Who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:13-20

a. You are the Christ (16:13-16)

b. You are the head of the Church (16:17-18)

c. You are the king of Heaven (16:19-20)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. You are the Christ (16:13-16)

i. Verse 13 starts with an interesting question. Jesus arrives to the district of Caesarea Philippi and He asks His disciples, “Who do people say that the son of Man is?” The question is a bit different from Mark 8:27-29 and Luke 9:18-20. Only Matthew uses the term here, the Son of Man. Then in verse 14, His disciples respond to His question and say that some say you are John the Baptist, Elijah, some others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

ii. The context is important because we just saw Jesus perform miracles where He fed 4000 and He healed 4000 people. So the people respond by saying that He is John the Baptist. It makes sense that people would say John the Baptist because of his preaching and popular influence.

iii. Due to the fact that Elijah and John the Baptist had many similarities, it then makes sense why people thought Jesus was Elijah. Both John and Elijah are prophetic figures so it makes sense that some people might have understood Jesus to be Elijah.

iv. Jeremiah is a little more difficult because Jeremiah was known as a prophet of doom and He encountered a lot of opposition from the people. There are a couple of instances in which Jesus preached judgment, Matthew 12:6 and Matthew 11:20-24, which might have caused people to think that He was Jeremiah.

v. So Jesus responds in verse 15, but who do you say that I am? Jesus now brings attention to His own disciples. You’ve seen all my miracles, you’ve seen things that are impossible. Who do you say that I am? You would think that Jesus understands that people might not know who He is, but His own disciples? How could there be any confusion?

vi. So in verse 16, Peter responds to Jesus’s question and says, You are the Christ, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus asks the whole group and yet, the one who gets up and responds to Jesus’s question is Peter. Peter acts here as the spokesman for the whole group. Peter responds by saying you are the Messiah. Messiah to most Jews in the first century Palestine would have understood this to be son of David, who would come and restore the nation to the glory and independence it had under King David. Messiah was a nationalistic term.  It was understood as the king who would come to return the glory that was theirs under King David’s rule.

vii. But not only that, you are the Son of the Living God. Peter might have been thinking of 2 Samuel 7:14 but most likely he was thinking of Psalm 2. In both of those passages, it speaks of God who says that God will be a father to him and he will be a son to me. Therefore, the term Son of God is a strong reminder here is that Jesus is linked with the God of the Old Testament. More importantly, Peter’s proclamation was to make clear the distinction between other gods who were not alive and true compared to the God of the Old Testament. Unlike the other gods, He is living and all powerful.

b. You are the head of the Church (16:17-18)

i. Verse 17, Jesus responds by calling Peter blessed. This is going back to the language in the Sermon on the Mount, and it helps us to see that although people did not know what to say in response to Jesus’s question, Peter was blessed and knew what to say. So Jesus says, Peter, you knew what to say because my Father in Heaven revealed this to you.

ii. Jesus makes it clear that no human knowledge could reveal this to you, as Jesus says flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. It was rather revealed to Peter by God Himself. But Jesus does not end there. Jesus says in verse 18, I also say to you, that you are Peter. Jesus is continuing to make a statement about this Peter. This Peter who was given this special revelation by the Father Himself, this Peter, is the rock on which Jesus says, I will build my church.

iii. I’ve always understood this phrase, “upon this rock” meaning that Christ is the rock. But as I studied it more, Jesus is making it clear that God is using Peter for a specific reason. Why do I think this? Because the next phrase, I will build my church shows that Christ is the builder. How is Jesus the builder?

iv. Well, Ephesians 2:20 is helpful here. We know from Ephesians 2:20-21 that the foundation is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Is it upon the people themselves? No, we can understand that it is speaking of their teaching. It is upon what they were given by Christ and now teaching to others. This is how the church was built.

v. Interestingly enough, during ancient times, when they did construction, the first thing that was laid was the cornerstone. The cornerstone was basically the first stone in the foundation of a building which was the reference point. It’s the stone where all the other stones would follow. So after the cornerstone was laid, they would lay the foundation and after the foundation, all the other stones.

vi. Well in the same way, Jesus is the cornerstone per Ephesians 2:21 and upon the cornerstone of Jesus’s teaching, the apostles and prophets taught to build the foundation. After that, all Christians are built upon Christ and the apostles. This seems like a better understanding that Peter is the foundation because it would be through his teaching, (Acts 2, book of 1&2 Peter) and the teaching of all the other apostles, that the church would be built.

vii. I think the best evidence for this view is in how we understand the word “and”. Some people have said that we would use the “and” as adversative so instead of translating it as “and”, translate it as “but”. There are some instances where this word “Kai” is translated as “but” (Luke 20:19, ESV).

viii. If we take this to translate as “but” we can see how this could be translated something opposite or outside of Peter, but if we translate it as “and” and read it straight, it would be odd to understand the rock as anyone else other than Peter.

ix. Well as you know, this has led to many misunderstandings about Peter. Roman Catholicism is built upon this idea that Peter is the first pope and that’s why the pope is who he is today. Well the problem with the Roman Catholic and the biblical understanding here is that, Jesus is not referring to Peter in office or title. Peter is not the rock because he is someone special, but rather, because of His confession that was given to him by God Himself. The other problem is, there’s no other evidence for Peter being the pope outside of this text.

x. The focus here is that Christ says, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Jesus is making it clear that nobody can build His church. He will build the church. He will add people to the body of Christ and they will follow Him. Jesus is making it clear who possesses the church. It is not owned by man, but owned by Christ. Christ is the architect and the one who adds to the church. But not only will Christ build it, He will protect it. This is His promise. No matter how discouraging it may get, the promise that God makes is, nothing and nobody can destroy the church.

xi. What is interesting here is that when Jesus says church, He is speaking of a Jewish assembly of the people of God. It is a national community of Israel.  But as we saw with the Syrophoenician woman, eventually the church would not just be the assembly of the community of Israel, but Gentiles as well.

c. You are the king of Heaven (16:19-20)

i. Jesus continues by stating that He will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter. Again, the point here is not that Peter will receive the keys of the kingdom, but rather, that God is the King of Heaven who gives the key to Peter. The fact that Jesus is the owner, makes it clear that, He alone can decide who will receive a key into His kingdom.

ii. The fact that Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of Heaven shows that it is an obvious symbol for admitting people through a door and it is used to show authority. Why was Peter given this gift? Because of his confession in verse 16. It was because of God’s choosing in revealing this truth to Peter and God’s choosing in providing the keys to him.

iii. Now it is interesting that Peter is receiving the key to the kingdom, but what we see when we read through the book of Acts is how Peter becomes the spokesperson and leader of the church. Acts 2 and 3 causes many people to enter into the kingdom through his preaching shows us exactly what Jesus meant by this. Acts 10 also records how Peter opened the way for the Gentile Cornelius to come in.

iv. Jesus then says in verse 19 that whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound and whatever you loose shall have been loosed in heaven. What does this mean? As one who has the authority and keys to the kingdom of heaven, it provides you the authority to determine what is forbidden or permitted. Again, Acts 10-11:18 shows Peter’s responsibility in determining Gentiles to be accepted as members into the church.

v. But what we understand is that it wasn’t just Peter’s authority, but rather, all the apostles. We see throughout the book of Acts God works through all the apostles to allow people to enter into the church through their preaching and teaching. It’s not that the apostles were worthy or smart enough to receive this task. No, it was God’s choosing that allowed these men to do what they did. This goes back to this simple question, “Who do you say that I am?”

vi. We might think that the disciples are immature and slow, but we see the apostles grow through the book of Acts and really understand as those who have been entrusted with the truth of the Gospel. Afterall, they were the men who spent time with Jesus and were taught directly by Him. They were chosen for a task, and now they were ready to take on that task.

vii. In the same way the disciples had to deal with that question, we must deal with this question. Who do you say that I am? This question is a question we must deal with. We have to consider that there is clear confusion about who Jesus is, despite the fact that He was performing miracles. We think, well if I lived during Jesus’s time, I would believe. But the reality is, even during Jesus’s time, there were many more people who didn’t believe. The truth is, it’s not about evidence. Belief and faith are a work of God. Just as God revealed to Peter who Jesus is, God must work in us to reveal to us who God is.

viii. We go through so many instances and moments in our lives where we sometimes are confused whether God is real, or God is with us. We question because hard things happen in life. But I want us to resolve this promise that God has given us. Jesus makes the promise that He will build His church and there’s nothing that the world can do to stop Him.

ix. It’s easy to miss the point thinking that this passage is about Peter, but it is around that simple question, who do you believe that I am? This passage is centered around this question. We, too, are blessed when we understand and answer the way Peter does.

3. CONCLUSION