HEN Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 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. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ"--Matt. xvi:13-20.

      What is called by our Lord his "church" in this [402] passage is not always so designated in the New Testament. It is variously called the "church of God," the "kingdom of God," the "kingdom of heaven," the "house of God," the "temple of God," "God's husbandry," "God's building," "One body," the "body of Christ," etc. These are all descriptive titles of the same thing, each one of some particular phase or feature of it. All of them together pretty fully describe what we commonly call the "church."

      That we may have a pretty comprehensive view of it let us notice briefly each one of its phase titles.

      The name "church" is from a Greek word that means "called out," primarily, and by consequence "called together." It has in it no religious idea necessarily; but, on the contrary, it could be, and was, by the Greeks, applied to any body of people called together, irrespective of the purpose for which they were assembled. The rather uproarious assembly in Ephesus of which we have an account in the nineteenth chapter of Acts of Apostles, "called together" by Demetrius to consider the interests of the craft of the silversmiths endangered by the preaching of Paul, is three times designated by the word from which we have church, but there translated "assembly" in verses 32, 39, 41. True, things took something of a religious turn in that "assembly," but not Christianly so, or after a godly sort. Again, Stephen, in Acts vii:38, calls the children of Israel, who had been called out of Egypt, the "church in the [403] wilderness." The Greek word rendered church in the New Testament, as these instances sufficiently illustrate, meant simply an assembly or congregation of people; a body of people called out and together. And that's all it meant. The character of any particular assembly of people, and the purpose of the assembly, must be learned from other descriptive titles, or circumstances, if learned at all.

      "Church of God" means an assembly of people, "called of God." "My church," in the mouth of our Lord, meant the people he was going to call out of the world. The "church of God," "church of the Lord," and what Jesus calls his church, all, of course, in the New Testament mean the same thing; and is that body of people called of God, called of our Lord, "called," as says Paul, "by our gospel."

      The church of God is not a body of people, however, called together literally and physically, as was the assembly in Ephesus referred to, or as were the children of Israel in the wilderness called "the church in the wilderness." It is a spiritual body, and its members are called out or separated from the world in a spiritual sense, and associated together upon a spiritual basis, and by spiritual bonds. Those who believe in Christ Jesus, obey Him, and trust in Him, are, by such faith, obedience and hope separated from unbelievers and associated together. The call is a spiritual one, and the dissociation and association are spiritual. So that the church is a spiritual body. And the word translated church in [404] the New Testament only describes this spiritually called out feature of the body of Christ.

      "Kingdom" means authority, dominion, government. "Kingdom of God" means government of God. "Kingdom of heaven" is only another form of expressing the same idea. And these designations of the body of Christ are meant to express the government feature of it. The people God calls in Christ Jesus are to be governed, but the government is to be divine and not human--"not of this world," but of heaven.

      What our Lord in one verse of the passage under examination calls his "church," he in the next verse calls "the kingdom of heaven," by church expressing the called out feature, and by "kingdom of heaven" expressing the government feature of the same thing. "The church of God" means the people called out and associated together of God; and "kingdom of God" means the divine government of the same people.

      The phrase "house of God" describes another feature of the same thing: the family feature. The church of God is a family. God dwells in it, and is the Father of all. Jesus dwells in it, and is the elder brother. And all the members are brethren and sisters.

      "The temple of God" describes the worship feature of the same thing. God dwells in his holy temple, and is worshipped there. It is a spiritual temple. It is not one made with men's hands. It is not made [405] of stones. It is not one like that at Jerusalem, grand as that was. It is not like that at Ephesus, built of magnificent stones, all covered with dust and cobwebs, in which the bats hid by day and the crickets chirruped by night; but it is a spiritual temple, made of living stones--believing, hoping, trusting, loving hearts--in which He dwells by His spirit.

      There are several descriptive names by which the church is called that emphasize the work feature of it, such as "vineyard," "building," and "husbandry," or farm. The church is not meant simply for the saved to live in and be happy. It is meant for that, but for more than that. It is the place in which to work. None of us are called out to do nothing. Whom the Lord calls He puts to work, in His vineyard, upon His building, on His farm. They are all co-workers with God. They must be helpers with Him in saving others, and thus work out their own salvation; that is, carry out to its completion their salvation already begun.

      What is so frequently called the church is also called the "body," "the body of Christ," "one body." And this name brings to the forefront the idea of fellowship. The body is not a physical or material, but a spiritual one. It is a "man," "one new man," but it is a spiritual man. We understand something of the intimacy of the relation of all the members of the body of a man. There are many members, but one body, one man. Every member of a living body lives in virtue of its union with [406] the body. Union is the organic law of all life, mineral, vegetable, animal, intellectual and spiritual. It is often said truly that "in union there is strength"; that "united we stand, divided we fall;" and that "united we live, divided we die." We can see how true this is of the members of the human body. It is just as true of a spiritual body--the body of Christ--and for the same reason--in virtue of the same law. "There is one body, and one spirit" in that body. "For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body; and have all been made to drink into one spirit." So intimate is the relation of the members of the body of Christ one to another, that the pain of one is the pain of all; the pleasure of one is the pleasure of all; the honor of one is the honor of all, and the life of one is the life of all. There is "one body," "one spirit," "one Lord," "one faith," "one baptism," and "one God and Father of all."

      To understand, therefore, the various descriptive names applied in the New Testament to what we generally call the church, is to have a pretty comprehensive view of that divine institution.

      In the second place, we learn from the Scripture in hand that, at the time our Lord used this language, his church was not yet founded in the world. This follows manifestly from the expression, "Upon this rock I will build my church." "Will build" [407] is in the future tense, put simply beyond question by "will" the sign of the future. When any one says I will do this or that thing, he means by will to put the accomplishment of the thing after the expression in point of time. This is so manifestly true that one feels like he was saying what is hardly worth while when stating it.

      But we are sometimes told by those who contend for what they call the identity of the church under the Old and New Testament dispensations that the Saviour meant by "will build" no more than that He would continue to build up that which already existed in an incomplete state, as one might build higher or larger a house already in existence. But it is perfectly clear to any one not blinded by a theory, that our Lord was not speaking of building in any such sense. Notice he said not simply, "I will build my church," but "upon this rock I will build my church." He was speaking not of continuing a building, but of fundamental building--of building upon the foundation.

      While the expression "I will build" is in the unlimited future, and fixes no time for its fulfillment; while, for anything there is in that simple expression, the founding of the church might be in the very near or very distant future; still there is a circumstance mentioned in the context that fixes the time in the not very remote future. That circumstance is, that the Saviour said to Peter: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of [408] heaven (meaning by "kingdom of heaven" the same thing as by "my church," with the government feature in front) and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." This clearly means that Peter was to have power at the door of his church, to bind and loose. It is difficult to make it mean less. Some make it mean more. There is a notion entertained by some, grounded upon this promise, that Peter keeps gate to the kingdom of glory. This may or may not be true. But our Lord was not talking of anything of the kind. He was talking of something Peter was to do "on earth." He was to bind and loose on earth. It is a fair inference, then, that the church was to be founded while Peter was yet living on earth. And this accords perfectly with our Lord's words in the last verse of our chapter: "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

      Let us follow this matter up a little further. Six days later we have the transfiguration scene upon the mountain, as recorded in the next chapter. Peter, James and John were there with the Lord. Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the chief of the prophets, appeared and talked with him on the most momentous event in the history of the world, soon to transpire in the city of Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah appeared, it would seem, chiefly to disappear. They disappeared, leaving in sight of the three apostles [409] "Jesus only." And God said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." This meant the coming exaltation of Jesus. It meant the approach of his reign. It meant what Jesus meant when He said a few days before: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it;" when He said, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;" when He said, "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

      A short time after the transfiguration scene, as we learn in the eighteenth chapter, after that there had been some discussion as to who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, "Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xviii:2, 3.) This shows that still the church or kingdom is not founded; or, at any rate, that the disciples were not in it. Peter had no keys yet.

      Let us follow on until after the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord; and in the first chapter of Acts we learn that when Jesus and the disciples "had come together they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (This was their idea of the coming kingdom--that it was to be a restoration of dominion to [410] Israel.) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts i:6-8.) Now this "power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" is evidently just what our Lord meant by "the keys of the kingdom of heaven;" and here the time of the fulfillment of the promise is fixed by the expression "after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Then, after the ascension of our Lord, when the day of Pentecost had come, the Holy Ghost did come upon them--"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts ii:4.) They were now "endued with power from on high." That day, "after that the Holy Spirit had come upon them," Peter preached Christ crucified, buried, risen, ascended and made Lord and Christ in heaven, for the first time it had ever been done.

      Many heard and "were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. . . . Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added about three thousand souls." (Acts ii:37-41.) Here we find Peter speaking with power and [411] authority from heaven. This is the meaning of the symbol of "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," and of binding and loosing on earth, with authority and sanction from heaven. Here, too, the first church was constituted. That is the meaning of "and the same day there were added about three thousand souls"--not added "unto them." There is no "unto them" in the text. Those words were supplied by the translators to make the passage conform to their understanding of the matter. These three thousand souls "added" means simply three thousand souls associated together. This was the first church in the local sense, and the beginning of the church in the general sense. This was the constitution of the first church: three thousand persons called out from the world by faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ, and associated together upon the rock. After this, obedient believers "were added to the church." So that here at Jerusalem, on the first Pentecost after the ascension, we find the church was founded and Peter received the keys; that is, power to bind and loose on earth.

      3. In the third place, What is meant by the rock? When our Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build my church, what did he mean by "this rock?" This is the fundamental question of our passage. It has been answered, and is answered by Romanists, and some others agreeing with them, that our Lord meant Peter himself. And they attempt to sustain their view by arguing from the meaning of the word [412] translated rock and from tradition. They render the passage thus: "Thou art named Peter, that is, stone, and on that very rock I will build my church." Not only do Romanists believe Peter was the rock on which the church was built, but they believe that every succeeding Pope of Rome has in his turn succeeded, in some way, in getting under the church and becoming its foundation stone, as Peter was in the beginning.

      Another view, and the only other, is that by "this rock" the Saviour meant what Peter had just said. It will be remembered that the disciples had been out preaching among the people and had returned, that the Saviour had asked them as to public opinion about him. They had answered. He had also asked them directly, "Who say ye that I am?" Peter had answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus answered, "Blessed art thou Simon, son of Jonas; 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;" that is to say, upon the truth he had uttered.

      Those holding this view understand the Lord's meaning to be about this:

      "Thou art Peter (a stone), and upon this rock (not simply a stone, but "rock;" that is, this truth Peter had just expressed, which had not come to him by flesh and blood), I will build my church." So [413] that is the issue. One, party says our Lord, by "this rock," meant Peter himself; the other says he meant the divine and fundamental truth Peter had just expressed, when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This much may be said without the alarming spectre of philological criticism worrying us much, namely: There is just the difference between the meaning of Peter's name in the Greek, and the meaning of the word rendered "rock" in the passage, that there is between a "stone" and "rock," in the sense of the solid ledge, rock, or cliff. And then they differ in gender, one being masculine and the other neuter. And that is difference enough for much controversy. Mere verbal or philological criticism is all very well in its place, and that is where we are shut up to it. But when we are not so shut up, too much can be made of it. We can lose time on it, and it sometimes causes us to lose sight of common sense, one of God's best gifts to man.

      Let us try common sense on this much disputed question. To begin with, it will be granted by both parties to the controversy, that by "this rock" our Lord either meant Peter, or the truth Peter had just expressed, one or the other. Indeed, it is difficult, in the light of the passage, to find anything else he could have meant. We can have an agreed case thus far; that is, that either Peter himself, or the statement he had just made, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," was meant by [414] "this rock." Now, let us try common sense in seeking an answer to the question, which?

      Whatever the "rock" is, it is the foundation on which the church was to be built. That will not be disputed. And now, is it not a fair presumption that when the apostles go forth to found and build up the church, they will give some prominence to the foundation, whatever it may be? They will hardly ignore it entirely, and make conspicuous other matters not at all fundamental or essential to the church, will they? We may reasonably presume not. Well, when they went forth to found the church, did they preach Peter wherever they went? Did they ever preach Peter to anybody, anywhere, that we know of? Did they ever require anybody to believe in Peter in order to come into the church? Did they require anyone to confess Peter? Did they baptize in the name of Peter, or into Peter? Certainly not. Are we right certain that one-half the persons brought into the church, founded upon the rock, in the times of the apostles, ever knew that there was such a person as Peter? What did the thousands of persons brought into the church by the ministry of Paul, for instance, ever know about Peter? In preaching to sinners, and bringing them to salvation and into the church, no prominence was given by the apostles to Peter over others. Is not all this very strange if Peter was the rock on which the church was built? Is it not, in fact, unaccountable? [415]

      Now, let us try the other view, that by "this rock" our Lord meant the truth Peter had just expressed: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Did the apostles, in founding and building up the church, give any prominence to this truth? Did they preach this to anybody? Did they not preach it to everybody wherever they preached? Is not this statement an embodiment of their preaching, so far as we have any record of it in Acts of Apostles? Did they not upon this truth make the issue between God and men? Did they require any one to believe this? Was not this precisely what they did require all to believe? And was not this all they required persons to believe in order to come into the church? For what purpose were their testimonies written? "These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." (John xx:31.)

      Did the apostles require of believers any verbal confession, and what was it? Was it not this same truth again, which was not revealed at the first by flesh and blood, but by the Father in heaven? And in what name did they baptize believers? Was it not "in the name of Jesus the Christ?" And were not believers "baptized into Jesus the Christ," the Son of the living God? And did they not teach persons who thus "put on the Lord Jesus the Christ," to "walk in him?" To ask these questions is to answer them, to every one even moderately well acquainted with the New Testament scriptures. And does not [416] this look very much like the truth, that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," was made the foundation of the church?

      Let us notice a few passages from the writings of the apostles bearing upon this question. First, we will hear Peter: "To whom (Christ, the Lord) coming, a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the same is made the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" (1 Peter ii:4-8). In this passage the apostle teaches that Jesus, the Christ, is the living stone, the rock, unto whom coming, believers are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up, spiritual sacrifices to God. This is the church of God, called a spiritual house, built on Christ, the Rock. Notice that believers are the lively stones of which it is composed.

      Paul says in his epistle to the Ephesians, who were before their conversion mostly Gentiles: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints; and of the household (or church) of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, (because [417] they laid it) Jesus, the Christ, being the chief corner; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. ii:19-22). How could persons believe in Peter, and come to him, and be fitly framed together upon him as the foundation, who never knew anything of him, who never heard of him, that anybody knows of? As we have already said, no doubt hundreds and thousands of the Gentiles were brought into the church without ever having heard of Peter. No doubt hundreds and thousands of them lived and died in the church of God without knowing anything of that apostle. But, on the other hand, wherever the gospel was preached, no matter by whom, it was made known that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." Nobody came into the church without hearing and believing this.

      This, then, is the rock. This is the foundation, the creed, of the church of God. Hence the language of Paul in his epistle to the church that was in the city of Corinth: "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon; for other (sufficient) foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus the Christ" (I Cor. iii:10, 11). This brief passage teaches several things expressly, bearing upon our subject: It teaches that the foundation of the church "is Jesus [418] the Christ"--of course, as declared to be "the Son of God." It shows how this "is the foundation of the apostles and prophets." They "laid the foundation"--of course, by preaching "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." The passage also teaches that there is no "other" sufficient foundation--no other on which persons can safely build.

      4. Let us briefly consider the question, why did our Lord call the statement of Peter--"thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"--a "rock?" Of course, it was not a rock, literally. Neither was Peter a "stone." The one was called a rock and the other a stone by a figure of speech. And a figure of speech of the kind this is, is simply the calling of one thing by the name of another in some respects different one. Figures of speech are very common in the scriptures, as in almost all languages. We all use them, and generally to give force and emphasis to our thoughts more readily and beyond what we are able to do by the literal use of words. The truth we are considering was called a "rock" no doubt for the same reason that Peter was called a "stone." Rock is solid, lasting, unyielding especially as a foundation on which to build. Our Lord had before this called him a wise man who builds his house upon a rock, and him foolish who builds on the sand. He means by the use of this figure, in our passage, to say with greater emphasis than he could in literal language, that the truth Peter had just expressed was the comprehensive and [419] fundamental truth of Christianity; that it was the truth, revealed not by flesh and blood, but by the Father Himself, on which men might build all their interests for time and eternity; that it would stand all the shocks of time, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it.

      Peter was called a "stone," by our Saviour, no doubt, to indicate his firmness as a man, as "flesh and blood;" and, as compared with others of his fellowman, as measured by men, he was a man of great firmness. Peter was a "stone" among men, but he was not a "rock" large enough and solid enough to support the church of God. Peter was human--"flesh and blood"--as other men are. And so have been all his alleged successors--some of them intensely so--down to the present alleged incumbent. But the foundation of the church of God is not "flesh and blood" nor anything constructed or "revealed by flesh and blood." It was not even revealed by Jesus himself in the flesh; but by the "Father who is in heaven." The fact is the church was not even built on Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, while he was in flesh and blood. The foundation of the church of God is divine and infallible. Peter, firm as he was as a man, failed signally after what our Lord said to him as recorded in our passage. And for the matter of that, faltered even after his conversion and inspiration. But "Jesus the Christ, the Son of God," fails not under any test. It is the foundation God has laid. It is His own comprehensive [420] truth. It will stand until the last battle is fought between truth on the one hand, and all the allied powers of earth and hell on the other.

      In conclusion: What is the meaning of that phrase in our passage, which says, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it?" And, first "against" what? the Rock? or the church built on it? We need not stop here, however, to exercise ourselves in grammar, or to display a bit of critical acumen. It is evident our Lord meant to teach that the gates of hell should not prevail against either the Rock or the church built on it, that for the reason the one should stand, the other should also.

      But what is the meaning of the "gates of hell?" This phrase can be most easily and naturally understood in the literal sense of the words. "Gates," then, are places of entrance, places of ingress and egress; as, for example, we enter a walled city, or any enclosure, through the gates. When heaven is represented as a walled city, it is said that those "who do his commandments," may enter in through the gates into the city. And the word translated "hell" means to those acquainted with the Greek language, "the realm of the dead," "the common receptacle of unembodied spirits." And it is the judgment of the best Biblical critics that it should never be translated "hell," as that English word has a popular meaning altogether different.

      "Gates of hell," then, meant simply "entrance to the state of the dead." This is the most literal and [421] natural sense, and, no doubt, the one in which our Lord used it. This accords with his use of the word Rock in the same connection, and brings prominently forward the most sublime view of the glory and worth of the church of God. From this point of view we may see it towering in matchless beauty and glory above all other confederations of men; eclipsing in power and splendor all earthly kingdoms, empires, and republics, based upon the Rock of Divine truth, while they are founded in the sands of human wisdom and philosophy, and supported only by the arm of flesh.

      None of the governments of this world have or claim any power beyond the gates that open into the realm of the dead. Loyalty to one's civil government is a commendable trait of character. What we call patriotism seems almost a natural thing; and in the present condition of the world is a necessity. We should not disparage civil government. But, after all, what it is to us and for us it is only in and for this world--on this side the gates of death. It cannot follow us through. It does not propose to reclaim us from the prison of death. It does not even knock at the door when its subjects pass through. At the dark gate of death the proudest government on earth surrenders all claim to its subjects. It abandons them there forever, as they pass through. When her distinguished men enter the realm of the dead she lowers her flag and drapes her public buildings, and at least seems to mourn them a few days, and then bids them [422] farewell forever, and sets about filling their places, often with envy, bitterness, and strife, and sometimes in blood.

      Not so the government of our Lord. It is founded upon the Rock. It stretches its proud and mighty wings over all worlds. Its banner waves over the subjects of the King even in the valley of the shadow of death. He must reign till all enemies are subdued. He will destroy death itself. He says: "I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death." He says unto his subjects: "Because I live ye shall live also." His subjects, standing on the Rock that towers high over the wrecks of time, can serve him in this blessed hope, singing as the days go by:

[NTC3 402-423]