WE ARE STUDYING THE FOUR GOSPELS MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN TO KNOW THE LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.
 TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM.

The Gospel According To Matthew

INTRODUCTION

There is no reason to doubt that this Gospel was written by Matthew. It presents the narrative of our Lord’s life from the standpoint of the pious Jew; and the evident design of the writer is to show how completely and continually our Lord fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures. No other Gospel contains so many quotations from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. In it the predominant aspect of our Lord’s character and work is the Messianic. He was great David’s Greater Son. The keyword of the book is “Behold your King.” As King, His line is traced through the kingly race. As King, He proclaims the kingdom of heaven. As King, He promulgates the laws, describes the subjects, and announces the rewards of the Kingdom. When describing His own action at the last, when He sits on His throne and all nations are gathered before Him, He speaks of Himself as King, Mat_25:40. It was on His avowal of kingship that He was condemned to die. From every viewpoint this Gospel is one of the most precious documents in the world.
By F.B.Meyer
{e-Sword Note: The following material was presented at the end of Matthew in the printed edition}

Find the outline of our Bible study on The Gospel of Matthew at the link below.

Outline Of The Gospel According To Matthew

The King of the House of David

III. FACING REJECTION, Matthew 16:13-25:46

1. Peter’s Confession-Rejection Announced, Mat_16:13-28

NB !Note:
The Judean ministry of Jesus, which lasted almost one year, is not discussed by Matthew. This one year period is covered in John 1;1 to the end of John 4: and fits between Mat_4:11 and Mat_4:12. Matthew takes us from the temptation directly to the Galilean ministry.

Today we will look at the following question in the outline starting with Matthew 16:13-20

57. What is the rock on which Christ builds His Church?

Matthew 16:13-20

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,

Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them,

But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him,

Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,

The answer for 57. What is the rock on which Christ builds His Church?

Note.
Jesus referring to Himself the pet’-ra
Feminine of the same as G4074; a (mass of) rock (literally or figuratively): – rock.
Jesus is the Rock the Church is built on.

and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

Comments by F.B.Meyer
Matthew 16:13-20

The answer for 57. What is the rock on which Christ builds His Church?As presented by F.B.Meyer.

“THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD”

The shadows of Calvary were beginning to gather and the Lord desired to prepare His friends for all that it stood for. His questions elicited Peter’s magnificent confession.

Notice the date of the Church. It was still future when He spoke. I will build. The materials may have been prepared beforehand, but the actual building began at our Lord’s resurrection. He is the Architect. Through the centuries He has been building, and if we are in His Church today, we are there because He excavated us out of the first Adam, and placed us in the very position we now occupy. The foundations of that Church were not in the Apostle (Petros) but in his confession (petra)of the divine sonship of Jesus. See Joh_5:18. Its impregnability is attested, for the Lord Himself defends it. See Rev_2:1. The gates of Hell, that is, the unseen world, include all the principalities and powers that are allied against God’s people. They cannot prevail, Eph_6:12.

Believer’s Bible commentary
Book by William MacDonald

Matthew 16:13-20

X. THE KING PREPARES HIS DISCIPLES (16:13-17:27)

A. Peter’s Great Confession (16:13-20)

16:13, 14 Caesarea Philippi was about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee and five miles east of the Jordan. When Jesus came to the surrounding villages (Mar_8:27), an incident generally recognized as the apex of His teaching ministry occurred. Up to this time He had been leading His disciples to a true apprehension of His Person. Having succeeded in this, He now turns His face resolutely to go to the cross.
He began by asking His disciples what men were saying as to His identity. The replies ran the gamut from John the Baptist, to Elijah, to Jeremiah, to one of the other prophets. To the average person He was one among many. Good but not the Best. Great but not the Greatest. A prophet but not the Prophet. This view would never do. It condemned Him with faint praise. If He were only another man He was a fraud because He claimed to be equal with God the Father.
16:15, 16 So He asked the disciples who they believed He was. This brought from Simon Peter the historic confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In other words, He was Israel’s Messiah and God the Son.
16:17, 18 Our Lord pronounced a blessing on Simon, son of Jonah. The fisherman had not arrived at this concept of the Lord Jesus through intellect or native wisdom; it had been supernaturally revealed to him by God the Father. But the Son had something important to say to Peter also. So Jesus added, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” We all know that more controversy has swirled around this verse than almost any other verse in the Gospel. The question is, “Who or what is the rock?” Part of the problem arises from the fact that the Greek words for Peter and for rock are similar, but the meanings are different. The first, petros, means a stone or loose rock; the second, petra, means rock, such as a rocky ledge. So what Jesus really said was “ … you are Peter (stone), and on this rock I will build My church.” He did not say He would build His church on a stone but on a rock.
If Peter is not the rock, then what is? If we stick to the context, the obvious answer is that the rock is Peter’s confession that Christ is the Son of the living God, the truth on which the church is founded. Eph_2:20 teaches that the church is built on Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. Its statement that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets refers not to them, but to the foundation laid in their teachings concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is spoken of as a Rock in 1Co_10:4. In this connection, Morgan gives a helpful reminder:
Remember, He was talking to Jews. If we trace the figurative use of the word rock through Hebrew Scriptures, we find that it is never used symbolically of man, but always of God. So here at Caesarea Philippi, it is not upon Peter that the Church is built. Jesus did not trifle with figures of speech. He took up their old Hebrew illustration—rock, always the symbol of Deity—and said, “Upon God Himself —Christ, the Son of the living God—I will build my church.”
Peter never spoke of himself as the foundation of the church. Twice he referred to Christ as a Stone (Act_4:11-12; 1Pe_2:4-8), but then the figure is different; the stone is the head of the corner, not the foundation.
“I will build My church.” Here we have the first mention of the church in the Bible. It did not exist in the OT. The church, still future when Jesus spoke these words, was formed on the Day of Pentecost and is composed of all true believers in Christ, both Jew and Gentile. A distinct society known as the body and bride of Christ, it has a unique heavenly calling and destiny.
We would scarcely expect the church to be introduced in Matthew’s Gospel where Israel and the kingdom are the prominent themes. However, consequent to Israel’s rejection of Christ, a parenthetical period—the church age—follows and will continue to the Rapture.
“The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” may be understood in two ways. First the gates of Hell are pictured in an unsuccessful offensive against the church—the church will survive all attacks upon it. Or the church itself may be pictured as taking the offensive and coming off the victor. In either case, the powers of death will be defeated by the translation of living believers and by the resurrection of the dead in Christ.
16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” does not mean that Peter was given authority to admit men to heaven. This has to do with the kingdom of heaven on earth—the sphere containing all who profess allegiance to the King, all who claim to be Christians. Keys speak of access or entrance. The keys which open the door to the sphere of profession are suggested in the Great Commission (Mat_28:19)—discipling, baptizing, and teaching. (Baptism is not necessary for salvation but is the initiatory rite by which men publicly profess allegiance to the King.) Peter first used the keys on the Day of Pentecost. They were not given to him exclusively, but as a representative of all the disciples. (See Mat_18:18 where the same promise is given to them all.)
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This and a companion passage in Joh_20:23 are sometimes used to teach that Peter and his supposed successors were given the authority to forgive sins. We know that this cannot be so; only God can forgive sins.
There are two ways of understanding the verse. First, it may mean that the apostles had power to bind and to loose that we do not have today. For example, Peter bound their sins on Ananias and Sapphira so that they were punished with instant death (Act_5:1-10), while Paul loosed the disciplined man in Corinth from the consequences of his sin because the man had repented (2Co_2:10).
Or the verse may mean that whatever the apostles bound or loosed on earth must have already been bound or loosed in heaven (see NKJV margin). Thus Ryrie says, “Heaven, not the apostles, initiates all binding and loosing, while the apostles announce these things.”
The only way in which the verse is true today is in a declarative sense. When a sinner truly repents of his sins and receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, a Christian can declare that person’s sins to be forgiven. When a sinner rejects the Savior, a Christian worker can declare his sins to be retained. William Kelly writes, “Whenever the Church acts in the name of the Lord and really does His will, the stamp of God is upon their deeds.”
16:20 Again we find the Lord Jesus commanding His disciples to tell no one that He was the Messiah. Because of Israel’s unbelief, no good could come from such a disclosure. And positive harm might come from a popular movement to crown Him King; such an ill-timed move would be ruthlessly crushed by the Romans.
Stewart, who calls this section the turning point of Jesus’ ministry, writes:
The day at Caesarea Philippi marks the watershed of the Gospels. From this point onward the streams begin to flow in another direction. The current of popularity which seemed likely in the earlier days of Jesus’ ministry to carry him to a throne has now been left behind. The tide sets toward the Cross. … At Caesarea, Jesus stood, as it were on a dividing line. It was like a hilltop from which he could see behind him all the road he had traveled and in front of him the dark, forbidding way awaiting him. One look he cast back to where the afterglow of happy days still lingered and then faced round and marched forward toward the shadows. His course was now set to Calvary.

Listen to Pastor Jeff Arthur sermons at
http://www.ghtg.org/

Why I am not a Protestant Pt 1-7

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