Matthew 16:13 ¶ 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? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 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. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 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. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Peter makes the acknowledgment that Christ is the Son of God,
which is God walking in the flesh on the earth. Jesus also uses the phrase Son
of man. Jesus, the Messiah, is fully God and fully man. The Son of man
is a reference to His being the Messiah.
As I said before the phrase Son of man links Christ to
Daniel 7:13.
Daniel 7:13 I saw in the
night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man
came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they
brought him near before him.
It is the Messiah in His human form as fully man just as He is
fully God as the Son of God.
Jesus Christ is the only time that God has come to earth to live
in human flesh. This is the importance of the phrase the only begotten Son
of God.
John 1:18 No man hath seen
God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him.
John 3:18 He that believeth
on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Remember that Adam was the son of God, lowercase ‘s’.
Luke 3:38 Which was the son
of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the
son of God.
Remember that when a song says, “God’s one and only son.”
Alexander the Great had himself declared the son of God or the gods in Egypt
and Augustus Caesar, nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar signed his
documents Deus Fide, the son of god or a god. They were fakes. Jesus was the
only begotten of the Father in His humanity.
The son of a king came in the name of the king and had, in effect,
the authority of the king. What you did to the son you did to the king and how
you obeyed the son was how you obeyed his father.
As I said in my commentary on Genesis about the ancient world, “that
the son, due to his position in the family, represented the father and, in
fact, was regarded in authority and importance the same as the father if even
in fact he did not have the actual legal power of the father or if at that time
could dispose of his family’s goods as the father could, that is, until the
father’s death at which time the son took the father’s place.”
Christ’s church is built on this declaration, that He is the Son
of the living God. It is not built on Peter even though there is an interplay
between the meaning of Peter’s name both from the Greek (Petros) and Aramaic
(Cephas) words meaning rock. This is a clever play on words that the Holy
Spirit uses to refer to Peter’s confession of faith.
In any event, Christ is the Rock, not Peter. Read Deuteronomy,
chapter 32 for several instances of Rock, uppercase R.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the
Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and
without iniquity, just and right is he.
Then, see what Paul said;
1 Corinthians 10:4 And did
all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
In
Genesis, Lot
sat in the gate indicating that he had become a judge in Sodom to judge
disputes and help manage the city’s affairs. Sitting in the gate as a position
of judgment is defined in the Bible. It was a place to meet with the elders of
a city.
Deuteronomy 21:19
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out
unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
It was a place of
the king’s authority.
2Samuel 15:2
And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it
was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment,
then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy
servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
2Samuel 19:8
Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the
people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came
before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.
1Kings 22:10
And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his
throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate
of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
The mention of the
gate is equivalent to the deciding of judgment.
Amos 5:15 Hate
the evil, and love the good, and establish
judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious
unto the remnant of Joseph.
The gates of hell then is a reference to the judgments of
Hell not some huge set of physical doors.
Verse 19 is a problem for a lot of people but it would be clearer
if we accepted that we do not direct heaven or change God’s orders like some
kind of pagan Egyptian priest who would cajole or even threaten their gods.
What the apostles will do is ordained in Heaven.
Let’s start with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. In
Luke 11 knowledge is likened to a key.
Luke 11:52 Woe unto you,
lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in
yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the key to the kingdom of Heaven as
John Gill declared. The apostles and disciples of Christ were entrusted with
that key. That entry to the kingdom of Heaven is based on one’s acceptance of
the gospel, and belief in it. Peter is not the doorkeeper to Heaven, who
determines who gets in as in popular mythology. What is loosed is doctrine, not
sins. The context of John 20:23 shows that the apostles then have received the
Holy Ghost. The interpretation of the Scripture, the expression of the gospel,
of Christian doctrine is given to these people to spread the faith of Christ.
Then, Jesus charged them that they tell no one that He is the
Messiah. John Gill noted that Jesus’ ministry and miracles must be sufficient
proof that Jesus is the Messiah and that it would not be useful to provoke the
scribes and Pharisees or the Roman authorities before the appointed time.
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