16:18 "I say to you"(cf. 5:18, 20, 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44; 8:10) may imply that Jesus would continue the revelation the Father had begun. However the phrase occurs elsewhere where that contrast is not in view. Undoubtedly it means that Jesus was about to teach the disciples something, at least.
Jesus drew attention to Peter's name because He was about to make a pun on it. The English name "Peter"is a transliteration of the Greek name Petros. Petrostranslates the Aramaic word kepa. This word transliterated into Greek is Kephasfrom which we get "Cephas"in English (John 1:42; et al.). The Aramaic word kepawas an accepted name in Jesus' day (cf. 4:18). It means "rock."Peter's nickname was "Rocky."Petroscommonly meant "stone"in pre-Christian Greek, but kepa, which underlies the Greek, means "(massive) rock."624It is incorrect to say that the name "Peter"describes a small stone.
There are three main views about the identity of "this rock."The first is that Jesus meant Peter was the rock.625Peter's name meant "rock,"so this identity seems natural in the context. Moreover, Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Jesus' subsequent confirmation of his confession also points in that direction. Peter became the leading disciple in the early church (Acts 1-12), a third argument for this view.
However, Jesus used two different words for "Peter"and "rock."Matthew recorded the Aramaic distinction in Greek. If Jesus had wanted to identify Peter as the rock on which He would build the church, the clearest way to do this would have been to use the same word. While Peter's confession triggered Jesus' comment about building His church on a rock, it did not place Peter in a privileged position among the disciples. Jesus never treated Peter as though he occupied a favored position in the church because he made this confession. Third, the New Testament writers never connected Peter's leadership in the early church with his confession. That rested on divine election, Jesus' command to strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:32), and Peter's personality.
A second view is that Jesus meant the truth that Peter confessed, namely that Jesus is the Messiah and God, was the rock.626This position has in its favor the different words Jesus used for "rock"and the definite "this"before "rock"as identifying something in the immediately preceding context. Furthermore other New Testament references to the foundation of the church could refer to the truth concerning Jesus' person and work (Rom. 9:33; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:5-8).
Nevertheless calling the truth about Jesus a rock when Jesus had just called Peter a rock seems unnecessarily confusing. The addition of "this"only compounds the confusion. Finally the other New Testament passages that refer to the foundation of the church never identify that foundation as the truth about Jesus. They point to something else.
This leads us to the third and what I believe is the best solution to this problem. Many interpreters believe that Jesus Himself is the Rock in view.627Peter himself identified Jesus as such in 1 Peter 2:5-8 (cf. Rom. 9:33). This interpretation explains the use of two different though related words for "rock."Jesus and Peter shared belief in the person and work of Christ. Third, this view accounts for the use of "this"since Jesus was present when He said these words. Fourth, the Old Testament used the figure of a rock to describe God (Deut. 32:4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 37; 2 Sam. 22:2; Ps. 18:31, 46; 28:1). Since Peter had just confessed that Jesus was God, it would have been natural for Jesus to use this figure of God to picture Himself.
Critics of this view point out that this interpretation makes Jesus mix His metaphors. Jesus becomes the foundation of the church and the builder of the church. However the New Testament refers explicitly to Jesus as the church's foundation elsewhere (Rom. 9:33; 1 Cor. 3:11; 1 Pet. 2:5-8), and Jesus referred to Himself as the church's builder here. Second, Paul's statement that God builds the church on the apostles and prophets has ruled Jesus out as the foundation for some interpreters (Eph. 2:20). However, the apostles and prophets were the foundation in a secondary sense, Jesus being the chief rock (cornerstone) around which they built (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-11). Third, Peter's prominence among the disciples and in the early church seems to some to argue against Jesus being the foundation in view. Still Peter was only the first among equals. His leadership in the church was not essentially different from the other apostles as the New Testament writers present it.
The next key word in this important verse is "church."The only occurrences of this word (Gr. ekklesia) in all four Gospels are here and in 18:17. The Greek word refers to an assembly of people called out for a particular purpose. It comes from the verb ekkaleo, "to call out from."The Septuagint translators used it of Israel (Deut. 4:10; Josh. 9:2; Judg. 20:2; et al.; cf. Acts. 7:38).628In the New Testament it refers to an assembly of citizens with no religious significance (Acts 19:39).629However, Jesus used it here with a new meaning.
". . . ekklesiawas the only possible word to express the Christian body as distinct from Jews. . . . He had just ended His public ministry in Galilee, had taken the disciples on a long journey alone, and was about to go to Jerusalem with the avowed intention of being killed; no moment was more suitable for preparing His followers to become a new body, isolated both from the masses and from the civil and religious authorities."630
Jesus used the term ekklesiato refer to a new entity that was yet to come into existence. He said He would build it in the future.
"The word buildis also significant because it implies the gradual erection of the church under the symbolism of living stones being built upon Christ, the foundation stone, as indicated in 1 Peter 2:4-8. This was to be the purpose of God beforethe second coming, in contrast to the millennial kingdom, which would follow the second coming."631
Furthermore Jesus claimed the church as His own in a unique sense by calling it "my church."Jesus revealed the existence of this new organism here for the first time in history. There is no Old Testament revelation of its existence. Jesus brought it into being because Israel had rejected her Messiah, and consequently God would postpone the kingdom. In the meantime Jesus would construct an entirely new entity. He Himself would be its foundation and its builder.
Jesus' "church"is not the same as His "kingdom."632Jesus would create a new entity (on the day of Pentecost), but He only postponed the kingdom, which will come into being at His second coming after He has taken the church to heaven (John 14:1-3). "Christians"(believers living in the church age) will return with Jesus Christ at His second coming and will participate in His messianic kingdom on the earth.
"Gates"in biblical usage refer to fortifications (Gen. 22:17; Ps. 127:5). "Hades"is the place of departed spirits (cf. 5:22; 11:23). Together these terms refer to death and dying (Job 17:16; 38:17; Ps. 9:13; 107:18; Isa. 38:10).633Jesus meant that the powers of death, Satan and his hosts doing their most powerful work of opposing life, would not prevail over the church. The church cannot die. This statement anticipated Jesus' resurrection and the resurrection and translation of the church. Even Jesus' death would not prevent His building the church.
This is all that Jesus revealed about the church here. He simply introduced this new revelation to the disciples as a farmer plants a seed. All of their thinking had been about the kingdom. To say more about the church now would have confused them unnecessarily. Jesus would provide more revelation about the church later (ch. 18; John 14-16).
16:19 Jesus resumed talking about the kingdom. In verse 18 His promise looked into the future when the messianic kingdom would exist on earth. He continued this perspective in verse 19. When Peter first heard these words he probably thought that when Jesus established His kingdom he would receive an important position of authority in it. That is indeed what Jesus promised. The kingdom in view is the same messianic (millennial) kingdom that Jesus had been talking about since he began His public ministry. It is not the church. Peter did receive a reward for his confession of Jesus as the divine Messiah. It was not superiority in the church but a position of authority in the kingdom (cf. 19:27-28). Jesus' reintroduction of the subject of the kingdom here helped the disciples understand that the church would not replace the kingdom.
"We must . . . be careful not to identify the ekklesiawith the kingdom. There is nothing here to suggest such identification. . . . To S. Peter were to be given the keys of the kingdom. The kingdom is here, as elsewhere in this Gospel, the kingdom to be inaugurated when the Son of Man came upon the clouds of heaven. . . . The ekklesia, on the other hand, was the society of Christ's disciples, who were to wait for it, and who would enter into it when it came. The Church was built upon the truth of the divine Sonship. It was to proclaim the coming kingdom. In that kingdom Peter should hold the keys which conferred authority."634
The keys in view may represent Peter's authority to admit or refuse admission to the kingdom. However this seems to be Jesus' prerogative as Judge (cf. 3:11-12; John 5:22, 30; Rev. 19:21). Probably the keys stand for the judicial authority that chief stewards of monarchs exercised in the ancient world (Isa. 22:15, 22; cf. Rev. 1:18; 3:7).635They could permit people to enter the monarch's presence or give them access to certain areas and privileges.
The next problem in this verse is the binding and loosing. First, what is the proper translation of the Greek text? The best evidence points to the NASB translation: "Whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."636The "whatever"seems to include people and privileges in view of how the Old Testament described the stewards' use of keys.
". . . the verse is a promise to Peter of a place of authority in the future earthly kingdom. With this promise the Lord gives Peter the basis of the decisions which he shall make. Peter is to discern what is the mind of God and then judge accordingly."637
Peter will evidently determine God's will in particular instances of rendering judgment in the messianic kingdom. Perhaps he will consult the Scriptures or get a direct word from Jesus who will be on earth reigning then. Then he will announce his decision. With his announcement Peter will give or withhold whatever may be involved in the judgment, but he will really be announcing what the divine authority has already decided. All the disciples will have similar judicial functions in the kingdom (19:27-28). Furthermore all Christians will have some judicial function in the kingdom (1 Cor. 6:2-3).
16:20 This warning seems to run contrary to Jesus' purpose to manifest Himself as the Messiah to Israel for her acceptance (cf. Mark 8:30; Luke 9:21). Jesus wanted His disciples to keep a "messianic secret,"namely that He was the Messiah. Jesus was not trying to conceal His true identity, but He was controlling how people would face His identity (cf. 12:38-39; 16:4). If the disciples had broadcast the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, some people would have believed them. However, Jesus wanted people to come to that conviction because of the words He spoke and the works He performed (cf. 11:4, 25-26). These were the tools God had ordained to give people divine insight into Jesus' identity (11:27), as Peter had experienced (v. 17).
"Contrary to common misappropriation of the messianic secret, it was not Jesus' purpose to conceal his messianic identity. It was his purpose to set before Israel symbol-charged acts and words implying a persistent question: Who do you say that I am?"638
Jesus wanted His disciples to stay within the means and limits that He had imposed on Himself for His self-disclosure. They should not appeal for people's acceptance of Jesus because of nationalistic zeal or misguided messianic expectations but because of faith rooted in understanding. Jesus' popularity on a superficial level could short-circuit the Cross. After Jesus' death and resurrection, the disciples could take a more unrestrained approach to calling people to repentance and faith (cf. 10:27). The disciples apparently grasped the danger of people accepting Jesus for superficial reasons, but they did not understand the threat of short-circuiting the Cross, as the next section shows.639
"Why this prohibition? Because although the disciples correctly understand who Jesus is, they do not as yet know that central to Jesus' divine sonship is death on the cross. Hence, they are in no position at this point to go and make disciples of all nations."640
"In the second part of his story (4:17-16:20), Matthew tells of Jesus' ministry to Israel (4:17-11:1) and of Israel's repudiation of Jesus (11:2-16:20). Sent to Israel, Jesus teaches, preaches, and heals (4:23; 9:35; 11:1). He also calls disciples, and commissions them to a ministry in Israel modeled on his own (4:17-11:1). Israel's response to Jesus, however, is one of repudiation (11:2-16:20). Still, even as Israel repudiates him, it wonders and speculates about who he is. Wrongly, the religious leaders think of him as one who acts in collusion with Satan (9:34; 12:24), and the Jewish public imagines him to be a prophet (16:13-14; 21:46). In stark contrast to Israel, the disciples, as the recipients of divine revelation, are led by Jesus to think about him as God thinks' about him, namely, as the Messiah Son of God (16:15-17; 14:33). Nevertheless, because the disciples do not know at this point in the story that the central purpose of Jesus' mission is death, Jesus commands them to silence concerning his identity (16:20)."641
