The Church of Christ - Part 1 /// Sunday Devotional, 2/8/2020 - a podcast by Evg. K V Thomas

(Exodus 25:40, ESV) And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.///

(Matthew 16:13-18, ESV) 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. ///

Matt. 16:13 Caesarea Philippi. A district about 25 miles north of Galilee, at the base of Mount Hermon. This was different from the city of Caesarea built by Herod the Great on the Mediterranean coast. Matt. 16:16 the living God. An OT name for Jehovah (e.g., Deut. 5:26; Josh. 3:10; 1 Sam. 17:26; 36; 2 Kings 19:4; 16; Ps. 42:2; 84:2; Dan. 6:26; Hos. 1:10) as contrasted with the dead, dumb idols (Jer. 10:8; 18:15; 1 Cor. 12:2). Matt. 16:17 flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. Christ’s messianic claims had always been subtle allusions to OT prophecies, combined with miraculous works that substantiated those claims. Never before had he explicitly taught Peter and the apostles the fullness of his identity. God the Father had opened Peter’s eyes to the full significance of those claims and revealed to him who Jesus really was. In other words, God had opened Peter’s heart to this deeper knowledge of Christ by faith. Peter was not merely expressing an academic opinion about the identity of Christ; this was a confession of Peter’s personal faith, made possible by a divinely regenerated heart. Matt. 16:18 on this rock. The word for “Peter,” Petros, means a small stone (John 1:42). Jesus used a play on words here with petra, which means a foundation boulder (cf. Matt. 7:24–25). Since the NT makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation (Acts 4:11–12; 1 Cor. 3:11) and the head (Eph. 5:23) of the church, it is a mistake to think that here he is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church (Eph. 2:20), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter. So Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone. Peter himself explains the imagery in his first epistle: the church is built of “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5) who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Christ himself is the “cornerstone” (1 Pet. 2:6–7). church. Matthew is the only Gospel where this term is found (see also Matt. 18:17). Christ called it “my church,” emphasizing that he alone is its Architect, Builder, Owner, and Lord. The Greek word for church means “called out ones.” While God had since the beginning of redemptive history been gathering the redeemed by grace, the unique church he promised to build began at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, by whom the Lord baptized believers into his body—which is the church (see notes on Acts 2:1–4; 1 Cor. 12:12–13). the gates of hell. Hades is the place of punishment for the spirits of dead unbelievers. The point of entry for such is death. This, then, is a Jewish phrase referring to death. Even death, the ultimate weapon of Satan (cf. Heb. 2:14–15), has no power to stop the church. The blood of martyrs, in fact, has sped the growth of the church in size and spiritual power.

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