Bible Study Series: Peter the Apostle
Matthew 16.13-18 Who do you say I am?
by Fraser Gordon
We are going to look today at the passage of scripture in Matthew 16.13-18 where Jesus takes His disciples on a little journey to the area of Caesarea Philippi. There He says these famous words, “You are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church”. Jesus travelled 30 miles specifically to teach His disciples something.
Caesarea Philippi
Firstly we need a little bit of context about this area of Caesarea Philippi. It was at the base of Mount Hermon in the territory of the tribe of Dan, and it's also a place of great spiritual wickedness and importance. In the Book of Enoch it says that Mount Hermon was where the angels left their abode and descended to earth in Genesis 6. So this is a very spiritual place. The area was dedicated to the worship of the false Greek god Pan, and was actually called Panium for a while. There is a spring that flows out of a cave and Pan was believed to inhabit it. He was the god of the wild and was depicted as a half man, half goat figure. In this area they sacrificed goats and there was moral corruption, bestiality, and sexual perversion. In the days of Judges this was also where they had a sanctuary to the god of Baal. There was also a temple to Zeus here, and Herod also built a temple to Augustus Caesar. Augustus was the first Caesar to make an image of himself and declare himself to be god while he was still living.
Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus wanted to number the people. A system where everyone had to register who they were and be numbered for tax purposes. In effect, Augustus is a type of the anti-Christ to come. Just as in Christ's first coming, there was someone who declared himself to be god and numbered the people, so also at Jesus' second coming, there will be the anti-Christ who will do the same. He will declare himself and want to be worshipped as god and will cause a numbering of the whole world. Jesus went to Caesarea Philippi to challenge the principalities and powers and the host of wickedness in the heavenly places. He takes a 30 mile journey with his disciples for this specific reason. In this area there is a false god Pan who is a demon pretending to be man, half man, half goat. You have Caesar Augustus who was deified as a god who numbered the people - a man who pretended to be god. All of this is at the base of Mount Hermon. So Jesus went there for the specific reason of challenging the principalities and powers and to reveal to the disciples who He was.
Liar, lunatic or God?
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
It’s an iInteresting title, the Son of Man. It's first talked about in Daniel 7.13 where Daniel says, "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven!” In Matthew 8.20, it says that “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”. In Acts 7.56, Stephen saw “the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”. Also in Revelation 1.13, John saw “in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man”.
This is an important question that Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”. If you went to the street corner and asked people, “Who is Jesus Christ? Who do you think He was?” You’d get a varied response. Some people see Him as a religious hippie who walked around and lived a basic lifestyle. Some see Him as a teacher and some as an activist who went against the scene of the day, a revolutionary. Some people would even tell you He didn't exist and that He's a made up person. Others think He was just a good man. But the Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be God.
You have three options with the Lord Jesus Christ and His claims about Himself. The first is that He is a liar and all His claims are false. There's no evidence in the gospels of Him ever being untruthful or dishonest. His claims about Himself led to him being crucified and giving up His life. So there's no evidence that He was a liar. The other option is that He was a lunatic. You could go into many mental health homes and find people who claim to be God. But you would look at their lifestyle and their reasoning and you would come to the conclusion that this person isn't God. But when you look at the Lord Jesus Christ, His life, His miracles, and the things that He said and did, they all show that He wasn’t out of His mind. He was in his own right mind and not a madman. His love, compassion, and laying down of His life proves that He was not. So you only really come to this last conclusion that He is telling the truth about who He was, that He is Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He even asked forgiveness for those who crucified Him. There’s only three options I believe with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is either a liar, a lunatic or He is telling the truth. So Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?". The options came back in verse 14.
John, Elijah or Jeremiah?
Matthew 16:14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
At this point John the Baptist had been killed by Herod. In Matthew 14.1-2, Herod had heard the reports of Jesus and concluded that John the Baptist must have risen from the dead. So some believed that Jesus was John the Baptist. John was bold and hard at times. In Matthew 3.7, he said to the Pharisees and Sadducees "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Some people wanted a Jesus like that who would speak harshly to religious leaders and call out sin. Many people in the church today like that aspect of Jesus, that He was straight up like John, that He called religious leaders to account. People liked that about John the Baptist and they like that about Jesus. They want leaders to be straight up and harder against people in positions of authority and power.
Others thought He was Elijah. They thought this because of Malachi 4.5, which says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord”. The Jewish people were expecting the return of the prophet Elijah before the Messiah came. Elijah was a great man of God and he was a great prophet. He single-handedly took on 450 false prophets in a showdown as to who God chose and favoured as his mouthpiece. He did amazing miracles and many loved Elijah because of this. They saw in the life of Jesus and the miracles He did that this could possibly be Elijah. Today, the Jewish people still leave an empty chair at the Feast of Passover for him. At Passover there is a seat left on its own unattended for Elijah to come and he will herald God's coming.
Others thought that Jesus was Jeremiah the weeping prophet as he was known to be in the scriptures. He was a prophet rejected by his own people, but one that wept and mourned for the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel. Jesus also wept over Jerusalem. He was humble, meek, and cared for and wept for the nation. The Jewish people of Jesus day loved that about Jeremiah and they loved that about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone at the time however hated Jeremiah except for God. And in like manner, Jesus was the same, He was hated, rejected and misunderstood by His own people.
The Messiah
Matthew 16:15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
The first question Jesus asked was "Who do men say that I am?" Then He brings it directly home to His disciples; “But who do you say that I am?” We must all answer this question just as Peter did. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Christ means anointed one, the Messiah, so Peter was really saying, “we've come to believe and to know that you are the promised one, the Son of God. We've witnessed your life, we've heard your words, we've seen your miracles and we know that you are the Messiah, the anointed one”. What a wonderful revelation! The truth is that the fallen human heart does not have a single true thought about Christ. It does not love Him and it does not care for Him. It does not adore Him unless by grace and divine instruction it is moved toward Him. We are born, you and I, spiritually dead. We're alienated from the life of God. All the thoughts and intents of our natural hearts are wicked and deceitful and unless grace is given to us we will not have a single true thought about the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus responds to Peter in verse 17.
Matthew 16:17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Jesus used Peter’s original name Simon Bar-Jonah even though He had changed it when they first met in John 1.42. Our natural understanding cannot come to this conclusion. This revelation of who Jesus is, which we must all come to, comes by the Spirit of God. In our last message we looked at some of the following verses in John Chapter 6.
John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me… 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
What Jesus is saying is that you cannot come to a right understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is unless the Father has revealed it to you. All who the Father draws to Him He will give understanding, and all that the Father draws will come to the Lord Jesus Christ. An understanding of Jesus can only come by revelation of the Spirit of God. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, he is spiritually dead. A revelation of Christ to our unredeemed heart must come from God to give us revelation and understanding. If you have been given that revelation and understanding and have found Jesus to be the Christ, the anointed one, the words to you are ‘blessed’ as they were to Peter. Anyone who comes to the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, has a blessing on them because they have been drawn by the Father, they have been given understanding and enlightenment into who the person of Christ is.
Petros or Petra?
Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
There are two different views of Peter and this rock. First, there is the Catholic view that the church is built on him as the first pope. Yes Peter was a leader in the church but he wasn't the leader. In Acts 15 James appears to be the prominent leader. Yes Peter is a very important person but is the church built on him? Here in Matthew there is a play on words. The Greek word for Peter, means petros. Petros means rock but it means a small piece of rock. It is a tiny fragment, a pebble, a small stone or a shingle. At the base of Mount Hermon there is a cave with lots of pieces or fragments of rock. Jesus said to Peter, “you are petros”, you are a small piece of rock, then Jesus says, “and on this rock I will build my church”. This second word, rock, in verse 18 in the Greek means petra. So you have Peter, meaning petros, a tiny fragment or a small piece of rock, then you have the word petra. Petra means a massive stone, a bedrock foundation, something that you can build on. You would never build your house on a petros, a tiny fragment of stone because it is not secure enough. But you would build the foundation of your home on petra which is a massive bedrock of stone. There is a play on words here in the Greek. Jesus said to Peter, you are a stone, a fragment of rock who is blessed but I must build my church not on petros, but on petra, a massive foundation stone.
So who is the rock? There are many views and obviously the Catholic view is that the church is built on Peter. The other view is that the church is built on the confession of Peter. In other words because he said “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, the church is built on that blessed truth. But the English word for Petra is bedrock stone.
1Peter 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock (petra) of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
Jesus is the rock, the petra, not Peter. Jesus is the foundation stone, the rock of offence who was rejected. The petra is a person. The church is built on the Lord Jesus Christ as the foundation stone, as the massive boulder which is the bedrock of all things.
1Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
All of us build our Christian lives on a foundation, and this bedrock, this base foundation is a person, Jesus Christ. He is the rock, the Petra on which the church is built.
1Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
The word used for Rock here is petra. The Rock that followed them in the wilderness which gave sustenance to the nation was Jesus Christ.
The church
Back in Matthew, Jesus says that Peter is a small piece of rock, then, “on this rock”, which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, “I will build my church”. This is the first mention of the church which is not found anywhere in the Old Testament. The prophets were called to the nation of Israel, there was no church. When Jesus said in Matthew “I will build my church”, it was still in the future and followed Christ’s resurrection. How can both Jew and Gentile believers who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ be joined? The church was a hidden revelation in the plans and the council of God. But Jesus said He is the builder. He is the one that will build this church made up of both the Jew and Gentile. He will do it, not Peter. Peter was a small piece of rock, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation stone and He will build His church upon Himself.
Jesus will build His church. He will do it by His action. There won't be anything that man does, “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”. Remember the context of where they are; the place of worship to the false god Pan who was half goat, half man. Where Caesar claimed to be a God and where Zeus was worshipped. There were spiritual hosts of wickedness and false worship. Jesus stated in this place, “I will build my church”. He went after the spiritual hosts of wickedness and said He will build His church, and the gates of Hades, all the powers of hell in the demonic realm will not prevail against it. This is a statement of declaration to the spiritual hosts of wickedness, that Christ will build His church on Him and the powers of darkness won't be able to stop it. There's wonderful security here for every believer, because everything is based on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, His burial, and His rising again from the dead. That is why there is so much security for you and me in the risen Christ. He is the foundation stone that's rejected by men. Even though Christians, we are persecuted and we are buffeted by the powers of darkness, they will not prevail against Christ's church because we are secure in Him. We are in His body. We are a part of His church that He declared here in Matthew. This called out people made up of Jew and Gentile believers. The hosts of wickedness cannot move you from your position in the Lord Jesus Christ because it is a position that is secured by Him, by His work, by His death on the cross, and by His resurrection. We are secure in a risen Christ, and the gates of Hades will not prevail, and will not move what God has accomplished.
Ephesians 2.19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Jesus said to His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, and Peter responds in faith, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. When all of us recognise who Jesus Christ is, we become a member of the household of God and our lives are built on the foundation stone, Jesus Christ. We are being fitted together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord, and are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. We are secure in Christ, He is the foundation stone. God is beginning to build us into a spiritual house (1Peter 2.4-5), where we become a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. A beautiful truth and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Conclusion
This is a great question that Jesus asked His disciples. Remember He travelled here for this purpose, it’s not enroute to somewhere else. Caesarea Philippi was 30 miles north and He went there specifically to get out of His disciples who He really was and then to declare His intentions to them - to build a body of believers that would believe He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Even though we have these great words of faith by Peter, in the same chapter we also have a failure of Peter, which we will look at next time. Peter tries to persuade Jesus that the cross isn't where He should go. God bless you and I ask that you would see more in this passage. May the Lord's blessing be on all those that the Father has called. God bless.