Looking More at Matt. 16:18-20

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2022 9:29 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus: Looking More at Matt. 16:18-20

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Matthew 16:18-20

 

            Message of the verses:  “18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. 19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.”

 

            As we continue our journey through Matt. 16:18-20 we find that Jesus points up at least seven features and characteristics of the church that He builds.  First He speaks of its foundation, certainty, its intimacy, its identity and continuity, its invincibility, its authority, and its spirituality. 

 

            And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church (18a). 

 

            John MacArthur writes “For more than fifteen hundred years the Roman Catholic church has maintained that this passage teaches the church was built on the person of Peter, who became the first pope and bishop of Rome and from whom the Catholic papacy has since descended.  Because of this supposed divinely ordained apostolic succession, the pope is considered to be the supreme and authoritative representative of Christ on earth.  When a pope speaks ex cathedra, that is, in his official capacity as head of the church, he is said to speak with divine authority equal to that of God in Scripture.

            “Such an interpretation, however, is presumptuous and unbiblical, because the rest of the New Testament makes abundantly clear that Christ alone is the foundation and only head of His church.

            “Peter is from petros, a masculine form of the Greek word for small stone, whereas rock is from petra, a different form of the same basic word, referring to a rocky mountain or peak.  Perhaps the most popular interpretation is therefore that Jesus was comparing Peter, a small stone, to the great mountainous rock on which He would build His church.  The antecedent of rock is taken to be Peter’s divinely inspired confession of Jesus as ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (vv. 16-17).

            “That interpretation is faithful to the Greek text and has much to commend it, but it seems more likely that, in light of other New Testament passages, that was not Jesus’ point.  In his letter to Ephesus Paul says that God’s household is ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone’ (Eph. 2:20).  In all four gospel accounts Peter is clearly the leading apostle, and he remains so through Acts 10.  He was most often the Twelve’s spokesman during Jesus’ earthly ministry (see, e. g., Matt. 15:15; 19:27; John 6:68), and he was the chief preacher, leader, and worker of miracles in the early years of the church (see, e. g., Acts 1:15-22; 2:14-40; 3:4-6, 12-26; 5:3-10, 15, 29).

            “It therefore seems that in the present passage Jesus addressed Peter as representative of the Twelve.  In light of that interpretation, the use of the two different forms of the Greek for rock would be explained by the masculine petros being used of Peter as an individual man and petra being used of him as the representative of the larger group.

            “It was not on the apostles themselves, much less on Peter as an individual that Christ built His church, but on the apostles as He uniquely appointed, endowed, and inspired teachers of the gospel.  The early church did not give homage to the apostles as persons, or to their office or titles, but to their doctrine, ‘continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching’ (Acts 2:42).  When the Jews outside the Temple were astonished at the healing of the crippled man, Peter quickly warned them not to credit him with the miracle, saying, ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?’ (Acts 3:12).  Although it was he alone who commanded the man to walk (v-6), Peter replied to the crowd in John’s behalf as well as his own.”

 

            There is more of MacArthur’s commentary that I want to quote on this difficult passage, but I will do it, Lord willing, on our next SD.

9/8/2022 10:16 AM