Today’s Passage: Matthew 16:13-20
Helpful thoughts:
- In asking His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, Jesus was telling them who He was. “Son of Man” is/was a well known name for the Messiah. This was an open-book test of sorts.
- To say that Jesus is John the Baptist, Elijah, or anyone else is to say that Jesus is NOT the Christ.
- To say that Jesus is the Christ is believing He is the promised Messiah. To call Jesus the Son of the living God is to believe in His divinity. Peter was saying, “You are the promised Messiah. You are God.”
- Jesus, without question, without parable, tells them that the signs, teachings, their family backgrounds, etc. did not cause them to believe. They believed in who Jesus was because God the Father revealed it to them.
- Peter’s new given name is in the Greek, “Little Stone”, then Jesus says, “Upon this rock”, which in the Greek refers to a large stone or a rocky mountain or peak. The “rock” that the Church is built upon is the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
- The “keys” given represents authority in the church. Which, when exercised correctly will always be in agreement with the Word of God.
Questions to consider:
- Who is Jesus? (Every single soul on the face of the earth must answer this question.)
- If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, and you have put your faith and trust in Him, how did you come to that conclusion? (Hint: It wasn’t a different process than Peter’s.)
- How would verse 19 be viewed/exercised today without the existence of the local church?
- Why would Jesus tell His disciples not to tell anybody that He is the Christ? How might people’s view of what they wanted the Christ to be for them negatively affected Jesus’ ministry and purpose?