Matthew 16:13-21
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. [1]
Matthew 16 is an important, critical chapter in this Gospel, what we called in the last study the climax or high point of the chapters in which Jesus has withdrawn from the masses and is specifically teaching his disciples. In this chapter we learn that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” that he came to suffer and die and on the third day rise again, and that those who would be his disciples must follow him by taking up their own crosses daily. Yet, many commentators have offered widely diverse interpretations of lesser points found in this chapter. Hundreds of books have been written to answer questions such as, Who is the rock on which Jesus says he will build his church? What are the gates of hell? What did Jesus promise Peter when he said he would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven?[2]
We will discuss some of those interpretations along the way this morning. This text tackles three important questions: (1) Who is Jesus? (2) How does someone come to the correct answer to that question? (3) Why does having the right answer matter? These questions are as relevant today as they were during Christ’s earthly ministry.
WHO IS JESUS?
In verses 13-16 Jesus raises the issue of his person.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
In verse 17, Jesus tells Peter that he is correct. Good answer, Peter. The disciples tell Jesus that the common people, the regular Jewish Joe and Jane, think Jesus is a prophet. The people conclude this because Jesus has acted much like an Old Testament prophet. He speaks God’s words, and he works God’s wonders. So he must be a prophet. That’s a natural enough conclusion. What is strange is that they seem to believe he is a resurrected or reincarnated prophet. They don’t believe he is a new prophet like the prophets of old. Rather, they believe he is an old prophet in new flesh.
Whatever their superstitious beliefs, they are partly correct and partly wrong. He is not the reappearance of the executed John the Baptist, or the past and expected Elijah, or the venerated Jeremiah. But they are partly correct. He is a prophet. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King. He holds all three offices simultaneously. He speaks for God as Prophet, intercedes on our behalf as Priest, and rules over all as King.
Matthew takes particular interest in Jesus as King. His gospel account starts and ends with it, and each chapter is about it. When Peter says of Jesus, “You are the Christ” (the King), Jesus agrees with his answer. Matthew finds it such an important answer, he sets it right smack dab in the middle of his gospel account. This is the centerpiece, and from here we will journey from this confession of kingship to the cross (27:22,23). Jesus is the Prophet. He is the Priest. And, most importantly, he is the Christ.
Like most people today, the people in our text have good thoughts about Jesus, just not necessarily the right thoughts. The common people saw Jesus as a prophet. To them he was like a lion. All prophets have a roar about them. Jesus roared against injustices. He turned over the tables of hypocrisy. To people today he is the opposite, a lamb. He is viewed as a meek social reformer, a gentle moralist, a wise teacher, or a sympathetic healer. He was all of those things, but not only that. He was a lamb but also a lion. He was a prophet but also the Christ, the lamb slain, the lion-like ruling King!
He is also “the Son of Man” (v. 13), Jesus’ favorite title for himself, and “the Son of the living God” (lit: The Son of God, the living One). He is the Son of God, the Son of Man, and the Christ. He is the expected anointed King of the House of David who would rule over God’s people (2 Samuel 7). He is the heavenly Son of Man, whose universal rule over all peoples, all nations, will be without end, an “everlasting dominion” (Daniel 7:14). And he is the Son of God, that Son in whom we must take refuge through faith or else subject ourselves to God’s eternal wrath (Psalm 2). He is the Son of Man, the Son of God, and the Christ. Those are three different melodies that resolve into one trumpet blast from the choir: “King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he shall reign forever and forever.”
So, who is Jesus? Who do you say that he is? Jesus still asks his church that question today. How we answer that question turns our lives, ministries, and destinies in one direction or another. Peter has much to learn about who Jesus is at the point he makes this confession. He didn’t fully understand what he was saying. As the next passage will show, he could not accept Jesus as the Christ crucified. That explains why Jesus charged the group (v. 20) not to tell the world who he is until they fully understood the man and the message. Peter certainly didn’t fully understand what he was saying, but we ought to say today with greater clarity and conviction, that Jesus is the Son of Man, the Christ, the Son of God, the living One.
GETTING THE ANSWER RIGHT
The first question is, “Who is Jesus?” The second question is, How do we come to the right answer to the first question? We find Jesus’ answer in verse 17, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Look how Jesus contrasts Simon Peter’s earthly father with his heavenly Father. Jesus calls Peter by his given name, Simon, and then he tacks on, “Bar-Jonah,” son of a man named Jonah. Jesus says, in effect, you didn’t come to understand who I am through your dad’s teaching about me. In fact, this is not a flesh-and-blood thing. No earthly father or mother or rabbi or teacher could have opened Peter’s heart to understand Christ’s identity. Only the Heavenly Father can work such a wonder. Peter’s revelation is a work of God. It is a blessing from God, as Jesus says.
Certainly from a human perspective, and certainly from Peter’s perspective, we recognize there is a mix of means. God did not simply ZAP Peter into the Kingdom. Peter saw Jesus do things, and heard him say things, and eventually the pieces of the messianic puzzle fit into place. But here Jesus emphasizes that ultimately, while there are many means in place and many involved in the process, there is only one gift-giver, and that is God.
Taking on the task to work out redemption is a greater thing than if you had taken upon yourself the task to create a world out of nothing by the word of your own power. In fact, Jonathan Edwards claimed that the work of God in the conversion of one soul is a more glorious work than the creation of the whole material world. The great confession, which always follows the great conversion, is a work of God from start to finish. Only God can breathe life into the hearts of the spiritually dead.
If you haven’t grasped that yet, you need to. You need to grasp that it was not your impeccable character or your bubbly personality or your great intellect or your sincere seeking or your open and affirming attitude or your niceness that made the difference. It was not anything inside you that opened the door to the Kingdom of heaven to see Jesus as Messiah. It was God. It was all his gracious and merciful work. He predestined, elected, and loved you before he ever spoke one particle of the universe into existence.
Being a human being for over 66 years, living with other human beings for 66 years, raising three children who are human beings, and pastoring human beings for over 20 years, I notice how all of us humans love to glory in ourselves, to take credit where it is not due. But the gospel will not let us.
It is always, and only, the Father who gives saving faith. As Jesus told his disciples in 13:11, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven.” Or as the beloved apostle wrote in John 1:11-14:
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.[3]
Who is Jesus? He is the Christ. How does one come to this correct answer? Only by an ultimate work of God the Father. God’s blessing is poured out upon the believer, as it was here upon Peter.
WHY IT MATTERS
We have answered questions one and two. Now we come to question 3: So what? Why does it all matter? What does it matter if I know or don’t know the answer to Jesus’ question? What does it matter if I know or don’t know who opens eyes to see, who gives ears to hear, who breathes life into dead hearts? Why does having the right answer to the question of who Jesus is matter? Verses 18 and 19 answer that question.
Before we see how those verses answer our question, we need to understand that verse 18 is the most debated verse in the Bible. It would serve us to understand something of this debate And to take a stab at interpreting this verse. The controversy centers on the identity of the phrase “this rock.” “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The Roman Catholic Church maintains that Peter’s person and office are described here. Peter is considered to be the first Pope and the founder of the perpetual office of the papacy. The Protestants and Eastern Orthodox agree that the Roman Catholics are wrong, and that Jesus is not referring to Peter himself but to Peter’s faith and confession. Up until the Council of Trent’s (1545-1563), not even the Church of Rome believed in Peter’s alleged papacy.
Today, interestingly, there is a growing trend among evangelicals to see Peter himself as “this rock.” Due to Jesus’ word play – “You are Petros and upon this petra…” – Peter is seen as the first among equals. That view claims Peter’s primacy is chronological, pointing not to some papal office but to the apostolic office. In other words, here Peter speaks as the symbolic head of the 12, upon whose testimony Jesus will build the church. Many conservative commentators, including several I use for this series, hold this view.
You should know that I am one of the minority who do not take that position. Scripture is written primarily about the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a basic rule of biblical interpretation which, I think, should first apply to any text we examine. So, who is “this rock” upon which the church is to be built? Jesus is the rock! Now, I may be wrong, but if I am my whole theological system doesn’t fall to the ground.
Whatever else we make of this verse, we know it has something to do with Peter and everything to do with Jesus, but it certainly has nothing to do with human hierarchy, Apostolic succession, or Petrine infallibility. You have to climb far above the line of scripture to get there. Such thinking is far from the mind of Christ and far from the whole melody of Matthew’s Gospel, a Gospel that exalts Jesus and does not exalt Peter.
The very last words we hear from Peter in Matthew’s Gospel are not part of his confession, but of his denial that he even knew Jesus (26:69-75). Compare Peter’s final statement in this gospel account, “I do not know the man,” (26:47) with Christ’s final statement, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (28:18). Who is the church built upon in the book of Matthew? Is it built upon Peter or upon Jesus? The answer is obvious.
So let’s look at three simple observations as to why I say Jesus is “this rock.” Most of us have heard of the obvious Petros/petra word play Jesus makes. But when you read this verse through in English another word jumps out at you, “this.” As in, “upon this rock.” Why did Jesus say the word “this”? It seems out of place.
In verses 17-19, Jesus uses the pronoun “you” (second-person singular) to refer to Peter: “blessed are you… I will give you the keys… whatever you bind… whatever you loose.” So why if Jesus has been using the word “you,” didn’t he say in verse 18, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon you, the rock, I will build my church”? If Jesus had said it that way you would still have the word play. But his meaning would have been a great deal more clear.
Second, the word “this” in place of the more common “you” helps focus our attention away from Peter (who is addressed as “you” throughout these three verses) and upon Jesus, the one speaking and the one promising to act. You will notice words Jesus speaks such as “my” and “I” and “my church” and “I tell you” and “I will build” and “I will give you.” The focus here, as is true of the entire passage, as is true of the entire Gospel, is not on Peter but on Jesus – who he is and what he does!
Third, there is the use of the words “rock” and “stone” in Matthew’s Gospel. The word “rock” is used only four times: once here, once of Jesus’ tomb, and twice in the Sermon on the Mount (referencing Christ’s teaching and his person). “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (7:24).
The word “rock” is used only 12 times in the entire New Testament, and it is NEVER used of any person other than Jesus. Consider, for example, 1 Corinthians 10:4, where Paul writes about the water from the rock in the wilderness, saying, “and the Rock was Christ.” Also, the word “stone,” when not referring to a literal stone, refers to Jesus. We will read in 21:42-44, “Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read the scriptures: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? …And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces.”
In Romans 9:33 Paul call calls Jesus (quoting Isaiah 28:16) “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Further, Peter (yes, Peter) preaches about Jesus at Pentecost:
…let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [4]
What did the earliest church do with the rock/stone language? They never applied it to Peter and always applied it to Christ. Read 1 Peter 2:4-8, or hear Paul from Ephesians 2:19-22:
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. [5]
Notice that Paul does not say that the household of God is built upon the foundation of Peter and the apostles. You can also hear that he is writing about Jesus, not Peter, as being the cornerstone, the most foundational stone of the entire building. It is in Christ, not Peter, the apostles, or the prophets, that Christians are “being built together.” Who is the rock of Scripture? Jesus!
Additionally, no one in the entire Bible is called “rock” except God, who is so often called “the rock” or “my rock.” It appears to be a divine name, which is why it is capitalized in most translations. So, with the above evidence in mind, I think it’s safe to say Jesus is “this rock” here in Matthew 16:18.
Now, after tackling some minor points of disagreement, the question remains what does all that have to do with our third question? Our third question was, “So what?” What does it matter what one makes of Jesus? Well, finally, here are two reasons that Jesus matters.
First, it matters for the unity of the entire professing Church. The Roman Catholic Church maintains there cannot be any full communion until every church and every Christian submits to their claim of the Apostolic authority of their Magisterium. In other words, there can be no unity if you do not agree that the Pope is a spiritual descendant of Saint Peter. But if churches are to come together in unity, if we are all to have a seat at the ecumenical table, we must start by acknowledging Jesus as the Christ. From there, we can build a scriptural doctrine of the church.
If you focus first on Christology and soteriology, you will then get the right ecclesiology. The church is comprised of everyone who has been baptized by, in, and with the Holy Spirit, those who with one heart and mind believe the same basic doctrines and strive to live out the gospel through trust and repentance. Outside of that church there is no salvation, and outside of Christ as the rock there is no foundation for unity.
Second, the “So what?” matters in regard to salvation and damnation. Look again at the second part of verse 18. Jesus (not Peter) says, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” He claims he will build an eternal, invincible assembly against which even the powers of the devil and death are completely defenseless. And to Peter he grants “the keys” to this heavenly Kingdom (16:19). What Peter must do, and those who follow after him (the same command is given in 18:18 to all the disciples), is to bind up or to set free by the preaching of the gospel.
What does that mean? What’s the mission? As we look at the Acts of the Apostles, we see them performing this very act. The keys are nothing else than the preaching of the pure, unfalsified Word of the gospel. Whoever believes this gospel will be free of their sins and be saved from the wrath of God. Whoever does not believe this will willingly be damned (Mark 16:16). Only the party poopers refuse to come to the Lamb’s Wedding Feast.
Just as the Old Testament priest declared authoritatively whose leprosy was cleansed, so the apostles were appointed to declare and pronounce authoritatively whose sins were forgiven. The imagery of keys that close and open, lock and unlock (Isaiah 22:22) referred to Christians’ making entrance to God’s Kingdom available or unavailable to people by their witness, preaching, and ministry.
Peter does not stand at the pearly gates jangling a giant ring of janitor’s keys. His duty was entirely earthly. Here on earth he was to preach the gospel – repentance, salvation, obedience to the commands of Christ, the cost of discipleship. Those who receive that message receive Christ Jesus, and the door to life swings wide open (10:40). Those who continue to refuse the gospel are judged because they already stand in judgment. The door remains locked and shut. Saint Peter standing at the pearly gates is a joke. But verse 19 is no joke. It is a matter of life and death, eternal life, and eternal death, to accept what Peter preached.
Just outside Caesarea Phillippi, the most Roman and pagan city in all of Israel, a city gleaming with temples to pagan demon gods, in this global village, this city of syncretism, this pantheon of worldwide religions, Jesus asks his disciples who he is. Peter responds that Christ, and Christ alone, is King – not Caesar, nor Baal, nor Pan, or any other so-called god of this world. Those false gods are defeated and powerless. They are dead. But Christ is the Christ, the Son of the living One, who has all authority in heaven and on earth. All allegiance is due him alone.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 16:13–20.
[2] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 303–304.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 1:11–14.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 4:10–12.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:19–22.
