpreters of Christ, the disciples were to show and teach what was permitted and not permitted in the Kingdom. The language of the verse is better interpreted in this way
“Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose shall have been loosed in heaven.”
This authority was not based on personal interpretation. But on Revelation. Of what was permitted by heavenly authority. For us, it’s based on God’s word. We cannot allow predators in the body, but in love, we also cannot allow compromise in the body. Just as Paul called out sin in the Corinthian church, we must be willing to encourage our brothers and sisters to live a holy life. Only allowing what’s in the word, and only forbidding what’s forbidden by the word.
20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Jesus tells them not to declare it before the time. Even Jesus death was in HIS timing, A safe application here is understanding that we must submit ourselves and our lives to God’s timing, not our own.
I hope we see what was revealed in this passage, and how it applies to us today. The deity of Christ must be received and proclaimed. We must preach the Gospel to build the church, unlocking heaven for others; we must protect the body and know what’s permitted and prohibited, practicing it among the assembly, and we must submit always to God’s timing.
