Question:
Please explain Matthew 16:17–19, which reads as follows? “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Answer:
In brief: (1) Peter had just confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. (2) Jesus declared that that knowledge did not come through Peter or any other man but that God revealed it to him. (3) Then the Master proceeds to say, “Thou art Peter [Greek, petros, a stone], and upon this rock [Greek, Petra] I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Upon that great truth of divine unfoldment, the revelation and life from above, the confession of that truth in Jesus Christ, would He build His church. It would not be a body of the flesh, as of literal Jews, but a spiritual body, born of God, having hold of the life beyond (John 1:12, 13; 3:3–5). Peter, believing, was a true, living stone (1 Peter 2:5) of that foundation Rock, Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:11). (4) The gates of hell [hades] are the power, or authority, which sin and death hold over men. That power is forever broken in Christ Jesus. (5) “Keys” are instruments that open doors. God first chose Peter to preach salvation by the Gospel keys to Jews and Gentiles (See Acts 2:14; 15:7–14; 10). But that this did not give the primacy to Peter is shown by the fact that James presided at the first apostolic council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:13–21); and the further fact that Peter was in no respect above Paul (Galatians 2:1–11; 2 Corinthians 11:5). (6) The binding and loosing was the binding and loosing force of the message Peter and all the servants of God bore, according to its rejection or acceptance. To accept it was salvation and freedom; to reject it was bondage and destruction. The Bible illustrates this in Jeremiah’s commission (Compare Jeremiah 1:9, 10 with 18:7–10). The binding and loosing, the building and overthrowing, depended on the acceptance or rejection of the message. And so it was with Peter and all the apostles (John 20:23). (7) Every faithful minister who preaches God’s true Gospel bears the same power; he who does not preach that true Gospel has not that power, whatever be his profession.
