GOSPEL STUDY: Opinion and Truth. By Achile Bourquin, 8/31/14. We are using Matthew 16:13-20 this week, where Peter makes the great confession, and Jesus establishes the Church and its future government. Ancient Christian commentators quoted as indicated. Matthew 16:13-20: Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son is Man is”? And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets”. Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am”? Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”. 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” (vs. 13f). In this passage, Jesus makes a clear distinction between the opinions of people, and the divine truth of heaven. The opinions of the people are many; “John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets”. Opinion is a function of our human personality, our culture, our experience, our education, our world-view, our particular church; everything we are contributes to our opinions. Spiritual truth is of an entirely different nature. Certainly Peter held various opinions (see his opinion in vs. 22), but at this particular moment he speaks the divine truth of heaven; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus’ reply reveals four things to us about divine truth; “Blessed are you”; truth is the result of being blessed with God’s grace; it is a gift of God. “Simon Barjona”; truth is the result of being personally called by Christ. “Because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you”; truth is not the result of the natural workings of human personality. “But My Father who is in heaven”; truth originates in God the Father, and is communicated to us from heaven by divine methods; typically the preaching of the Scriptures, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Since truth originates in God, it is like God in the divine attributes; truth is eternal, unchangeable, almighty, and supreme over all. Truth is comparable to rock, while opinion is comparable to sand; “The wise man builds his house upon the rock (truth), while the foolish man builds his house on sand (opinion)” (Matthew 7:24f). We must be careful to discern between matters of human opinion and matters of divine truth. Jesus then said to Peter; “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church” (vs. 18). The great majority of ancient Catholics believed that “upon this rock” referred to Peter’s faith, not to Peter himself. St. Chrysostom says, “Upon this rock will I build My Church” that is, on the faith of his confession (4th cent. NPNF 10:383). St. Augustine says, “Therefore thou are Peter, and upon this Rock” which thou has acknowledged, saying, “Thou are the Christ”, that is upon Myself, the Son of the living God, “will I build My Church”. I will build thee upon Myself, not Myself upon thee. Peter is built upon the Rock, not the Rock upon Peter (5th cent. NPNF 6:340). Paul rebukes those who would build the Church upon a man; who say, “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas (Peter)” (I Corinthians 1:12); “For no man can lay a foundation, other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 3:11). “Upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (vs. 18). Christ established only one Church through which the Gospel would be preached to the world. For the first thousand years the Church was united, governed jointly by five bishops from different cities throughout Christendom. Then came the Great Schism of 1054 AD when the Roman bishop officially separated from the four Eastern bishops over the issue of the papacy, the Eucharist and other doctrines. Then came the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s, and the Church was further split, again over the issue of the papacy, indulgences and other doctrines. Additional splits have occurred in Protestant churches. Besides this, countless sects (non-creedal churches) have risen that do not hold to the ancient Catholic faith. This is a very deplorable situation that has caused the glory of Christ to be less visible in the earth. However, we have this promise; “The gates of Hades will never overpower the Church”. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (vs. 19). These words established the government of Christ’s Church. The “keys” are given equally to all apostles. They each governed the churches they established as they went into different areas, while staying in close communion with one another. As they passed away, the government of the Church was passed on to bishops (overseers, Acts 20:28, Titus 1:5). Linus, Cletus, Clement, Polycarp, and Ignatius are examples of first century bishops, who in turn passed it on to others. Biblical examples of Church government at work can be found in Acts 1:15f, 11:1f, and 15:6f. We should especially note Peter’s role in these early Church “councils”. He leads sometimes but does not dictate matters, and consensus is reached by the whole body. This was the pattern of the early Church; problems arose, Church councils were called, sometimes one bishop led, sometimes another, and consensus was reached by the whole body. Authority was never centralized in one person. “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (vs. 19). “Binding” and “loosing” were governmental powers exercised by Jewish Rabbis in Christ’s day to govern the Jewish church. They covered both legislative power (declaring lawful or unlawful), and judicial power (declaring guilty or innocent) (Edersheim, Life of Jesus, pg. 531). Christ gave these governmental powers to the apostles who in turn gave them to their bishops. Their decisions were binding on Christian faith and practice as long as they were exercised in strict accordance with “what has already been bound (established) in heaven”. Two monumental decisions, crucial to the salvation of all Christians, were made by the ancient Church well after the close of the apostolic age. First, the Church was forced to establish a Christian creed. With the passing of the apostles, many new and innovative ways of understanding the apostolic writings began to be taught. These innovations were contrary to the apostle’s understanding of the faith that they had personally received from Christ and delivered to the first century Christians. They were “private interpretations of Scripture”, which Peter forbids (II Peter 1:20). Creeds were developed at a very early time to protect the integrity of the faith from these innovative understandings, to preserve the original apostolic meaning of Scripture. Jesus and the apostles recited the Jewish Creed each time they worshiped in a Jewish synagogue, so it was quite natural for these early Christians to make use of creeds. This creedal faith is often mentioned in second and third century writings as the “rule of faith”, and is strictly adhered to and defended by the early Catholic writers. Finally, the Church met in official council in 325, and again in 381, and established a formal Christian Creed that would be used by all the churches. They used existing creedal statements and especially the creed of the Church at Jerusalem as a pattern. This “Nicene Creed” once for all established the essential articles of Christian faith. To deviate from this creed on any point is to be declared “apostate” from the Christian faith. Secondly, it was necessary for the Church to determine which first century writings should be considered a part of Scripture, i.e. the New Testament. There were scores of first century Christian writings circulated and read among the early churches. By the second century, only four of about ten known Gospels were recognized as credible. These four Gospels were received by the churches as the authentic writings of the apostles (Matthew and John) or their immediate companions (Mark and Luke), and as inspired of the Holy Spirit and accurately recording the ministry and teaching of Christ. That left scores of first century Epistles to be debated and determined as to whether their inspiration and character were worthy to be called “Scripture”. Most of this was determined by popular acceptance among the churches. A few writings were fiercely debated, especially Hebrews and Revelations. It was not until 398, at the Council of Carthage (Africa), that the New Testament as found in our Bibles today was fully settled. As Christians we accept the selection of these twenty-seven New Testament books as a genuine work of the Holy Spirit in the ancient Catholic Church. This is critical, for if the Church had chosen different writings, the whole essence of our Christian faith would have been altered. Thus, our Christian faith rests somewhat upon the integrity of the ancient Catholic church, for she determined the content of our Bible, and hence the content of our faith.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:36:21 +0000