Matthew 16:19 Explained

Matthew 16:19 Explained 

Introduction:

Matt16:16-19

• Jesus asked the disciples who they believe he is.
• He is getting at the core issue of discipleship, the identity of Jesus Christ. 
• Whatever else Jesus teaches, if they don’t get this right, they don’t get anything right . 
• It will all be distorted, if it’s not built on this central bed rock of Jesus teaching who he is. 
• So Peter answers correctly. (You are the Christ the Messiah, the son of the Living God, not just any ordinary human messiahs, but the unique divine Son of God). 
• Then Jesus makes clear that Peter did not come up on his own. (Flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to you, but my father who is in Heaven revealed you).
• Here, We can see the work of Father God in the mind of Peter.
• Therefore he calls Peter blessed.
• You are blessed because God has given you this insight. 

Petros and Petra: 

• Then Jesus makes a play on words. 
• Jesus says you are Petros. 
• Because Peter’s name Petros means rock or stone . 
• And Jesus said, “on this rock I will build my church”
• Here the rock Petra means bedrock. 
• They are not the same words 

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Notice 3 things:

Greek words:

Petra - bedrock stone

Petros - loose stone

1) Jesus did not say,

• “On you(peter) I will build my church” which is very easily could have said. 
• Instead he said on this bedrock Petra I will build my church.

2) Eventhough Jesus says to Peter,

• “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”.
• Those very same thing Jesus says to Christians in general with the very same words . 

Matthew 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

• ‘You’ is not singular here, he used ‘You’ in plural.

3) Jesus does not say,

• You are Petros and on this Petros I will build my church.
• He says “you are Petros and on this Petra I will build my church”.
• Petra has a different connotation than Petros. 
• It’s not a loose stone, It’s a bed rock stone.

Jesus tomb:

Matthew 27:60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

• where it says “Jesus tomb was cut out of the Petra, the bed rock.”
• That doesn’t mean it was cut out of a loose stone. 
• This is a massive bedrock where you built something.
• And so you carve in to this bedrock a great that the connotation of Petra.
• It’s not a loose stone like Petros. 
• Petra is bedrock .
• The same word is used on Matthew 7:24.

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Foundation:

• Not a pile of stones, not gravel, but the bedrock ground in the side of the mountain that you dig down to got a good foundation.
• It’s the teachings of Jesus which he says can never pass away.
• So the bedrock on which “the church is built” is the “bedrock of Jesus teachings” with the “rock solid core of his identity”.
• You are the messiah, you are the son of God at the center of those teachings.
• And since Peter is the one who made that confession in this case.
• He is treated as the representative of all those who would faithfully lift up the ‘teachings of Jesus’ and ‘the word of Jesus’ with the true reality of who he is at the center or as the bedrock of the church.
• So these teachings of Jesus that are the “keys of the kingdom”.

Keys in plural:

Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

• When he says I’ll give you  the ‘keys’ of the kingdom. 
• Here keys mentioned in plural, not in singular key.
• So the keys are the Jesus centered teachings. 
• Which means when you speak Peter or 
• According to Matthew 18 any faithful Christians who speaks the words with the bedrock of Jesus identity at the center.
• They are using the kingdoms of heaven to open the kingdom in people’s lives . 
• Here is the clue confirms we are on the right tract from Luke 11:52 “woe to you lawyers, Jesus said, for you have taken away the key of knowledge”.

Luke 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

• Since they are using their own knowledge as the key, Jesus says “You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering”.
• We should use the key of his(Jesus) knowledge. 
• We should use the key of his teachings having himself at the center. 

Conclusion:

• That knowledge that faithful proclamation of the Word of Christ with Christ’s Identity at the center
• Truly taught opens the kingdom in the people’s lives. 
• That knowledge withheld or distorted closes the kingdom to people.
• When Jesus says whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in Heaven. 
• Which is the right future perfect translation of the verb tense
• All faithful Christians can take your stand.
• And you should take your stand on the bedrock of Jesus word.
• With Jesus himself his reality at the center and speak it.
• And in so doing you will turn the key of heaven in people’s lives and open the kingdom to them.