Churches can be quirky, especially when it comes to their publications. Several years ago, an anonymous list of misprints in church bulletins started circling around the Internet. It included the following:

Don’t let worry kill you off – let the church help.

The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church.

A song fest was hell at the Methodist church Wednesday.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, “Break Forth Into Joy.”1

While it is okay to be careless with the church’s bulletins, it is not okay to be careless with the church’s identity.2 It is not okay to just throw a few Christians together, come up with a flashy name, and call that a church. It is not okay to meet in a coffee shop once a week to discuss theology and call that a church. It is not okay to watch a sermon on television and say you are meeting with the church. It is not okay to unite together with other Christians over important issues like the sanctity of life or the sanctity of marriage and call that a church.3

There is nothing wrong with attending a church with a catchy name or meeting at a coffee shop to discuss theology. There is also nothing wrong with watching sermons on television or standing up for the unborn. It is only wrong to call that a church. It is wrong to confuse those things with the church because God has something much bigger in mind.

What is the church?

If the church is not a flashy name and a weekly meeting in a coffee shop, what is it? If the church is not about watching sermons on television or coming together to protest gay marriage, what is it all about?

The church could be defined as “the people of God from the time of Israel to the time of the rapture.”4 In the Old Testament, the people of God were the Jews.5 They were the children of Abraham,6 the heirs of the Promise Land,7 the keepers of the Law of Moses,8 and the ancestors of the Messiah.9

In the New Testament, the people of God are not Jew or Gentile.10 They are a multi-ethnic organization known as the church.11  It is important to mention, as this definition indicates, that the church will not continue forever on this earth. It will never die, as we will see in a moment, but it will one day leave this planet.12 It will be taken away to meet the Lord in the air. First Thessalonians 4:16-17 says:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

The church has a beginning and the church will have an end. There will be a time when it stops ministering on this earth.13

Unfortunately, you cannot turn to one passage in the Bible to find out everything you want to know about the church. The idea grows as you read through the New Testament.14 However, Matthew 16 gives us the first time the word appears in the Bible. Verse 13 gives us some background for the passage:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

In the First Century, Caesarea Philippi was located in the northernmost territory of Israel.15 It was also the farthest Jesus would ever travel away from Jerusalem.16 Because of its location, it was composed almost entirely of non-Jews.17 While Matthew does not come right out and say it, we can infer that Jesus went there to be alone with His disciples.18

While He was there, Jesus asks them this question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”19 In verse 14, they answer Him.

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

John the Baptist and Elijah and Jeremiah and the prophets were considered by many in the First Century to be forerunners of the Messiah.20 In Jewish celebrations today, an empty chair is reserved at the dinner table for Elijah in the hopes that he will come and tell everyone that the Messiah has come.21

The disciples tell Jesus that this is what the crowds say about Him. The crowds are saying that He is Elijah. They are not saying that He is the Messiah. They are saying that He has come to announce him. He has come to prepare the way for the One Who would save Israel.22

So Jesus takes this conversation a step further in verse 15 by asking them another question.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

In the original language, the sentence could read: “But you, who do you say that I am?”23 The crowds are saying that Jesus has come to announce the Messiah but Jesus wants to know what the disciples are saying. They go on to tell Him and, in doing so, give us 4 characteristics of the church.

I. THE CHURCH HAS A COMMON CONFESSION

Peter answers Jesus in verse 16.

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

Peter says that whereas the crowds say that Jesus is John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, the disciples say He is the Messiah.24 Whereas the crowds say that Jesus is the Messiah’s forerunner, the disciples say that Jesus is the Messiah Himself.

The way that Peter says this is very striking. In verse 16, there are 10 words in the Greek and 4 of them are a definite article. The verse could be translated this way: “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the God, the Living One.”25 When it comes to salvation, there is no one else. Jesus is it.26

This is a very short confession but it shows very clearly that Peter and the disciples are born again.27 Verse 16 says that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah Who would redeem Israel from her sins. It shows that Jesus is the only way to salvation. He is “the Christ.” Not one among many but the only Christ. He is also the Son of God. He is divine.

Look at how Jesus responds to this in verse 17:

And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

This is the only time that Peter’s full name is given to us in the Bible28 and this is done for a reason. “Simon Bar Jonah” means “Simon son of Jonah.”29 Jesus’ point is that, just as Peter is the son of Jonah, Jesus is the Son of God. Just as Peter has the same nature as his earthly father, Jesus has the same nature as His Heavenly Father.

He also says that Peter has received this message from God. It did not come from flesh and blood. It did not come from another human being.30

The true church has a common confession. They always confess Biblical doctrine. To say that another way, the true church believes the same thing. Whether it meets in India or in Indiana, it believes that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It may not have a common confession in everything, but it has a common confession in that.

I have been in full-time ministry for a few years now and I have heard countless confessions of faith from church members and other professing Christians. Many of them are encouraging but many of them, to be honest, are not, because they leave all of this out. They talk about everything under the sun except Jesus.

Here is a sample of the confessions that I typically hear:

I grew up in a Christian home where my parents took me to church every Sunday. We also attended church on Wednesday nights, Vacation Bible School, summer camp, and I even went to a Christian High School. When I was 6 years old, at a revival service, the preacher told us that anyone who wants to be saved needs to come down front and he would pray for them. I felt really compelled to come and I did. He prayed with me and that night, I accepted Jesus into my heart.

Throughout my teenage years, I went away from the Lord but seeing my best friend die of cancer brought me back. As I was leaving the hospital one afternoon, a song came on the radio which said that ‘God is love’ and I knew that He had a better plan for my life. I also knew that I needed to get right with Him so the next week at church I rededicated my life to Jesus.

Since then, I have been blessed to be involved in many activities in the churches where we have attended. I have taught Sunday School, sung in the choir, memorized Scripture with my family, and even served for 2 years as church treasurer. In 2009, I felt a strong call to find a new church when we moved to Central Indiana. When we drove by and saw the sign for Plainfield Bible Church, we knew that this is the place for us. We look forward to being a part of the ministry here.31

This confession is all about “me.” It is about who I am and what I did. It does not mention Jesus Christ at all. It mentions good things but it does not mention the One Who reconciles us to God.

My point is that the church has a common confession and that confession is “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” If you do not confess that, you are not a part of the church. If you leave that out, you leave out everything.

II. THE CHURCH HAS AN UNDYING DURATION

This conversation continues in Matthew 16:18. After Peter’s confession, Jesus tells him:

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;32 and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

On the outskirts of Caesarea Philippi was an enormous rock known as Mount Hermon. It was the tallest mountain in Israel. It rose as high as 9,000 feet and could be seen 120 miles away.33 The city of Caesarea Philippi was actually built at the foot of it.34

Here Jesus uses that as an illustration of Peter’s upcoming ministry in the church. Peter will be the rock that the church is built upon. Peter’s name actually meant “rock” in Greek.35 So this was a play on Peter’s name and his environment.

It is important to mention that this does not mean that Peter was a Super-Apostle.36 After all, verses 21-23 go on to say:

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Peter went from being a “rock” to a “stumbling block” all in one chapter. That cancels out his chances of being a Super-Apostle. He was a man just like another other man, but Jesus calls him a rock because he will be the first Apostle to evangelize the Gentiles.37 God will use him to build the foundation of His church.38 The Book of Acts tells us that before Peter, the church was made up exclusively of Jews. He was the first Apostle to break the racial barrier and tell Gentiles about the Lord Jesus Christ.39

Jesus refers to all of that in verse 18. He does not mean that the church depended on Peter. He means that the church began with Peter. In that sense, he is the foundation. He is the rock.

Let me also point out what Jesus says at the end of the verse. He says, “And the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” “Hades” is another word for “death.”40 It was a reference to the unseen world where people go when they die. The Lord uses that expression here to say that death will not overpower His church. It will not overcome it and prevail against it. The church will be here until it is raptured, and then it will be in Heaven.41 It will never die. It will never go to Hades.

The church has an undying duration. It will always be victorious. It will persevere no matter what the trial and no matter what the persecution. It is very common to hear people say that they are worried about our country today.42 They are worried about how hard it is going to be to live as a Christian if things keep getting worse.

That needs to be kept in perspective. It would have been much harder to be a Christian in the Middle Ages than it is today. There was no Bible translated into the common language in the Middle Ages. There was no teaching of salvation by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone. Church leaders told their people to pray to dead saints and to get into Heaven by their good works.43

Can you imagine how hard it would be to be a Christian back then? We do not have it that bad. Our country may come to that in the future, but it is not there yet.

My point is that, if the church can survive the Dark Ages, it can survive universal healthcare. If the church can make it through those years, it can make it through the absence of prayer in the public schools. This does not minimize the danger of what is going on right now, but it keeps it in perspective. The church will be triumphant. The people of God will be victorious.

The author Samuel Stone wrote a hymn about this called “The Church’s One Foundation.” He said:

Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war,
[The church] waits the consummation of peace forevermore;
Till with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious shall be the Church at rest.44

The church has an undying duration. We will always be here until the Lord calls us home.

III. THE CHURCH HAS A POWERFUL POSSESSION

Jesus goes on to explain the role of the church to Peter in Matthew 16:19. He says:

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven . . .

A key opens things that are locked. My first official decision as the Associate Pastor of Plainfield Bible Church was to lock myself out of my office. On my first day at work, I was unpacking boxes and I locked my office door and then later realized I did not have a key. That was a problem because all of my stuff was in there. Keys allow us to get inside places where valuables are stored.45

Notice here that Jesus says He will give Peter, and by extension the church, the keys to the kingdom of Heaven.46 The keys are not the keys to Heaven. They are the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. In other words, Peter and the church are not the ones who will decide who gets into Heaven.47 They are the ones who know how to get there.

They have the keys. They know that there is a Savior for those who have broken God’s Law. They know that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus is using figurative language to show that the disciples know how to unlock to mystery of eternal life. They know how to get into Heaven.

Later on in Matthew, Jesus tells the Scribes and Pharisees:

Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you shut off the Kingdom of Heaven from people.48

The Pharisees with their false religion of works shut the kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, but Peter and the disciples will open it with a religion of grace. The church has the only tool or key that can bring people into the presence of God. It has a powerful possession. It is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Christians often forget this about the church. They keys to the kingdom of Heaven have not been given to the television or to a coffee shop. They have not been given merely to those with flashy names or those who stand for important, worthwhile causes. They have been given to the church. The church has the key to unlock the meaning of life and the way to have your sins forgiven. It has the bread and the water of life to offer to dying men.

This quickly leads to the fourth characteristic of the church.

IV. THE CHURCH HAS A PROMINENT PROFESSION

What is the church supposed to do with this powerful possession? What is the church supposed to do with these keys? Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:19:

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

For a Rabbi in Jesus’ day to “bind something” was another way for him to say that he forbade it. For a Rabbi to “loose something” was another way for him to say that he permitted it.49 It was a way of saying that God forbids this and permits that. It was a way of giving the Law.

With that in mind, Jesus gives the church that authority.50 The disciples are about to disassociate themselves from the Jewish religion. They are about to disassociate themselves from the teachings of the Pharisees and the Rabbis and the Scribes and follow Jesus alone.51 But, as they do that, they are given a special authority to speak on His behalf and show people what He forbids and what He permits.

The church can only do this as it correctly interprets the Bible. The church does not create the Law of God. It merely affirms the Law of God.52 We have no authority to speak on God’s behalf where God has not spoken in the Scriptures.53

This is why Jesus says, “And whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in Heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in Heaven.”54 We do not bind or loose anything. It is already bound or loosed in Heaven and we merely affirm it.

This is seen also in in Matthew 18:15-17. This is the second time the word “church” appears in the Bible.

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Not only is it the church’s job to affirm what God has said, but it is the church’s job to affirm who is in the faith and who is not. It is the church’s job to say that this person is living like a Christian and that person is not.55 This is unpleasant stuff, but just as the church forbids certain things to be done on earth, the church forbids certain people to call themselves followers of Jesus Christ on earth. We do not save them, but we do affirm or deny whether they are giving evidence of their salvation.56 This is why verse 18 goes on to say:

Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

The church forbids or permits people to join its membership. It affirms who is living like they are going to Heaven and who are not. It is our prominent profession to do so. It is our job.

We must make sure to always do this in a spirit of love and grace. We must be careful to never practice church discipline for the wrong reasons. We must be patient and loving and all of those things. But this does not take away from the fact that the church must deal with sin. The church must bind what has already been bound in Heaven and loose what has already been loosed in Heaven.

CONCLUSION

 

Several years ago, I was at a Christian sports camp when a young lady gave her testimony. She was a college swimmer and spent most of her time practicing in the pool. She told the camp that she could worship God just as much in the pool as she could in the church.

That is not true because the pool does not have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Her swim team does not have the authority to bind and loose that which has already been bound and loosed in Heaven. Furthermore, her teammates do not come together because of their common faith in Jesus Christ;57 they come together to swim. They do not take communion together58 or baptize new believers (pun intended).59 They do not exhort one another to love and good deeds60 or sit under the teaching of the Word of God.61 They do not follow the leadership of qualified elders62 and practice church discipline.63

This is not to say that there are no Christians on her swim team; this is to say that her swim team is not the church. You can worship God whether you join the swim team or not. You cannot worship God whether you join the church or not. The church is indispensable.   Every time the Christian religion is mentioned in the New Testament, it is mentioned with some connection to the local church. Every letter that was written by an Apostle was written to a local church or to the leader of a local church.

To say this another way, the Bible never says “You have to join a church,” but it never says “God exists,” either. It just assumes both. You cannot read the Bible without seeing that it teaches the existence of God, and you cannot read the Bible without seeing that it teaches the necessity of church membership.

I pray that you would find a church that is bold enough to do everything mentioned in this article. I pray that you would strive hard to serve the body of Christ in your community and that God would receive all the glory for it.

 

 

1. “44 Funny Church Bulletin Bloopers To Make You Smile” by Charles Specht, March 19, 2012 at www.pastors.com. [↩]
2. It is not “okay” to be careless with church bulletins. My points is simply that church identity is more important than church bulletins. [↩]
3. For more information on why it is not okay to call such organizations a church, see “The Church and the Parachurch” in this edition of JTST. [↩]
4. This is my definition and it is admittedly more dispensational than covenantal. According to Wayne Grudem, the church is “the community of all true believers for all time” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000 ed.) 1238). The problem with this definition is that there is an obvious difference in the New Testament between the church and the people of Israel. For instance, Israel is a race (Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-16; 15:4-5; 17:6-8), while the church is made up of many races (Acts 15:6-29; Gal 3:28). Israel was its own government (Ex 19:5-6), while the church is to submit to the governing powers of the day (Rom 13:1-7; Titus 3:1). Robert Saucy summed it up well: “The New Testament never confuses Israel and the church. As opposed to the church, which is a religious body composed of individuals from all nations, the term Israel retains its reference to that people which came physically from the loins of Abraham” (Robert Saucy, The Church in God’s Program (Chicago: Moody Press, 1972) 70). Romans 11 makes it clear that the church does not do away with Israel but rather takes its primary place in the kingdom of God for a temporary period of time. In fact, the term “Israel” is used in the Book of Acts 20 times and the term “church” is used 20 times, and they are always kept distinct. A great work on the distinction between Israel and the church is Ronald E. Diprose’s Israel and the Church (Waynesboro, Georgia: Authentic Media, 2014). [↩]
5. Obviously this is simplifying things a little bit because there were believers before the people of Israel. Hebrews 11:1-7 says that Abel, Enoch, and Noah believed. There could have been many more as well. The point I am trying to make here is that the bulk of the material in the Old Testament relates to the people of Israel. In fact, from Genesis 12 onwards, the entire Old Testament is devoted to the Jews. [↩]
6. Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-16; 15:4-5; 17:6-8; Ex 3:15-16. [↩]
7. Gen 50:24; Deut 1:8; 6:3, 10; 19:8; 27:3; Joshua 23:5. [↩]
8. The Law of Moses includes the first 5 books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. That the Jews took the Law of Moses seriously can be seen in Jesus’ statements concerning Moses. For example, in Mark 10:4, when some Pharisees question Jesus about the Law’s position on divorce, He says: “What did Moses command you?” In Luke 5:14, after healing a man of leprosy, Jesus tells him: “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded . . .” Similar statements are made in Matthew 19:8, Mark 7:10, Luke 16:31, John 5:46. The Jews clearly saw themselves as keepers of the Law of Moses. [↩]
9. 2 Samuel 7:11-13 is one of the Old Testament passages that discuss the Jewish origin of the Messiah: “The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” Other Messianic passages that discuss the Messiah’s Jewish origin include Jeremiah 23:5 and Micah 5:2. [↩]
10. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. by E. A. Livingstone (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977) 209. A Gentile is “a Biblical term usually denoting non-Jews.” [↩]
11. I use the word “organization” here for lack of a better word. It has often been said that the church is an organism, not an organization, because it is the living body of Christ (1 Cor 12). While that is true, “organism” sounds a little funny in this sentence. [↩]
12. Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology, Revised and Expanded (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2008) 721. This is known as the rapture. The term means “‘caught up’ . . . referring to Christ’s return in the air and the sudden catching up of the church to be with Him.” In the Book of Revelation, the church disappears after chapter 3, indicating that it will be raptured before the Great Tribulation occurs. [↩]
13. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 talks about the rapture as well when it says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” [↩]
14. For example, it is not until the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 that the Apostles make an official decision to include Gentiles into the church. [↩]
15. John MacArthur, Matthew16-23 in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1988) 18. “Caesarea Philippi was but a few miles from the ancient Jewish city of Dan, which for centuries had been considered the northernmost boundary of the Promised Land.” [↩]
16. Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1967 ed.) 160-161. [↩]
17. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew in The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992) 419. Caesarea Philippi was a “largely pagan territory.” [↩]
18. William Hendrickson, Matthew in New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2002 ed.) 641-642. “It was a landscape of unforgettable picturesqueness, a place exactly suited to the purpose for which Jesus wished to use it, namely, for prayer (Luke 9:18) and for imparting instruction to his disciples.” Few people would bother Jesus in a Gentile city. [↩]
19. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. by Ronald F. Youngblood (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986) 667. Jesus used the title Son of Man to “refer to Himself as the one who exercised exceptional authority – authority delegated to Him by God.” It came from Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 7:13: “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.” [↩]
20. James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2001) 304. “The surprising thing is that no one was suggesting that Jesus was the Messiah, though that speculation had been made of John the Baptist. Apparently, Jesus did not match up to anyone’s messianic expectations.” [↩]
21. MacArthur, 19. [↩]
22. This was actually the role of John the Baptist. Luke 3:16-17 quotes John as saying, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” [↩]
23. Hendrickson, 642-643. “In the original, enormous stress is placed on ‘But you.’ This personal pronoun, second person plural, stands at the very head of the question.” [↩]
24. Peter also acted as spokesman for the disciples in Matthew 15:15; 17:4, 24-25; 18:21; 19:27. [↩]
25. Boice, 305. [↩]
26. This reminds us of Jesus words in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” [↩]
27. All of the disciples were born again except for Judas Iscariot. In John 17:12, Jesus calls him “the son of perdition.” [↩]
28. R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew in The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007) 617. [↩]
29. Ibid., 620. [↩]
30. Matthew Poole, Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible, Volume III (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008 ed.) 76. “By flesh and blood our Savior meaneth man, and the reason and wisdom of man.” [↩]
31. This was not an actual testimony from anyone that I know. I created it for our leaders-in-training at Plainfield Bible Church. [↩]
32. Saucy, 11. This is the first mention of the word “church” in the Bible, which is ekklesia in Greek. “It is derived from the verb ekkaleo, a compound of ek, ‘out,’ and kaleo, ‘to call or summon,’ which together mean ‘to call out.’” [↩]
33. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 559. [↩]
34. Morris, 419. [↩]
35. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, trans. By Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Volume VI (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006 ed.) 100-101. [↩]
36. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Catechism of the Catholic Church (Citta del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994) 142-143. The Roman Catholic view of Peter is akin to this. They consider him to be a Super-Apostle. Consider these words: “Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him . . . The power to ‘bind and loose’ connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.” [↩]
37. H. A. Ironside, Matthew (Baltimore, Maryland: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1994ed.) 121-122. In commenting on Matthew 16:19, H. A. Ironside makes a helpful comment on verse 18: “The keys of this kingdom were entrusted to Peter. Note, He did not give Peter the keys to Heaven. Such a notion is the grossest superstition. A key is designed to open a door. On Pentecost, Peter opened the door of the kingdom to the Jews; in Cornelius’ house he opened the door to the Gentiles.” Peter played a key role in the foundation of the church. [↩]
38. D. A. Carson, Matthew in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984) 374. “Peter was the foundation, the first stone laid: he enjoys this ‘salvation historical primacy,’ and on him others are laid. This results in certain special roles in the earliest years of the Christian church. But notions of hierarchy or sacerdotalism are simply irrelevant to the text.” [↩]
39. See Acts 10. In one sense, Peter was also the first Apostle to break the barrier with Israel. His sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 led to the conversion of 3,000 Jews. [↩]
40. Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28 in Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 33 B (Nashville, Tenn.: Word Incorporated, 1995) 472. [↩]
41. Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1999 ed.) 537. “The Rapture of the church means the carrying away of the church from earth to heaven.” [↩]
42. “Those Idiots in Washington Don’t Know Jack about the Economy” by Henry Blodget, July 24, 2012 at www.businessinsider.com. Blodget gives us an example of the concerns many people have: “The most important issue in this year’s election is the economy. But as a survey of economists by the Chicago Booth School makes clear, the last people you should be listening to about how to fix the economy are the people in Washington. Why? Because they don’t know jack about the economy. (Or, more likely, they know something about the economy but they care a lot more about getting elected than fixing the economy, so they’ll say whatever they think will get them elected.)” [↩]
43. This is because the church was run by the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. For more information about the Middle Ages, see S. M. Houghton’s Sketches from Church History (Carlisle, Penn.: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2011 ed.) 9-78. For more information about Roman Catholicism, see John Ankerberg & John Weldon’s The Facts on Roman Catholicism (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers, 1993). [↩]
44. The Baptist Hymnal (Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1991) 350. [↩]
45. Carson, 370. “The person with the keys has the power to exclude or permit entrance (cf. Rev 9:1-6; 20:1-3).” [↩]
46. A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume I (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1930) 134. “The same power here given to Peter belongs to every disciple of Jesus in all the ages . . . Clearly neither Peter nor the rest understood Jesus to say here that Peter was to have supreme authority . . . The binding and loosing is repeated by Jesus to all the disciples (18:18). Later after the Resurrection Christ will use this same language to all the disciples (20:23), showing that it was not a special prerogative of Peter. He is simply first among equals, primus inter pares, because on this occasion he was spokesman for the faith of all.” [↩]
47. J. C. Ryle, Matthew in Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Volume One (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2007 ed.) 193, 194. “Do these words mean that the right of admitting souls to heaven was to be placed in Peter’s hands? The idea is preposterous . . . The true meaning of the promise to Peter appears to be, that he was to have the special privilege of first opening the door of salvation, both to the Jews and Gentiles.” See Footnote 40. [↩]
48. Matt 23:13. [↩]
49. Robertson, 134. [↩]
50. John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in Calvin’s Commentaries, Volume XVI (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005 ed.) 294. “The substance of this statement is, that Christ intended to assure his followers of the salvation promised to them in the Gospel, that they might expect it as firmly as if he were himself to descend from heaven to bear testimony concerning it; and, on the other hand, to strike despisers with terror, that they might not expect their mockery of the ministers of the word to remain unpunished.” [↩]
51. Morris, 427. The disciples are not dissociating themselves from the Old Testament but from the extra laws and rules added by the scribes and Pharisees. See Jesus’ “woes” in Matthew 23 for more on this. [↩]
52. Normal L. Geisler & William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971) 43. In other words, this passage does not teach that the church has the authority to create the Bible. “The Bible is God’s word in the same sense that The Critique of Pure Reason is the objective declaration of Immanuel Kant . . . It is written, Kant has spoken and is speaking. So it is with the Bible and God. The Bible is written, God has spoken and is speaking through it.” [↩]
53. The Facts on Roman Catholicism, 34. This is very different from the Roman Catholic view of the church. “As noted before, Catholicism accepts sacred Tradition as having divine authority: Vatican II emphasized that Catholic Scripture and Tradition ‘form one sacred deposit of the Word of God.’” [↩]
54. Italics added. [↩]
55. Morris, 469. “The person [who has been disciplined] has done what he should not have done . . . He has taken the role of the pagan and the tax collector. Both these expressions stand for people outside the people of God, people who have sinned and not repented, and that is the position of the sinning brother. He has made his choice . . .” [↩]
56. John MacArthur, The Master’s Plan for the Church (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991) 237. “The goal of church discipline is not to throw people out, embarrass them, be self-righteous, play God, or exercise authority and power in some unbiblical manner. The purpose of discipline is to bring people back into a pure relationship within the assembly.” When someone is in sin, they are not in a pure relationship with the church or with God. They are not giving evidences of their salvation, and the discipline process is done for the purpose of calling them to account for that and warning them. [↩]
57. Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” [↩]
58. 1 Cor 11:23-34. [↩]
59. Matt 28:18-20. [↩]
60. Heb 10:23-25. [↩]
61. 2 Cor 4:1-2; 2 Tim 4:1-2; Heb 10:23-25. [↩]
62. 1 Tim 3; Titus 1; Heb 13:17. [↩]
63. Matt 18:15-17; Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 5; Titus 3:10-11. [↩]