The Keys of the Kingdom!
This is the seventh post in the series from Chapter 5 of Friends With God: God’s Called Out Ones. In the previous post we examined some of the characteristics of the true Church, and how we may be able to identify it.
In this post we will look at the scriptural basis for the false doctrine of “The Primacy of Peter”, and what God expects of those he calls to be leaders in His Church.
The Scriptural Basis Of “The Primacy of Peter”
From the discussion in previous posts it is clear that there is no such thing as any lineage of authority passed down from Peter to Paul, and onto the leader of one single modern-day Christian church. This is obvious because, as Peter’s ministry was to the Jews, and as most of the world’s Christians are not Jewish, then most Christians have no lineage back to Peter. (Gal 2:6-10)
The doctrine of the “primacy of Peter” is shown to be a complete fallacy. Where, however, does it come from? You can find the scriptures used to support it in Matthew 16:13-19. Jesus asked the disciples who they actually thought he was:
And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona (Peter’s actual name): for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven (has revealed it unto you). And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt 16:13-19)
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Peter’s understanding that Jesus was the Christ, “the Son of the living God”, had been revealed to him directly by the Father!
This knowledge of the relationship between Christ and the Father was something new to all men, and Christ had come to reveal the Father to us:
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son,
but (except) the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matt 11:27, also Luke 10:22)
Christ had come to reveal the Father, but as no man knows the Son except the Father, it is also necessary that the Father reveal to us who Christ is. They are both hidden from those who are not called to understand the truth that will set us free.
The relationship between God the Father and his Son Jesus was new information, and needed to be revealed to the disciples. Prior to Jesus being born we are told:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
(John 1:1-3)
When the Word became flesh in the form of Jesus, it is at that time the Word became the Son, and God became his Father. Their relationship had then changed, and was something new that needed to be revealed to all those who believed in God.
God the Father therefore had to reveal to Peter who Jesus was, and Jesus then had to reveal to Peter who God the Father now was.
We must be called by God the Father in order to understand who the Son is, so that the Son can then reveal to us who the Father is.
Once we understand who the Father and Son are, then we need to understand the transcendent relationship we have of being one with both of them! (John 17:20-23) As discussed in this previous post.
Peter’s revelation from the Father was an essential precursor to that of Friendship with God, which Christ explained to the Apostles some years later. (John 15:12-17)
At this time, however, what the Apostles needed to comprehend was that they actually now had a direct relationship with God the Father. However, not all those who heard Jesus had this understanding of who he was- it was rare knowledge.
Indeed, one of the twelve Apostles (Judas) did not have this relationship with God the Father. Perhaps Christ sought this statement from his disciples in order to discern the true disciples from the false?
The Context Of Matthew 16:13-19
When Jesus said you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church… etc., was he putting Peter in a very high position of ‘binding and loosening’, in not just the earth but heaven also?
Not really, for in the very next incident recorded by Matthew, we see the fallibility of Peter, which makes it plain that it would be inappropriate for him to be set up as the foundation of the church:
From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from you, Lord: this shall not be unto you. But he (Jesus) turned, and said unto Peter, Get you behind me, Satan: you are an offence unto me: for you care not for the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matt 16:21-23)
What a dramatic confrontation, and all the more so as it came so soon after Peter had proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ!
To give him some credit, perhaps Peter was assuming that when Jesus said that he was going to be killed, that he thought he was a bit depressed? Peter therefore determined to take Jesus in hand, so as to give him some strong encouragement and correction. Yet, clearly, from this rebuke, Peter could not have got it more wrong!
Jesus was not depressed. Jesus was very earnest about his fate, and did not need anyone, no matter how well meaning, to undermine his determination to fulfil the Father’s purpose for him.
It’s interesting to note that Peter is perhaps the one person, even more than Paul, whose frailty is often recorded in the scriptures.
In this example Peter was strongly rebuked by Jesus. He denied him three times on the night of his death. (Matt 26:69-75) And his hypocrisy (which happened many years later) was openly corrected and recorded by Paul. (Gal 2:14)
These weaknesses were no doubt recorded, not because Peter was any worse than the other Apostles, but because he had the highest profile. As such, these records of his frailty remind us that he was a man, and therefore we should not follow him, or any other man.
Continuing in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus informed the disciples that the next phase in their lives was also going to be one of suffering and death:
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (Matt 16:24-25)
Peter and the other disciples hoped that Jesus was going to get rid of the Romans and set up the physical Kingdom of God on Earth during their lifetime. That, however, was not God’s intention. Jesus needed to make it plain to them that the Kingdom of God was not going to be a nice physical kingdom, into which the twelve were going to walk- perhaps starting in a few days, as the next miracle that he was to perform!
After Jesus was killed and resurrected, the apostles again wondered if he would, at that time, establish the Kingdom of God. They were wrong again:
And he said to them, It is not for you to know the time and place of events which the Father has in his control. But you will have power, when the Holy Spirit has come on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:6-8)
Their job was to travel, and preach, and teach - not to sit back watching events changing around them as the Kingdom of God began before their eyes.
Their role was to be an integral and active part of the expansion of his church, which was the new representative of the Kingdom of God throughout the entire Earth, over the next 2,000+ years! (Matt 21:33-46)
This role of the Church is to continue till Christ returns. At that time, he will resurrect those from the Church to become rulers in the Kingdom of God on Earth. (1Cor 15:51-57, 1Thes 4:16-17, Rev 20:4-6)
The Gates Of Hell
What therefore did Jesus mean when he said “… I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”? (Matt 16:18)
Does it mean the church would never die out? Perhaps, but it could also simply mean if the church were to die out, then God is able to raise it up from the dead, by starting a new church.
He could do this by calling new people, not associated with or linked back to the apostles, as he did with Paul. John the Baptist said to Abraham’s physical descendants: God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (Matt 3:9) God may therefore raise up followers from any person, by calling them individually to begin a work of preaching his word.
These metaphorical “gates of hell” would not able to limit the growth, or life, of the church, for the simple reason that God can start his church anytime, anywhere.
He can raise up a new group, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to open the minds of new people to his truth, and call them to do his work. He doesn’t need to maintain a link through any human group.
The church is a spiritual organisation, not based on heritage, ancestry, or knowledge, but on worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth. (John 4:23-24) Nothing else is important.
God has never relied upon people’s ancestry or physical relationships as a means of teaching his truth. We see this when the prophet Elijah thought he was the only person in Israel who followed God. Yet this was not the case. Elijah complained to God:
I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
And the Lord said unto him,...
Yet I have reserved for myself seven thousand in Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed unto (the pagan god) Baal.
(1Kings 19:14-18)
Elijah didn’t even know these other people existed, and he was a prophet of God!
Prophets in ancient Israel were raised up by God to turn the people back to him. Unlike the priests, who had hereditary positions, the prophets’ jobs were not passed down through birth. Likewise, today, God is able to raise up individual people to do his work.
Just as he reserved for himself a group of people to continue to be a light to the world in the time of Elijah, he may also do so now. Or he may simply raise up another group of people to form his church, like making children of Abraham from rocks.
God is not limited in how he works with people. Passing of the baton from one leader to another is never recorded in the New Testament. He often works with individuals, who then come together to form the church.
The gates of hell may also have nothing to do with the organisational group of the church, but rather the individual members.
The word “hell” is translated from the Greek “Hades”, which means the grave where a body is buried. Because members of the church will die and be resurrected to eternal life, the power of the grave will be limited to just a short time, and will therefore not prevail against them, just like it did not prevail against Jesus.
This verse is certainly not a definitive statement that God would always have one group of believers, in an unbroken succession from Christ, preaching his truth to the world.
What the real foundation of the true church is, has been clearly explained in scripture, as will be discussed in the next post in this series.