The First Christian! Matthew 16:13-20

 Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

"Jesus again withdrew from the mainly Jewish region of Galilee and came to a place more populated by Gentiles. This was likely a retreat from the pressing crowds." (Guzik)

Jesus had now revealed himself in many ways with signs, wonders, and teaching how God's kingdom came through Him.  Many Gentiles accepted Jesus by faith, the religious leaders rejected him, and now Jesus checks in to see what his disciples think of him.  

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Basically most people thought Jesus was a prophet.  Elijah and Jeremiah were prophets in the Old Testament, and John the Baptist was the one Elijah predicted.  Since John the Baptist had already come and announced Jesus' coming, it is strange they confused Jesus with him.  

"The general tendency in all these answers was to underestimate Jesus; to give Him a measure of respect and honor, but to fall far short of honoring Him for who He really is." (Guzik)

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Jesus was more interested in who his disciples thought he was rather than the general crowds.  He asks them the question he asks every one of us, "Who do you say I am?"  At the end of our lives, when we come before God, he will not ask us what other people said about His Son, but who did we say he is?  

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Though Peter often makes mistakes, is often brash and impulsive, and generally good at sticking his foot in his mouth, he GETS IT RIGHT here!  Peter is the first person in the history of the world to acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah (the Savior) and the Son of the living God!  He is the first CHRISTIAN.  

"Peter understood that Jesus was not only God’s Messiah, but also God Himself. The Jews properly thought that to receive the title “the Son of the living God,” in a unique sense, was to make a claim to deity itself." Guzik

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 

Though Peter is to be commended for getting it right, it was not something he conjured up on his own.  The identity of Jesus was revealed to Him by God the Father.  This reminds me of Martin Luther's Small Catechism where he states,

"I cannot by my own understanding or effort come to know Jesus as Lord, but the Holy Spirit has called me with the gospel, enlightened me with its gifts, and sanctified me in the one, true faith."

"This also speaks to us of our need for a supernatural revelation of Jesus. “If you know no more of Jesus than flesh and blood has revealed to you, it has brought you no more blessing than the conjectures of their age brought to the Pharisees and Sadducees, who remained an adulterous and unbelieving generation.” (Spurgeon)

18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 

You probably know that the word for Peter's name ("Petros) is the same word for "rock" in Greek.  

Many commentators different on what exactly "on this rock I will build my church" means.  I think since it was not something Peter did on his own with own supernatural power, it means the rock was Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah.  The church is built on Jesus not our works.

This ROCK defines the message of the church that never changes.   Believing in the Rock, Jesus, is the only way for one to be saved and become part of the body of Christ, the church. Peter follows up with this idea in his letter, 

"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:4-5

"This is the first use of the word church in the New Testament (or the Bible for that matter), using the ancient Greek word "ekklesia". Significantly, this was well before the beginnings of what we normally think of as the church on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2." (Guzik)

19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

Again there is a lot of speculation on what the phrase "I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" means.  But we know they represent authority.  This is one of the verses the Catholic church bases its theology of the church on.  They see the authority they have as THE church to make statements which binding on the church for what they bind on earth is what is bound in heaven.  To be honest this is ONE way to interpret these verses.  But where does the other support of this come from.   

This is also where the idea that Peter was the first "pope" comes from.  And the idea is that every generational leader following Peter follows in "apostolic succession" to him.  Catholics believe the current standing Pope is in the historic line of Peter's apostleship.  This is also called the "historic episcopate", and where the term bishop comes from.  This line of thinking is found in the Catholic church and in the various Orthodox churches (I.e. Greek, Armenian, Eastern).  

To a lesser extent Protestant denominations, like Lutheran and Episcopal, have some structure with a bishop having apostlic authority, but it is in a different sense than the Catholic church.  In Protestant church all authority comes from the Word of God, not the Church.  Also within the Lutheran church there is a wide continuum of how Lutheran churches and denominations within the Lutheran church (I.e. ELCA, LCMS and LCMC) interpret these verses.  Some move more to the Catholic view of the historic episcopate, and other intepret these verses in a "congregational" sense.  I.e. each church's authority and matters of life and faith are not governed by the bishop in their particular synod (region). 

Yet, we do see there is power given to the church in the proclamation of the gospel, that Jesus is both our Savior and our Lord!  This proclamation of the gospel is what the church is built on and Satan and his minions will never be able to destroy the church when it is built upon this ROCK!

20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

This was not so much in the sense of Jesus wanting the disciples to be ashamed to witness for him, but it was not yet time for them to begin full scale evangelism yet.  We will see soon in the book of Acts where the proclamation of the gospel will go out powerfully starting in Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.  

Have you ever come to the point in your life where you, like Peter, confessed to Jesus, "You are the Christ the Son of living God."?  It is on this confession that you are saved from your sin, but also the rock upon which you become a living stone and part of the body of Christ, the church!  Jesus has given you similar evidence that he gave the disciples, primarily thorugh His written word, but also by other followers who have given witness to their confession of faith.  Jesus clearly claimed to be more than a prophet.  We all have to come to terms with Jesus' claim to be the Son of God.  He has no qualms with us examining the evidence, but it is evidence that demands a verdict!