Down an Unfamiliar Road

ARE YOU A FAN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

While in England to speak at a National Youth Convention, I went a few days early and had the privilege of visiting the first Methodist Church ever built in England, the John Wesley Chapel in Bristol. I stood inside looking up at the high pulpit where he preached, and upstairs I saw the table and chair where Adam Clarke wrote his commentary. I felt like I was walking where saint’s had trod. This was the place the Wesleyan Revival flame was ignited. It was also here where Wesley espoused his views on the doctrine of sanctification which was such a strong belief in Methodism. I thought how blest and fortunate England was to have such a historical vestige that honored God and His Word.

Two days later when I boarded a train on my way to Birmingham, England, I ended up sitting next to a middle-aged lady. Some young people boarded the train as well. Their loudness, crass talk, and discourteous manners ended up giving us a reason to begin a conversation. She bemoaned the fact that ethics and morals were at a new low in Britain. She detected by my accent that I was not British and politely asked my reason for visiting England. I told her about Wesley’s Chapel and that I was a minister.

This prompted her to begin telling me how the people in the United Kingdom felt about their churches where the flames of revival and reformation once burned brightly. She was not hesitant in letting me know how people were reacting to the deteriorating condition of their church and among their ministers. She said pastors came across as cold and seeking only earthly possessions; that their sermons were on everything except the Bible.

When I shared with her that I was a Pentecostal, that really got her attention. She told me some of the wild things she had heard about Pentecostals. While I confessed that there were some who might fit that description, I also let her know that in most cases we were part of a long line of movements in succession to what John Wesley had preached right there in Bristol. Before we parted company in Birmingham, as I switched trains on my way to the convention in Leicester, I encouraged her to find a good Spirit filled church and let the Word of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit kindle a fire within her. She told me she would.

That was some 47 years ago. Never did I think that one day I would start hearing the same things she said about her dying church in England being said about some Pentecostal churches in America. The apostle Paul told young Timothy to fan the flame that empowered the gifts God bestowed on him through the Holy Spirit. Yes, we have been given the oil of the Spirit; yes we are the vessels holding that oil by which we are the light of the world; yes the Spirit of God ignited the flame when He filled us, but we must continue to fan the flame.

Therefore, it is our responsibility to see to it that our churches are still places where people can hear the rush as of a mighty wind that fills the house where they are sitting. If we are not on fire, let’s not blame God; let’s not impugn the Holy Spirit for not moving. God forbid that someday tourists will visit our empty churches with vacant pulpits, silent pianos, organs, unfilled choir lofts, and have the guide tell them, this is where it all began. So fan the flame! Get the fires burning again! Do you feel the Spirit moving in your soul? Start fanning the flame right now with praise and worship. Make it burn bright! Cause the flame to burn bright! It’s up to you!

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Beginnning on Monday we will begin to explore Chapter 17 of Matthew’s Gospel. The disciples will witness the most glorious transformations of Jesus right before their eyes. What does it mean? What lessons should they learn from with they’ve just seen? How does it affect their view of Jesus as the Messiah?

But, before the glare of His glory is gone from their eyes they will also witness as the divine world and the Satanic world collide in a spectacular display of God’s power. Yet, it wasn’t the power they were looking for. So Jesus had a long road ahead of Him.

Then, an incident takes place that gives Jesus the opportunity to help them better understand their responsibilities as citizens of an earthly kingdom and their obligations as citizens of God’s kingdom. But instead of this causing them to rejoice, it ends up causing a controversy that almost rips the unity of the disciples apart.

So I’ll see you on Monday. And may God bless your richly for your continued love of His Word. All of you are His special disciples here on earth, keeping the light of His Gospel shining in a dark world.

UPDATE ON NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTURAL COMMENTARY STUDY

We just finished the turning point portion of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus reveals three important factors in His journey here on earth. Up until now, He ministered throughout His home province of Galilee in the area of  Capernaum. But His fame as a miracle worker and teacher of a new doctrine, they considered a heresy, had spread all the way down to Jerusalem. So the Jewish leaders there sent a contingent of Pharisees and Sadducees to question this Jesus of Nazareth and force Him to prove that He was the Messiah that people were claiming Him to be.

Jesus called their questioning and opposition to His ministry, yeast, and warned His disciples and followers not to allow such yeast of doubt to affect their thinking and faith in Him as a messenger sent by God. And just to show them that He had not lost any of His power, He took them back across the Sea of Galilee to feed 4,000 men, plus all their wives and children. That was His way of proving to them that the yeast of doubt brought by the Pharisees and Sadducees was harmful to them.

So then He took them north to a city that was known for its idolatry, and while visiting there, He sat His disciples down and asked them what they had heard while walking around this city about what people were saying about Him. After they told Him, then  Jesus asked them, “Who do you believe that I am?” That’s when God the Father used Peter to reveal that this Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. That revelation was very critical to what Jesus had planned to reveal to them.

That revelation was very critical to what Jesus had planned to reveal to them. So with that confession, He then told them that He would be going to Jerusalem. But instead of Him being welcomed as the Messiah, He would be persecuted, mistreated, and die on an execution stake. At first, Peter objected. But then Jesus told him that such thinking came from Satan, and it was to be rejected and discarded. This was the plan of God, and nothing could stand in its way.

Once they understood that the Messiah must first become the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world before He could become the King of God’s kingdom, He then informed them that they too must be willing to sacrifice their lives on an execution stake if so demanded in order to promote God’s Kingdom here on earth. In fact, He told them that all of them would live long enough to see Him rise victorious and be crowned King of His Father’s kingdom.

This was not only a message for His disciples and followers then, but it continues to be the same message for today. The Kingdom of God is not for those who want the world to look at them as victims, but only for those who are willing to become victors just like Him. That’s why one day they would be seen by John in his vision as “Overcomers.” And they become overcomers through the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11).

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Part IX

Verse 27: The Son of man will come again with His Father’s glory and with His angels. And He will reward everyone for what they have done.

Our Lord now suddenly goes from what His disciples can expect in the near future to what can be expected in the far future. No doubt He wanted to assure them that any self-denial, suffering, pain, misery, or death they may suffer in this life for His cause, will be amply rewarded in the life to come for everything they gave up to spread the Gospel.

Zechariah tells us what some will do when Messiah’s feet touch down on the Mount of Olives and it splits in two from east to west making a valley that runs north to south: “You will flee through this valley, for it will reach as far as Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all His holy ones with Him.”¹ Job, also, was not fooled, he made it plain, “He pays us back for what we have done. He gives us what we deserve.”² Solomon shows his wisdom when he says, “You cannot say, ‘It’s none of my business.’ The Lord knows everything, and He knows why you do things. He watches you, and He will pay you back for what you do.”³

God tells Isaiah the other side of the story, “Tell the good people who do what is right that good things will happen to them. They will receive a reward for what they do. But it will be very bad for wicked people, because they, too, will get what they deserve. They will get what they did to others.”⁴ The prophet Jeremiah was given a similar word from God: “But I am the LORD, and I can look into a person’s heart. I can test a person’s mind and decide what each one should have. I can give each person the right payment for what they do.”⁵ And the Lord was straight foreword with the prophet Ezekiel in this message: “The common people will be very afraid because I will pay them back for what they did. I will decide their punishment, and I will punish them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”⁶

In his sermon on this text, Chrysostom gives this exhortation: “Do you see how the glory of the Father and of the Son is all one glory? But if the glory is one, it is quite evident that the substance also is one. For if in one substance there be a difference of glory (‘for there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for even the stars differ in glory from one another;’⁷ although the substance is one), how may the substance of those differ in which the glory is one? For He did not say, ‘In glory such as the Father’s,’ whereby someone might suppose again some variation between the glory of the Father and the Son. Rather, He implies the entire perfection of the one God: ‘In that same glory, He will come,’ for it to be deemed one and the same.”⁸

Verse 28: Believe me when I say that there are some people standing here who will see the Son of Man taking over His kingdom before they die.

It is quite evident from this verse that Christ did not mean His kingdom during the millennial reign or anytime thereafter. The tone of the statement indicates that those of whom He speaks will eventually die but not until after they have seen Him as the appointed King of His kingdom. Almost 200 years ago one Bible commentator stated: “This appears to refer to the mediatorial kingdom which our Lord was about to set up, by the destruction of the Jewish nation and civil order, and the diffusion of the gospel throughout the world.”⁹ This would have to take place before the rapture since death will have no power over the redeemed after that. Also, it had to occur before He ascended because the Holy Spirit was coming to temporarily replace Him until He returned again to resurrect the dead, which obviously was going to take quite a bit of time in order for the church to spread His Gospel throughout the world. Consequently, He must have taken claim over His kingdom sometime after this statement, but before His ascension.

There are indications in the scripture that reveal He came into His kingdom after His death. Remember His promise to the thief, “Today you will join Me in Paradise.” Add to this Christ’s own statement, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Therefore, Christ’s kingdom was spiritual. Consequently, He had to become a spiritual being in order for Him to qualify as King of that kingdom. Therefore, it is logical that following His death on the cross, and while His human body lay sealed in the tomb, and after He visited Hades where Abraham and others were waiting, He then ascended in spirit to the Father to receive His crown of victory before going back into His body and for the stone to be rolled away so He could show Himself to His disciples as the risen Savior. No wonder Mary did not recognize Him at first. The last time she saw Him was as a persecuted prophet, beaten, and tragically crucified, then carried to a borrowed grave. Only after He called out her name did she realize she was looking at Majestic Royalty, the Prince of Peace, the King of Glory.

Bishop Hilary gives his summation of what our Lord meant by these words to His disciples. He writes: “Therefore it was necessary by the authority of a real and manifest example that He teach them of the loss of present things and place these in the context of future gains. All of this might seem contrary to the power and perception of current judgment. After he had warned of the cross to be borne and the soul to be ruined and the eternity of life to be exchanged for the loss of the world, He turned toward His disciples and said that some of them would not taste death until they beheld the Son of man in the glory of His own kingdom. Moreover, Jesus Himself tasted death and showed the faithful already a taste of death. And so deeds.”¹⁰

Whenever there seems to be some confusion between what our Lord said would happen and the things that were yet to happen, the best guide is to examine the history of the community of faith and see what did or did not yet take place. As of now, we have no record of a mass resurrection of all believers who were then assembled in the sky for their trip into heaven. So we can certainly say that is yet to come. We also have no evidence of the kingdom coming to earth in the form of a New Jerusalem as depicted in John’s revelation, so we still await that glorious day.

But we do know that from the time our Lord gave the commission to His disciples and their endowment of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the assembly of believers has continually grown around the world. So the Kingdom of God is already here in a spiritual sense, awaiting its King in a physical sense. And to that end, all true believers know that in order to gain everlasting life, we must be willing to forfeit our plans for this life by making Him and His mission a priority by the way we live, even to the point of giving up life altogether for His sake if that is what it requires to remain faithful to Him and His cause. The question for all believers is this: Are we ready to do this for the One who loved us so much He gave His only Son to die once so that we might live eternally? Pray that you answer is, “Yes!”

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Part VIII

Verse 24: Then Jesus said to His followers, “If any of you want to be my follower, you must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the execution stake that is given to you for following me.”

The earliest Hebrew version of Matthew renders this verse this way: “Whoever wishes to come after [follow] me let him despise himself, take the cross, that is, offer himself unto death, and come after [follow] me.”¹ Another Jewish translation has: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me.”² In these two renderings it appears that giving one’s life for a cause was known as the ultimate sacrifice in loyalty and bravery for the cause. Such deaths were common in that era, and being executed on a stake was also well documented.

So when we look back at verse 21, we should take this reference as being to His cross in particular, and His willingness to die for what He came to do. So these disciples were put on notice that by committing themselves to follow Him, it might someday cost them their lives. So Jesus wanted them to know that now was the time to either indicate that they were sold out to Him, or go back to fishing if they were not sure. He will make this even clearer in the next verse.

When it comes to the cross, Jewish scholars tell us that the cross was so familiar to the Jews in New Testament times that they spoke frequently of “men carrying their cross before them while going to be executed.”³ For instance, we read such a reference when the writer talks about, “Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering⁴ — like one who carries his stake on his shoulder”.⁵ A stake was the instrument of torture and hanging, like the cross. We also read a story about such crucifixions of Jews that goes as follows: “I read that Jose ben Joezer was martyred during the Greek persecutions. His sister’s son, Joachim of Zeroroth, told him how Jose bore his own cross to be crucified.”⁶

Since Jesus knew He was on His way to being executed, He informed His disciples that they too must be willing to die for the cause, just as He was. Such a commitment entailed putting everything else one might desire to do in life aside if it interfered with carrying out the mission given to them by Christ. In this context, the cross is seen as a symbol of commitment. We read in the Old Testament how Esther was given a similar sense of responsibility by her uncle Mordecai, “If you keep quiet now, help and freedom for the Jews will have to come from another place. But you and your father’s family will all die. And who knows, maybe you have been chosen to be the queen for such a time as this.”⁷

In his sermon on this text, Chrysostom has this to say: “When did Jesus teach this? When Peter said, ‘God forbid, Lord! This will never happen to You.’ And when Peter was told, ‘Get behind me, Satan,’ Jesus did not merely rebuke Peter. He was willing to teach him more fully of the benefit of His Passion and about the exceeding confusion in what Peter had said. So He responds in effect: ‘Your word to me is that this will never happen to me, but My word to you is “Not only is this hurtful to you, and destructive, to hinder me and be displeased at my Passion.” But more so it will be impossible for you even to be saved unless you yourself are continually prepared for death.’ So, lest anyone should imagine that His suffering was unworthy of Him, He teaches them what great gain will come from it. This applies not only to His former afflictions but also to those yet to come. Later He will teach in John’s Gospel that ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’⁸ So He now begins discussing more fully the out-workings of the future, not only with respect to His own suffering and death but with theirs as well. Unwillingness to die is grievous, but to be ready for death is good and of great profit. Jesus makes this clear by what follows, but for the present He works it out on one side only. Note that He does not say, ‘You must suffer whether you will it or not.’ Rather, He says, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ This is as if to say: ‘I force no one, I compel no one, but each one I make the master of his own choice. So I say, “if anyone will.”’”⁹

Verse 25: Any of you who try to preserve the way you live your life now will end up wasting it. But you who give up the way you live and live for me will find real living.

In light of what Jesus has already said, this verse has two meanings. One: that they must be willing to forget about ever going back to fishing and whatever else they were doing and pledge themselves to be His apostles for the rest of their lives or they will never know the joy and fulfillment they will experience by being His ambassadors to the world. Or two: they must be willing to count what they have attained in this world as nothing to hold on to and give it up for the cause, then they will be given so much more of a better life serving Him.

No wonder our Lord’s talk about saving one’s life by losing it for His sake has often been debated. According to Rabbi Nathan, he felt that the Jewish Fathers have clearly defined that as foregoing the pleasures of this life in order to give time to study the Torah and grow in the Word. He quotes Rabbi Judah the Prince as saying; “He who accepts the pleasures of this world shall be denied the pleasures of the world to come; but he who does not accept the pleasures of this world will be granted the pleasures of the world to come.”¹⁰ While Jesus many not have been paraphrasing this in His own statement, it is clear that the Jews accepted the same consequence for their faith in God.

Chrysostom gives his understanding of what Jesus says here: “Because Jesus had said, ‘Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it,’ Jesus makes a strict distinction between salvation and destruction. This was to prevent anyone from imagining the one destruction and the other salvation to be all the same thing in the last instance. The distance is infinite between destruction and salvation. Then He makes this inference once for all to establish these points: ‘For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?’ Do you see how the wrongful preservation of life amounts to destruction and is worse than all destruction, as being even past remedy from the want of anything more to redeem it?”¹¹

So we can see that there is a fine line between managing one’s life and martyring one’s life. It would not have helped had all of Jesus’s disciples gone into battle and offered themselves up for execution as soon as He ascended into heaven. A worldwide community of believers would have never been realized. But at the same time, since they were chosen to be His followers and had committed themselves to Him for the rest of their lives, then they must now pledge to be willing to suffer whatever consequences may come their way for being one of His disciples. In so doing they simply left it up to God as to when the end would come for their mission.

Verse 26: It is worth nothing if you own the whole world but end up losing the life you could have had. You could never pay enough to buy back your wasted life.

Most scholars believe that Jesus is speaking here of redemption, which was the purchasing of a prisoner or slave from bondage. In fact, the Ethiopic Version renders this: “What can man give for the redemption of his soul.” The Aramaic Version reads: “What will a man give in exchange for his soul.” One of the oldest Hebrew versions of Matthew reads: “What good exchange does the man make if for present things that are spoiled he should give his soul to the judgment of Gehenna?”¹²

These all seem to echo the words of Solomon who said: “What does a person gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”¹³ Jewish commentators say: “What Solomon meant to convey by these words is that whatever a man may possess on earth–under the sun–he must inevitably part with, but it is different if he provides for himself above the sun, that is. in heaven.”¹⁴ Not only that, but we are all one-of-a-kind, and there are no duplicates, so if we are not all we can be while we are here, who can take our place.

We read this story in Jewish literature: “When Rabbi Simon bar Zebid died, Rabbi Ilya came up and eulogized him by expounding as follows: ‘Four things are essential for the existence of the world. But if they are lost, they can be replaced as we see from the following verse, ‘Surely there is a mine for silver and a place for gold which they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore’.¹⁵ If these are lost they can be replaced. But if a disciple of the sages dies, who shall bring us his replacement? Who shall bring us his substitute?’”¹⁶

We find that Satan was so convinced that Job would rather protect himself and his property, that should God allow some misfortune to befall him he would not stand for it. Said the devil, “Skin for skin! A man will give everything he has to protect himself. I swear, if You attack his flesh and bones, he will curse You to Your face!”¹⁷ Of course, we know that Satan was proven wrong. As Job says later: “What hope do people without God have when it is time to die when God takes their life away?”¹⁸ And so our Lord wanted Peter, as well as all His followers, to prove Satan wrong once again. In a song by the Korah family we find this expression, “No one has enough to buy back a life, and you cannot bribe God. You will never get enough money to pay for your own life”.¹⁹

One Jewish writer felt that maybe there may have been a misunderstanding. God did not expect them to pay for their own redemption, but in the end, they all would pay with their lives, upon which they had made no deposit, therefore there would be no return.²⁰ What Jesus was trying to point out was that He was on His way to sacrifice Himself in order to pay for their lives. Therefore, once the purchase is made, their lives would then belong to God for Him to use in any way He desired that would bring Him glory and honor. But acknowledging that purchase and surrendering that life would be up to them. It would be their choice to make. But what was just as important was the fact that Jesus as the Son of man, would return one day for all those who had surrendered and lived their lives for God’s glory.

Church father Origen has this commentary: “We could interpret the saying, however, in another way. If anyone knows what salvation is and wants to save his own life, after bidding farewell to his life, denying himself and taking up his cross and following me, he will, in terms of the world, have lost his life. But, having lost his life for me and my teaching, he will gain in the end this kind of loss, salvation.”²¹

Origen then goes on to say: “But what shall a person give in exchange for his life, would seem, if spoken in answer to a query, to indicate a person who trades his life; a person who, after sin, has given up his substance in order that his property might feed the poor. He would in that way receive salvation. Yet, in a positive light, I think this indicates that there is nothing in a person that he can give in trade for his life that will buy off death. God, however, has ransomed us all with the priceless blood of Jesus so that ‘we are bought with a price,’²² ‘having been purchased not with perishable things like silver and gold but with the priceless blood of the spotless, flawless Lamb,’²³”²⁴

When put together, Jesus was telling His followers that they would be foolish to spend what they are promised in the future to purchase those things they want to enjoy today. In today’s context, we could illustrate it this way: Why take all you have out of your IRA that continues to appreciate in value until the day you need it, in order to buy things for today that only depreciate in value and ends up leaving you nothing at the end to save you from despair.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Part VII

In this verse, the KJV has the words, “loose” and “bind.” British theologian, Dr. John Lightfoot, has given us an excellent list of how the words “loose” and “bind” are used in Jewish literature. It will help us understand how our Lord used this common phrase among the Rabbis of His day to instruct His followers on their responsibilities in the future.

Bind and loose, a very usual phrase in the Jewish schools, was spoken of things, not of persons; which is also observed in the articles what and whatsoever. One might produce thousands of examples out of their writings: we will only offer a set of ten; the first, where the frequent use of this word may appear; the second, what the sense may be:

1. Rabbi Jochanan said to those of Tiberias, “Why have you brought this elder to me? Whatever I loosen, he binds; whatever I bind, he loosens.” [In other words, if the Rabbi says it’s alright to do, the Elder will say it is wrong to do; if the Rabbi says he will permit it, the Elder will say he will not permit it; if the Rabbi says I’ll allow it, the Elder will say I won’t allow if.]

2. You shall neither bind nor loosen.

3. Nachum, the brother of Rabbi Illa, asked Rabbi Jochanan concerning a certain matter. To whom he answered, “You will neither bind nor loosen.” [Another way of saying: “You should not say “yes” or “no.”]

4. This man binds, but the other loosens.[This was done to enforce or relieve someone of their obligations or responsibilities under the law.]

5. Rabbi Chaija said, “Whatsoever I have bound to you elsewhere, I will loose to you here.”

6. He asked one wise man, and he bound: Do not ask another wise man, lest perhaps he loosens.

7. The same mouth that binds is the mouth that loosens.

8. Although the disciples of Shammai bound, those of Hillel loosened.

9. A wise man that judges judgment defines what defiles and what cleanses; he loosens and binds.
10. The question whether it is lawful to go into the outhouse to urinate wearing phylacteries? Rabbena loosens, and Rabh Ada binds. The mystical doctor, neither binds nor loosens.¹

It becomes clear that when something was deemed as “loosened,” it was freed from any condemnation or wrong doing and made to stand as proper conduct. By the same token, when something was considered “bound,” it signified that such a thing would invite condemnation and be guilty of wrong doing and made to stand as being improper. I invite you to take a look at Dr. Lightfoot’s second and third sets of ten that give additional explanations that can be very helpful.²

This was a common practice in Israel because such binding and loosing were necessary for common folk to be in harmony with each other in the community of believers.³ Therefore, we take away from this a more enlightened understanding of what our Lord said and how it applied to His followers. Another way to put this binding and loosening of things on earth and in heaven is to ask this: Would you feel free and say or do in heaven those things you approve to be done and said here on earth? And, do you believe that those things you disavow here on earth would also be disapproved of in heaven?

In other words, Jesus knew He would be leaving before too much longer. So He was more or less telling His followers: I’m leaving you in charge. You’re going to have the responsibility to make sure what I have established here on earth keeps going until I come back. He knew it would be an awesome task for them. So they needed to be reminded that whatever decisions they made about the church would not only reflect on them, but on the One in heaven who gave them this authority. Therefore, the community of believers was to live in harmony, and such harmony would only be accomplished by adhering to God’s Word and by obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit. However, there is no indication that Jesus was talking about the forgiveness of sin in order to become a child of God. He, and only He, had the authority to do so.⁴

Verse 20: Then Jesus warned His followers not to tell anyone He was the Messiah.

Most scholars accept the premise that Jesus did not want to come out into the open as the Anointed One at that time because it might not only draw large crowds of adoring followers for whom He would then become responsible for maintaining their well-being, but also to avoid getting the Jerusalem crowd up in arms and thereby run afoul of the Roman leadership before it was time.

One polemic Jewish writer had a very sarcastic way of putting his opposition to Jesus by paraphrasing verse 20 this way: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Tell no man that I am God for from the time that I have abandoned the Torah of my birthplace, I have rebelled against my Creator and against His Torah.’”⁵ That would be like criticizing the Wright brothers for abandoning their bicycle shop to build an airplane because they believed flying was possible. The Torah had become such an object of veneration and worship to the point that this writer could not recognize the Living Word when he saw Him.

Chrysostom felt that he saw an underlying reason why Jesus requested that His being the Messiah be kept in secrecy. He writes: “And why did He charge them? That when the things which offend are taken out of the way, the cross is accomplished and the rest of His sufferings fulfilled, and when there is nothing anymore to interrupt and disturb the faith of the people in Him, the right opinion concerning Him may be engraved pure and immovable in the mind of the hearers. For in truth His power had not yet clearly shone forth. Accordingly it was His will then to be preached by them when both the plain truth of the facts and the power of His deeds were pleading in support of the assertions of the apostles. For it was by no means the same thing to see Him in Palestine, now working miracles and now insulted and persecuted, especially when the very cross was presently to follow the miracles that were happening, and then to behold Him everywhere in the world, adored and believed, and no more suffering anything such as he had suffered.”⁶

Then Theodore of Mopsuestia adds his view: “After the disciples received the Spirit, then the teaching concerning the divinity of the Son was shown to them perfectly and the Spirit Himself bore witness through the miracles that were done in His name. Yet it was still necessary that this is hidden from the rulers, the secular powers of this world, so that Christ, by suffering and rising again, might transform in Himself human life and recreate it, changing it back to the state it was in at the beginning of its corruption. This perhaps is the reason why of necessity this instruction had not yet been given them.”⁷

Verse 21: From that time Jesus began telling His followers that He must go to Jerusalem. He explained that the older Jewish leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law would make Him suffer many things. And He told His followers that He must be killed. Then, on the third day, He would be raised from death.

Here we see a shift in our Lord’s focus on the purpose for which His heavenly Father sent Him to earth. I’m sure the disciples noticed the sudden change, especially His insistence on going to Jerusalem where nothing but trouble awaited Him. Matthew points out that it was the Jewish elders and chief priest, along with the priestly teachers of the law that would promote the suffering He must endure. We do not know how the others felt about it, but Peter would not let it go by without some action. Apparently he enjoyed such a close relationship with Jesus by this time, that our Lord willingly – although knowingly – allowed this fisherman to have a private conversation with Him.

Jerome sees the possibility that our Lord’s restriction in letting people know who He really was, may have been due to His being both God and man. He writes: “For the purpose of proclaiming, He had sent His disciples before Him and ordered them to announce His arrival. But He advised them lest they say publicly that He was Jesus the Christ. It seems to me to be one thing to proclaim Him to be the Christ, another thing to proclaim Him to be Jesus the Christ. Christ is a common term for the messianic dignity [the Anointed One] while Jesus is the proper name for the Savior. It is possible that for this reason He had been unwilling to be proclaimed Jesus the Christ prior to His suffering and resurrection in order that He might afterward when the obligation of blood had been fulfilled, at an opportune time say to His apostles, “Go and teach all nations”⁸ and the rest. And lest anyone think that this is merely our opinion and not the perceptions of the Evangelist, then what follows explains further the reasons for the prohibited proclamation.”⁹

Verse 22: Then Peter took Jesus aside and begin scolding Him. “Things like this should never happen to someone like You!”

We can’t really blame Peter, he was expressing the tradition Jewish idea of the Messiah as we see in their wisdom literature: “See, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, at the time which you chose, O God, to rule over Israel your servant. And gird him with strength to shatter in pieces unrighteous rulers, to purify Jerusalem for nations that trample her down in destruction, in wisdom of righteousness, to drive out sinners from the inheritance, to smash the arrogance of the sinner like a potter’s vessel, to shatter all their substance with an iron rod, to destroy the lawless nations by the word of his mouth, that, by his threat, nations flee from his presence.”¹⁰

Unfortunately, it also shows a certain amount of arrogance on Peter’s part. Earlier Jesus hailed him as a chip off the large Rock upon which the church would be built. Now here he is being rebuked as a cohort of Satan. This is why it is so necessary not to build a following on man because man can fail; but build it on the solid Rock Jesus Christ; for He is the true Rock of Ages. But this was not the first time Satan had tried this tactic. Jesus’ royal ancestor got himself into a terrible situation because he listened to a suggestion from the devil.¹¹ Also, Joshua the high priest underwent a similar trial, “The angel showed me Joshua the high priest, standing in front of the angel of the LORD and Satan was standing by Joshua’s right side. Satan was there to accuse Joshua of doing wrong. Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘The LORD says that you are wrong, and He will continue to correct you!’”¹²

In his sermon on this text, Chrysostom says: “Peter was examining the issue by human and earthly reasoning. He thought it disgraceful to Jesus as something unworthy of Him. Jesus responded sharply, in effect saying, ‘My suffering is not an unseemly matter. You are making this judgment with a carnal mind. If you had listened to My teachings in a godly way, tearing yourself away from carnal understanding, you would know that this of all things most becomes Me. You seem to suppose that to suffer is unworthy of Me. But I say to you that for Me not to suffer is of the devil’s mind.’ So He repressed Peter’s alarm by contrary arguments. Remember that John the Baptizer, accounting it unworthy of Christ to be baptized by him, was persuaded by Christ to baptize Him, saying, ‘Let it be so now.’ So we find Peter as well, forbidding Christ to wash his feet. He is met by the words, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.’ Here too Jesus restrained him by the mention of the opposite, and by the severity of the reproof He repressed his fear of suffering.”¹³

Verse 23: Then Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Get out of My way, Satan! You are not helping me one bit! You are not interested in the things God is interested in. You only care about things that people think are important.”

And so it was that the Son of God corrected the devil again for suggesting to Peter that He should not carry out His mission. What a quaint combination we see here. First, Jesus told Peter that the Spirit of God had helped him see that He was the Son of the Living God, the Messiah. Now Jesus must scold Peter because he allowed the spirit of Satan to influence him to speak against what Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah had planned. That war within Peter is still being fought in the hearts and minds of many believers to this day.

Blaming Satan for causing such irrational thinking and discord was well rehearsed among the Jews, especially after what happened to the patriarch Job.¹⁴ As one Jewish commentator says: “The serpent represents all the negative spiritual forces in the universe, and brings God’s wrath upon His world as it seduces God’s creatures to rebel against Him.”¹⁵ Therefore, Jesus rebukes Satan, not Peter, for trying to do the same thing here and turning His own disciples against Him. One commentator made this suggestion on what Jesus meant when He told Satan to get behind Him by saying: “Yeshua is actually inviting Satan to become His follower (with the universalistic doctrinal implication that eventually even Satan will be “saved).”¹⁶ However, we know that Satan’s fate is already sealed.¹⁷

Early church father Theodore of Heraclea had this to say about Jesus’ rebuke of Peter: “When contrary to what he had hoped, Peter heard this, he was troubled. For the revelation had exhibited Christ as Son of God and the living God, on the one hand. Yet, on the other hand, he was found to be preparing for the dreadful events of the Passion. In rebuking Peter, Christ brings to light His own righteous judgment. When Peter confessed Christ, Christ praised him. But when he was irrationally terrified, Christ rebuked him, acting without respect of persons.”¹⁸

Then the respected theologian Origen gave this view: “Responding to Peter’s ignorance as one opposing God, Jesus said, ‘Satan,’ which is Hebrew for opponent. If Peter had not spoken to Him out of ignorance nor of the living God when he said, ‘Never, Lord! This must never happen to You!’ then He would not have said to him “Get behind Me,” as if speaking to someone who had given up being behind Him and following Him. Neither would He have called him ‘Satan.’ Satan had overpowered the one following Jesus in order to turn him aside from following the Son of God from behind, to make him, because of ignorant words, worthy of being called ‘Satan’ and a scandal to the Son of God, ‘not thinking in the ways of God but of humans.’”¹⁹

So it is clear that Jesus was not calling Peter, Satan, but rebuking the spirit of Satan that had inspired Peter to caution Jesus against going through with His suffering and death. So we can see, Satan did not rejoice when Jesus was nailed to the cross, for His death meant total defeat for Satan, and His resurrection would mean Satan’s eternal damnation in the fiery pit.

Eighteenth-century illustrator William Blake wrote a volume of prose in which he listed a number of proverbs. One of them read this way: “No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.”¹ It was not Mr. Blake’s effort to use figures of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction to one another, but rather to show that limits are easily recognizable, but only when trying to exceed them. We see this in another of his proverbs, “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”²

We have all seen what happens when someone is elevated to a position higher than their ability to keep them there. Their fall is embarrassing both to them and the ones who promoted them. Solomon had a similar word of wisdom when he wrote: “Train a child in the way he [should] go; and, even when old, he will not swerve from it.”³ This is another way of saying: See what talent and abilities your child has, then motivate them in pursuing their skills and gifts. They will spend their lifetime following that lead instead of trying to excel in some other endeavor.

But too often, parents choose the career path they want their children to follow and are upset when the child does not succeed. So let the bird fly on its own. Let them find out how high they can soar. Then rejoice with them when they reach their limit instead of criticizing them when they can’t seem to climb higher. We can find the same truth in a person’s spiritual growth. But unfortunately, many believers do not know how high they can fly because they’ve never tried to get off the ground. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda

BEING IN GOD’S WILL CAN BE A THRILL

Years ago I traveled to one of the more remote areas of what was once called Yugoslavia, now Serbia, to preach for the pastor of a congregation in a small farming village. As I turned off the paved highway onto a dirt country road to reach the village, I saw, that because of recent rains, the road was a mix of deep crisscrossing ruts made by wagon wheels. I knew my little Volkswagen would not be able to make it if my wheels fell into these ruts. So I stopped, and while looking at the scrambled tracks in front of me, offered a prayer for the Lord to guide me.

As I then started up the road, the Holy Spirit guided my eyes to a particular set of ruts and I felt Him urge me to straddle one of them, and I did so without hesitation. I gripped the steering wheel as we drove, knowing that if the track I was straddling intersected, we’d either have to back up all the way and start over, or walk to the village from there. It seemed like forever, but we finally arrived in the village safe and sound. It was a miracle, that was the only rut that was not crisscrossed by other ruts the whole two kilometers. I thanked the Lord for His guidance and sensed that something good was about to happen.

At that time in Yugoslavia, church services were conducted as follows: Opening prayer, welcoming visitors, one song, then the sermon, followed by an hour of praise and worship. As I meditated on the text I had chosen for my sermon, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would use it to speak to these precious people. However, as I sat on a small platform, in a barn converted for worship services, listening to the opening song, I suddenly felt a strong urge to change and speak on the Trinity. Since I didn’t have time to prepare an outline, I knew I would have to do it as the Spirit led me. So when I got up to preach, I told the congregation about this leading by the Holy Spirit. Much to my surprise, they all began to weep and cry. I couldn’t understand why it would strike them that way. I finished over an hour later—because of the need for translation, of course – they sang and worshiped and prayed with such great fervor it made me weep.

Following the service as we were eating a meal in the pastor’s home, he came to me with tears in his eyes. He told me that a few weeks ago another visiting minister had preached against the Trinity, declaring that God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were really just one person and His name was Jesus. It brought instant division in the church. So he told them all to pray for God to send another preacher. They agreed whatever that preacher said about the Trinity, whether he was for or against it, they would accept it to be the truth. So when I stood up and shared about the leading of the Holy Spirit to preach on the Trinity, the whole church accepted it as God’s message to them.

I learned that night when God uses His gifts of the Spirit He does so under circumstances that should convince anyone that they are doing the right thing by following His urging. It’s not easy, we are so set in our ways that sometimes the Spirit has to really jolt us into changing. This is not only true of altering a sermon theme, but also of modifying our decisions and actions. I drove away from that little village full of more faith and courage, I rejoiced in the knowledge that we all can be part of God’s will if we are only willing to listen and obey. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Part V 

Verse 18: So I tell you, you are a small stone. But upon this rock, I will build My house of prayer, and the power of death will not be able to keep it from happening.”

There has been a lot of discussion over the centuries as to what rock Jesus is talking about. When we put it into context, with what Peter just said, then we might conclude that the rock is the revelation Peter received from God that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, the one true Savior of mankind. It is upon that confession, that serves as a foundation, Christ intended to build to the glory of His Father.

That immediately brings up the next question. What was He going to build on that foundation, and why is it called His “church?” The word for “build” in the Greek means: “to establish.” When something is established, it infers that it never existed before in this form. Let’s remember when Jesus overthrew the money changer’s tables in the Temple He declared that it was to be called a “House of Prayer,” but they had turned it into a den of thieves. Jesus then said that this Temple would be torn down, but in three days He would rebuild it.¹ John said this meant His body.²

So then, was not His body to become the new Temple in which the Father was worshiped? Listen to what the apostle Paul said: “A husband is the head of his wife, just as Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the Savior of the church, which is His body.”³ Then, “I gladly accept my part of those sufferings in my body for the good of His body, the church.”⁴ Therefore, since His body is the new Temple, should it not also be called a house of prayer?

Here in this verse, the oldest Hebrew version of Matthew’s gospel renders the word “church” as “house of prayer.” In the Complete Jewish Bible, it is translated as “community.” As such, instead of the word “church” being used here in the English text, based on what Jesus said it would be permissible to substitute “temple,” and mean the same thing. The first mention in the English text of the gathering of believers as “church” is found in Acts 5:11. This is a translation of the Greek word “ekklēsia” which means “assembly or gathering.” This Greek word is rendered in English as “church” 115 times and as “assembly” 3 times in the King James Version. So when Jesus used “ekklēsia”He was not referring to a material building, but a living entity made up of believers.

As I said before, the term “rock,” and how it has been interpreted to identify the foundation for Christ’s “community of believers,” has been in debate for centuries. The English translation is inexpressive at two crucial points. Only a clear paraphrase can suffice in this case. Remember, Peter had just given the answer that the Father had revealed to him, that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. We notice that Jesus referred to His disciple as Simeon son of Jonah. Jesus now says, “I am going to tell you something,” pointing at Simeon, “your Greek name is Petros, (a masculine proper noun meaning a small bolder), “and on this Petra (a feminine noun, referring to a rock like Gibraltar) “I am going to build my community and not even the power of the grave can keep it from happening.”

So we can see, the huge Rock upon which this community of believers was to be built was much larger than this small boulder whom God used to reveal that Jesus was the Son of the Living God. Peter, like the rest of us, was one small stone and part of that massive Rock, His body. This is in harmony with what we read: Therefore here is what Adonai Elohim says: “Look, I am laying in Zion a tested stone, a costly cornerstone, a firm foundation-stone; he who trusts [in Him] will not rush here and there.”⁵ No one can gather from these verses that Jesus was talking about the Roman Catholic Church, which would not be founded for another 300 years. Christ is the Rock upon which the new Temple would be built, not man. So no matter what the people said about Him, Jesus wanted His disciples to know what God said about Him.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, a great theologian and church bishop in the 4^th century had this to say: “This is not the property of Peter alone, but it came about on behalf of every human being. Having said that Peter’s confession is a rock, He stated that upon this rock I will build my church. This means He will build His church upon this same confession and faith. It was from this confession, which was going to become the common property of all believers, that He bestowed upon him this name, the rock. By this He shows, in consequence, that this is the common good of the church since also the common element of the confession was to come through Peter.”⁶

After Peter rightly identifies Him as the Son of the Living God, Jesus continues: “And the authority at death’s gates will not keep it from happening.” The city gates, in those days, is where courts convened, debates held, and people were confronted with charges and asked to repent, or were given accolades and everyone rejoiced.⁷ Isaiah comments on this practice, “Then He will give wisdom to the judges who rule His people. He will give strength to the people who are in conflict at the city gates.”⁸ The Psalmist tells how fortunate the man is who has a healthy, well-behaved family, “He will never be defeated when he opposes his opponent at the city gates.”⁹ But our Lord knew, He had battles at several gates which He would one day proclaim victory over.¹⁰ And one of those was when He would enter through the gate of death, which, for all people, was then locked behind them so they could not return unless someone with greater power was able to reopen those gates.

Then our Lord echoes what the prophet Isaiah said about Him, “I will put the key to David’s house around His neck. If He opens a door, no one will be able to close it. If He closes a door, no one will be able to open it.”¹¹ But the question now arises as to what Jesus meant when He said: “gates of Hades.” The Aramaic Version reads: “gates of Sheol” as does the Complete Jewish Bible. One of the earliest Hebrew versions of Matthew renders it: “gates of Gehenna.” British theologian J. B. Phillips renders it: “powers of death,” and Young’s Literal Translation reads “gates of Hades.” So what is the difference between Hades (or Gehenna) and Hell? There are some simple explanations: Hades is a non-permanent place where all disembodied souls go to await the resurrection; Hell is a permanent place where condemned souls will go for eternal punishment.

The apostle Peter, who heard our Lord say this to him, later on in a sermon gave his understanding by saying: “My brothers, I can tell you for sure about David, our great ancestor. He died, was buried, and his tomb is still here with us today. He was a prophet and knew something that God had said. God had promised David that someone from his own family would sit on David’s throne as king. David knew this before it happened. That is why he said this about that future king: ‘He was not left in the place of death. His body did not rot in the grave.’ David was talking about the Messiah rising from death.”¹²

Therefore, when Jesus said that the gates of Hades would not keep His church from being victorious, He was talking about His victory over death and being brought back to life by His heavenly Father, and this same promise of the ultimate resurrection would be made to all who followed and believed in Him. What a difference it makes when we preach on this text and use Hades (the grave) instead of Hell.

Verse 19: “I will give you the keys to God’s kingdom. When you speak judgment here on earth, that judgment will be God’s judgment. When you promise forgiveness here on earth, that forgiveness will be God’s forgiveness.”

Now the Master then tells His disciples that the day would come when He would share that authority with them. But we must see the figurative meaning in what our Lord is saying. Such as we find in apocalyptic writings: “Moreover, you priests, take the keys of the sanctuary, and throw them into the high heavens,”¹³ as well as: “We cannot enter until Michael comes, who holds the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; but wait and you will see the glory of God.”¹⁴ An oft-quoted Rabbi once said: “Every man who possesses learning without the fear of Heaven is like a treasurer who is entrusted with the keys to the vault but not with the keys to the front door: how is he supposed to get in?”¹⁵

Therefore, nothing any minister or organization does here on earth, no matter how holy it may seem to be, will ever change or alter what already exists in heaven. Therefore, the true meaning here is this: “Whatever is bound or loosed on earth by Christ’s disciples will be the same as that already forbidden or permitted in His heavenly kingdom by Christ Himself.” Furthermore, “keys” here do not mean keys to a literal gate or door, Christ is the only door and gate to the kingdom. Rather, keys is used here metaphorically in the sense of being enlightenment. In other words, Christ was saying that those whom He calls will be given the enlightenment to understanding the Kingdom of Heaven so you can to explain to those in darkness what it is all about.

As such, this authority given to the church will be exercised within the church. Declaring something right or wrong was restricted to the body of Christ, it was not political power over the world. In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church attempted to see it that way with the pope being the successor to St. Peter. But there is nothing anywhere in the Scriptures to support that point of view.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, who we quoted in the last verse, goes on to say: “This then is what Jesus says, that in the church would be the key to the kingdom of heaven. If anyone holds the key to this, to the church, in the same way, he will also hold it for all heavenly things. He who is counted as belonging to the church and is recognized as its member is a partaker and an inheritor of heaven. He who is a stranger to it, whatever his status may be, will have no communion in heavenly things. To this very day, the priests of the church have expelled those who are unworthy by this saying and admitted those who have become worthy by repentance.”¹⁶

And Epiphanius, a scholar, and bishop in the 5^th century had this to contribute: “For Christ is a rock which is never moved or worn away. Therefore, Peter gladly received his name from Christ to signify the established and unshaken faith of the church…The devil is the gateway of death who always hurries to stir up against the church calamities and temptations and persecutions. But the faith of the apostle, which was founded upon the rock of Christ, abides always unconquered and unshaken. And the very keys of the kingdom of the heavens have been handed down so that one whom he has bound on earth has been bound in heaven and one whom he has set free on earth he has also set free in heaven.”¹⁷

So as we can see, from the earliest days of the church that it was Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God, who came to earth to be our Lord and Savior, was the foundation upon which the community of believers would be built. Therefore, since Jesus is the subject of this confession, then He is the Rock in that confession. And just like death could not keep Him from being resurrected, so the grave will not be able to hold back all those who make this confession and believe in Him from being resurrected to meet their Master and Redeemer in the sky.

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NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Part IV

Verse 14: They answered, “Some people say you are John the Baptizer. Others say you are Elijah. And some say you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

I don’t think Jesus was in any way insulted that some people were comparing Him to John the Baptizer who announced His coming, or the Elijah-like prophet promised in the Scriptures,¹ or to the prophet Jeremiah who suffered greatly because of his preaching against the sins of Israel and the coming destruction. To be thought of as a prophet among the children of Israel put Him in the same category as Isaiah and Ezekiel.

However, while there is nothing specific in the Old Testament about Jeremiah playing any role in the coming of the Messiah, there is a unique connection made between Jeremiah and promised prophet.² In fact, Rabbi Judah, the son of Rabbi Simon was teaching about the prophet that Moses said would be like him. When he turned to the Scriptures that read: “like unto you”³ and “like unto Moses.”⁴ Rabbi Judah said: “This is Jeremiah, he was the one. In the evidence you will find all that is written of the one, is written of the other; one prophesied forty years, and the other prophesied forty years; the one prophesied concerning Judah and Israel, and the other prophesied concerning Judah and Israel; against the one those of his own tribe stood up, and against the other those of his own tribe stood up; the one was cast into a river, and the other into a dungeon; the one was delivered by means of a handmaid, and the other by the means of a servant; the one came with words of criticism, and the other came with words of criticism.”⁵

Therefore a tradition began spreading that Jeremiah was in fact the prophet spoken of by Moses. Rabbi Abraham Saba agrees with this compelling comparison between the ministry of Moses and Jeremiah that would lead anyone to consider Jeremiah as being the prophet talked about.⁶ So it is not odd that some of the local people imagined Jesus being Jeremiah incarnate. And even though John the Baptizer had not been dead that long, some were saying that Jesus was John the Baptizer reincarnate. However, since they both lived at the same time, it is obvious that they were talking about the spirit of John the Baptizer now motivating Jesus in His ministry.

Chrysostom covers this questioning in one of his sermons: “Note that Jesus is not asking them their own opinion. Rather, He asks the opinion of the people. Why? In order to contrast the opinion of the people with the disciples answer to the question. In this way, by the manner of His inquiry, they might be drawn gradually to a more sublime notion and not fall into the same common view as that of the multitude. Note that Jesus does not raise this question at the beginning of His preaching but only after He had done many miracles, had talked over with them many lofty teachings, and had given them many clear proofs of His divinity and of His union with the Father. Only then does He put this question to them.”⁷

As we can see from Chrysostom’s thinking and the manner in which Jesus asks this question, that He was putting His disciples on the spot as to what conclusion they had come to. It is significant that our Lord asked first what were the people saying, what rumors had the disciples heard going around with regard to His ministry in light of what they knew about Him and what Scripture had to say about the Messiah. So, once He got their input on what the crowds were saying it gave the disciples the opportunity to explain why their view was different.

Chrysostom continues his sermon: “Jesus did not ask ‘Who do the scribes and Pharisees say that I am?’ even though they had often come to Him and conversed with Him. Rather, He begins His questioning by asking ‘Who do the people say the Son of man is?’ as if to inquire about common opinion. Even if common opinion was far less true than it might have been, it was at least relatively more free from malice than the opinions of the religious leaders, which was teeming with bad motives. He signifies how earnestly He desires this divine economy to be confessed when He says, ‘Who do people say the Son of man is?’ for He thereby denotes His part in the godhead, which He does also in many other places.”⁸

Verse 15: Then Jesus said to His followers, “And who do you say I am?”

What some people said was typical of under-informed individuals and those with mystic tendencies in their thinking, but Jesus was more curious as to what His own disciples thought of Him. They were the ones into whose hands He would place the torch of the gospel. Would He be able to trust them after He was gone? Were they willing to face all the abuse, ridicule, persecution, and martyrdom that would come to them for being ambassadors of the Kingdom of God? He needed to know now, not while He was in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest, nor while standing trial before Pilate in the Roman tribunal, but now, so He could help them gain trust in Him.

Several Early Church fathers give their opinion. First, early church bishop Hilary: “After the disciples had presented diverse human origins concerning Him, He asked what they themselves thought about Him. Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ But Peter had pondered the nature of the question. For the Lord had said, ‘Whom do men say that the Son of man is?’ Certainly his human body indicated He was a Son of man. But by adding ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Jesus indicated that they should consider something besides what He seemed in Himself, for He was a Son of man. Therefore what judgment concerning Himself did He desire? It was a secret He was asking about, into which the faith of those who believe ought to extend itself.”⁹ In other words, were the disciples going to be persuaded by what the people said or by what they knew from experience. This is the same thing every believer will be tested on when someone suggests to them that Jesus is not really who He said He was.

Then, in one of his sermons on this subject, Chrysostom gives this exhortation: “Since they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah, or one of the prophets,’ and set forth their mistaken opinion, He next added, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ He was calling on them by His second inquiry to entertain some higher mental picture, indicating that their former opinion fell exceedingly short of His dignity. Thus Jesus probes for another opinion from them. He poses this second question that they might not fall in with the multitude who, because they saw His miracles as greater than human, accounted Him a man indeed but one that, as Herod had thought, may have appeared after a resurrection. To lead them away from such notions, He says, ‘But who do you say that I am?’—that is, you who are always with Me, and see Me working miracles and have yourselves done many mighty works by Me.”¹⁰

Their answer was not only important to Jesus, but it was important to them, and would be important to all who became part of His community of faith. If there ever was a time for any of these disciples to reconsider their acceptance of His invitation to follow Him, it was now. Not when they saw Him being led away to be condemned; not while they watched Him being beaten within an inch of His life; and not when He cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” He wanted tested, convinced, sold out disciples following Him by then.

I wonder if anyone reading Matthew for the first time would be so convinced by the Peter’s answer that they too could be counted on in the time of trouble. If so, can you imagine their disappointment when later on they get to that portion in Matthew’s account where it looks like all is lost? But even more, let each one of us ask ourselves, who do we really believe Jesus is? Can we convince ourselves that we will stay committed to that answer no matter what we may have to go through before our journey here on earth is finished.

Verse 16: Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of the living God, who has come into this world.”¹¹

The impulsive disciple, Peter, echoes the words of the Psalmist who spoke of the Messiah, “Today I have become your father, and you are my son.”¹² And Peter also invokes one of the many special names ascribed to God in Hebrew, that is translated into Greek as “Living God.”¹³ In Near East literature we find that the word “El” appears in the Assyrian language as “ilu”, in the Phoenician language, as well as in Hebrew as a universal name for God. It is also found in the South-Arabian dialects, and in Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic, as in Hebrew, to be an added element in proper names. It is used both in the singular and plural, both for other gods and for the God of Israel.

As a name of God it is used chiefly in poetry and prophetic discourse, rarely in prose, and then usually with some epithet attached, as El Qanna (God jealous).¹⁴ Other examples of its use with some attribute or epithet are: El ‘Elyon (“God most high”),¹⁵ El Shaddai (“God Almighty”),¹⁶ El ‘Olam (“God everlasting”),¹⁷ El Hai (“living God”),¹⁸ El Ro’i (“God of sight”),¹⁹ El Elohe Israel (“God of Israel”),²⁰ El Gibbor (“God of Might”).²¹ But to the children of Israel, these were applied only of the One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Cyril of Alexandria pens this thought after reading this text: “Peter did not say ‘you are a Christ’ or ‘a son of God’ but ‘the Christ, the Son of God.’ For there are many christened by grace, who have attained the rank of adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature the Son of God. Thus, using the definite article, he said, the Christ, the Son of God. And in calling Him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ Himself is life and that death has no authority over Him. And even if the flesh, for a short while, was weak and died, nevertheless it rose again, since the Word, who indwelled it, could not be held under the bonds of death.”²²

We weren’t there to see if Jesus smiled after Peter made this declaration, or if the other disciples shook their heads in agreement. But from what our Lord says next, it is quite certain that Peter had given the correct answer. Not only was it true, He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, but more than that, Peter’s confirmation and even Jesus’ own agreement were still not enough to convince some, so that’s why our Lord informs Peter and everyone in the group as to where that answer came from, and why it can be trusted as authentic. Therefore, being aware of Peter and his mental abilities, Jesus was uninhibited in telling this future apostle that this revelation had not come through his own thinking as a logical conclusion, but it was granted him by a source to whom both of them were accountable, the Father in heaven.

Verse 17: Jesus answered, “What a blessing, Simon son of Jonah. No one taught you that. It was my Father in heaven who showed you who I am.”

In some Jewish writings we find the name “Simon” is also written as “Simeon.”²³ So, up to this point, Peter may have been called by his Hebrew name. Also, as Jesus points out, what Peter just expressed, could not have come simply by way of his own intuition, reasoning, or logic. As one venerable Rabbi said that in order to understand the divine: “A human being of flesh and blood, who cannot exactly know his times and his moments, must move from the natural to the supernatural in their thinking.”²⁴ In others words, man uses his own intelligence and vocabulary to explain divine wisdom. Therefore, any ensuing explanation is vulnerable to misinterpretation. But, when he receives a divine revelation from God there is no room for error, because God is truth.

So what Peter said about Jesus was not from man’s point of view, but from God in heaven. This should have been no surprise to the disciples, after all, did not the Scriptures say: “I, the LORD, will teach your children.”²⁵ This was a treasured promise held tightly by the Jews. Little did they know that the Messiah would come as a prophet from Nazareth to be their teacher. But one Jewish scholar seems to have seen a glimmer of light when examining this verse. He says: “In keeping with the abundance of precious stones and pearls of purest ray,²⁶ the time of the Messiah is four times referred to in Scripture as a time of abundant peace.²⁷”²⁸ In other words, the Messiah would not come to make war and liberate them from foreign rule, as many Jews expected, but to bring peace. Not peace in the political or civil sense, but peace of mind that God has come as promised to bring salvation to all who believe. As the angel choir sang upon His birth, “Peace on earth to men of good will.”