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?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-29; Luke 9:18-20)
Christ Jesus is unique, born of a woman, making Him the Son of Man, but also the Only Begotten Son of God. Think as Christ Jesus thought. Jesus has always been as God is. But He did not hold to His rights as God. He put aside everything that belonged to Him and made Himself the same as a servant who is owned by someone. He became human by being born as a man. (Philippians 2:5-7 NLV) Jesus says there's only one way any of us will come to the point where we confess Christ; Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah [Peter], for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17) But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 2:10-11)
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. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19) Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:30) In order to understand what Jesus means, we have to go back to when He first called Peter as a disciple: One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone). (John 6:40-42)
Often times it gets mistaught that Peter is "the rock" the church is built upon. Peter is one of many "rocks" that the church is built upon, but "The Rock" is Christ Jesus. God explains it through the Apostle Paul: For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 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. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 3:9-11) For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18-22)
However, Peter can be considered the "first rock" to build upon the foundation of Christ, because after the apostles and other disciples of Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit, after Christ's ascension (Acts 2:1-13), Peter was the first Apostle to give a sermon about Christ Jesus:“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. (Acts 2:22-24, 29-33)
Another things Jesus said to Peter that is often mistaught is, "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Better way to translate is, "I will give you the keys of the holy nation of heaven. Whatever you do not allow on earth will not have been allowed in heaven. Whatever you allow on earth will have been allowed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19 NLV) We can not control God's Will! True teachers of God are led by the Spirit of God, because no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit of God (John 1:32-34), and if we accept Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit also (Acts 2:36-39). We will only know what to bind on earth and loose on earth by the Holy Spirit, because God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
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