A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

NN. Christ’s Prediction Of The Church

(Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21)

I. Introduction

A. Jesus had offered Himself as God’s promised Messiah to Israel, but the nation as a whole had rejected Him.

B. Thus, He asked His disciples to decide His identity based upon the evidence He had given to the nation Israel.

C. The disciples’ response led to Christ’s prediction of the Church, a prediction that provides invaluable insight on the spiritual dynamics of the Church for those of us who live in the dispensation of the Church (as follows):

II. Christ’s Prediction Of The Church, Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21.

A. Jesus’ Matthew 16:18 prediction of building His Church was intentionally given in the setting of former intense pagan idolatry: He had led His disciples far north to Caesarea Philippi where exist the remains of many pagan temples and altars (Matt. 16:13a; G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel Accord. to Matthew, 1929, p. 208).

B. Christ was in the process of withdrawing His offer of His Kingdom to that generation of Israel due to Israel’s unbelief in Him, so He asked His disciples how the unbelieving people in Israel viewed Him, Matthew 16:13b-14. The disciples replied that the people thought He was Elijah of old, or Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets, all compliments, but beliefs that fell far short of the true identity of the Messiah and Incarnate God.

C. In contrast to all of Israel’s current spiritual darkness and the paganism of Caesarea Philippi’s past, Jesus asked His disciples Who they said that He was, Matthew 16:15.

D. Peter gave the sterling, correct answer that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Matthew 16:16.

E. Christ answered by clarifying that Peter was blessed of God because he had not arrived at this conviction by his own human insight, but by the gracious revelation of God the Father in heaven to Peter, Matthew 16:17.

F. This statement by Jesus reveals how we are to interpret Christ’s prediction of His building of the Church and of the ministry God would give to Peter in the verses that immediately follow in Matthew 16:18-19:

1. Jesus referred to Peter’s name, the Greek work for it being Petros and meaning “a detached but large fragment” where the “Rock” on which Jesus said He would build His Church renders the Greek word petra, “a massive rock, ledge, cliff” (J. H. Thayer, Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1963, p. 507), Matt. 16:18.

2. The Roman Catholic Church claims that Jesus here predicted that He would build His Church on Peter, that He was appointing Peter as the first pope and establishing the papacy and the Roman Catholic hierarchy (Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, 1978, p. 104-105). However, that interpretation counter’s Christ’s point in Matthew 16:17 that Peter’s confession came as a gracious revelation of God to Peter, not due to any merit in Peter that would lead to his being rewarded by founding a papacy!

3. Rather, the “Rock” upon which Christ would build His Church was Himself, the Messiah and Son of God about Whom Peter has just made his great confession (cf. 1 Cor. 3:11; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 57).

4. Christ’s reference to the “gates of hades” (NIV) in typical Hebrew thought referred to physical death, so Christ was predicting that His own death would not hinder His work of building His Church since He would rise from the dead following His atoning death for sin, Matthew 16:18b; Ibid.

5. Christ’s then giving Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven to bind or to loose on earth in Matthew 16:19 is clarified by the Greek text as follows: The phrases “shall be bound . . . shall be loosed” literally translated are “shall have been bound . . . shall have been loosed” since “(h)eaven, not the apostles, initiates all binding and loosing, while the apostles announce these things” (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Matt. 16:19). Just as God the Father had given Peter the view that he voiced in his confession of Christ in Matthew 16:16 (cf. Matthew 16:17), so Peter and the other apostles would be given words from God to bind or loose what God in heaven had already bound or loosed!

6. Thus, just as God had graciously given Peter the insight he voiced in Matthew 16:17 regarding Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, God would use Peter in the coming Church era by His grace. Peter’s confession, Christ’s building of His Church on Himself, and Peter and the other apostles’ ministries in the Church would all be the workmanship of God to the glory of God, not man!

Lesson: Just as the Father had revealed to Peter the truth he confessed of Jesus being the Messiah and Son of God amid the backdrop of Israel’s unbelief and the former paganism of Caesarea Philippi, Christ and not man would graciously build His Church regardless of His death and give the apostles the ministry of voicing God’s truths.

Application: May we realize that the Church is entirely a work of God’s grace and so minister in it by God’s grace!