November 1924
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
7f7
not prevail against it.” The word “ church” is here used by our Lord for the first time. It means a “ called-out com pany” and Seems appropriate to that little band of disciples. We must not forget the future tense of “ build/’ “ Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” He is the Rock of Ages, whose death and resurrection furnish the historic foundation of the Christian church. There Seems to be a thought of resurrection in the refer ence to “ the gates of Hades.” Hades is the under-world, the place of departed spirits/ In the figure of the gates the thought is that of restraint rather than conflict. Is it not an assurance that there is no power that can keep the spirits of believers in the under-world when the Lord shall call them forth in resurrection? It may refer to the ultimate swallowing up of death in victory at the second coming of the Lord. The keys of the kingdom of heaven are the symbols of authority. When the blaster’s voice shall be silent, the voice of the rock-disciple, and of the other disciples as well, i—for at a later time the same authority was given unto them (John 20:23),— shall have the same power to bind and to loose, to regulate the administration of church affairs, as if the Master Himself were with them. Afterwards He explains how this would be, viz.: by the coming and indwelling of His Holy Spirit. It would be twenty-five or thirty years at least before the first book of the New Testament should be written, nearly a whole generation. Meanwhile, there must be some visible source of authority. When at length the twelve apostles passed off the stage, the New Testament had been completed and by its inspiration had been invested with supreme and Divine authority. The twelve could have no successors (Acts 1:21). Under the Holy Spirit for the past nineteen centuries our visible and all-sufficient authority has been the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. V. 18. The villages near the city, the suburbs, as Mark 8:27 tells us. This was the most northerly point of Christ’s travels, and there, outside of Galilee, Christ escaped both His enemies and His overzealoiis friends. The city was near Dan, the most northern city of the COMMENTS twelve tribes. It was beautifully situ- FROM THE ated on a rocky terrace at the foot of COMMENTARIES Mt. Hermon. The Greeks called the Thomas L. Colwell place Panias (modern, Banias), for Baal, the Syrian Pan, was worshipped; there. On the cliffs near by aré to this day traces of the worship of Baal and Pan. Herod Philip, the tetrarch, rebuilt the city, calling it Caesarea in compliment to the Roman emperor and adding his own name, Philippi ( “ of Philip” ) to distinguish it from the Caesarea (Stratonis) on the sea coast, the Roman capital of Palestine and the city where Paul spent two years in prison. Caesarea Philippi reeked with idolatry, and therefore a declaration of the Messiahship of Jesus, confirming the faith of the apostles, was most opportune)-—Peloubet. The Son of Mán was Christ’s most frequent name for Himself. The title goes 1 back to Dan. 7:13; and was a common designation of the Messiah among the Jews; thus, while the ideal and repre sentative humanity of Jesus is involved in the title, it is also equivalent to an assertion of His deity. What Christ wanted to know was whether His disciples interpreted Him, the Son of Man, as being also the Son of God.:—Peloubet. V. 14. Elijah was expected to return to prepare the way of the Messiah (Mai. 4:5; Matt. 11:14). John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy. And others, Jeremiah. Jeremiah, whose book stood first of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible, was a prophet highly honored by the Jews, standing perhaps ahead of Isaiah in their estimation. The Jews cherished the hope that Jeremiah would return to earth. Did you ever think of the vast difference there was between the characters
of Elijah and Jeremiah? Yet some said about Christ,“ ‘This is Elijah,” and others said, “No, it is Jeremiah.” If you will read again the page of the Old Testament 1 you will appre ciate the gulf between the two. The one is ardent, enthusi astic, fierce sometimes. The other is the prophet of the tender heart and tears. And the remarkable thing is that the common people should have taken these types, which are so wide apart, and should have found in both the character of Christ. In other words, the impression which Jesus made was that of a complex, inclusive person ality, You could not exhaust Him by a single prophet. It took the range of the greatest to portray His character.— Morrison. V. 15. That was what counted, so far-aS they were con cerned. We may be very learned in the views of scholars about Christ, we may be able to explain knotty points of theology, we may be thoroughly familiar with the gospel story, but all this amounts to nothing unless we give Christ our personal allegiance, unless we say with our hearts what Peter said.— Peloubet. V. 16. He has come to be the spokesman of the Twelve. Peter had come to Jesus in response to Andrew’s belief that he was the Messiah (John 1:41). He with the rest had worshipped Jesus as the Son of God (Matt. 14:33) that night in the boat. He had expressed the loyalty of the Twelve to Jesus as the Holy One of God when the crowd left Him in the synagogue ( John 6 : 69) .—Robertson. , V. 17. The following Words of Christ are among the most hotly debated words ever uttered, , Simon, the son of Jonah. “ Bar” is Aramaic for “ son” as in Bar-abbas.— Davidson. “ Flesh and blood” was a common Hebrew expression signifying man. The great truth of Christ’s deity is not implanted in men’s minds by human experience or human reason, by books and argument, by force or the pressure of public opinion. It'is not of the earth, earthy.— Peloubet. V. 18. What was this rock? Peter? Yes, the confessing Peter, not the denying Peter; Peter the humble disciple ,1 not Peter the fancied founder of a proud hierarchy. Was the rock Peter’s faith? Peter’s testimony? Certainly, that also, as typical of similar testimony to follow through the ages. This rock is Peter only as he was the first confessor; this rock is also every true confessor of Christ to the end of time. On all, the Lord will build His church. Admire the freedom and the harmony of inspired Scripture. „ Here, Christ builds, and Peter is the foundation, Elsewhere, Christ builds, and apostles (not one, but many) are the foundation. Elsewhere an apostle builds, and Christ is the foundation, than which none can lay any other.— Vaughan. Who shall describe the gates of hell? Gate the first; Impure literature. There are a million men and women in the United States today reading themselves, into hell! Gate the second: The dissolute dance. You have no right to take an attitude to the sound of music which would be unbecoming in the absence of music. Gate the third: Indiscreet apparel. Modest apparel means a righteous peo ple. Immodest apparel always means a contaminated and depraved society. Gate the fourth: Alcoholic beverage. Tell me that a young man drinks, and I know the whole story.’ If he becomes a captive of the wine-cup he will become a captive of all other vices; only give him time.— Talmage. We may add the gate of infidelity, the gate of gambling, the gate of falsehood, the gate of theft, and many others., The City of Sin has many gates in its walls— and they all open inward.— Peloubet. (tits? i*o V. 19. These verses have been made the basis of the Church of Rome, a religion of dead authority, as against the free and vital spirit of Christ and true Christianity. This interpretation takes the literal instead of the spiritual meaning of the passage, and results a^wa^ in superstition, formalism, and stagnation. Is there an ideal, and invisible, and enduring church of Christ, against’ which the massive gates of the devouring underworld shall not prevail? Is there something in this world which can endure every wrack of time? Yes, there is. But it rests not on an aposto- late whose credentials are the miter and the keys. It rests not in the imposing presence of cathedral fronts. It rests on such a faith in Christ as Peter held, and on such a glad and complete surrender to the wilhof Christ as Peter mani fested in his life.—Dewhurst.
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