Episode Details

The Revelation of ChristFriends, as we have just heard, we come today to what has at times been a controversial and contested passage in Scripture: Christ’s words, “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” These words are spoken by Jesus to Peter after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.I will say more about Peter specifically in a moment, but the first thing I wish to observe is the importance of the revelation of Christ as the Messiah and of Peter’s proclamation of him as such.What is the Church?What does it exist to do and to be?On what is its authority founded?What is the purpose of the Scriptures?And what is the purpose of the sacraments?It can all feel confusing and overwhelming at times, yet it can be summed up quite simply: it is all about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It is the event of Christ—the Incarnation—God coming among us in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. In the words of the Apostle John in his Gospel: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”It is all about Jesus Christ. In Christ we have the salvation of the world through his perfect life, his death given for the sins of the world, his resurrection for our justification, his ascension, and the hope of his coming again.There is much in the Christian faith to grasp, but if you ever find yourself confused, hold on to this: everything is meant to point to Jesus—his life, his death, his resurrection, and his coming again. This is the authority, the rock, upon which the Church stands, and it is the rock upon which we stand.The Purpose of the ChurchThe Church’s primary purpose is not to solve the world’s social and political problems. It may have something to say about those matters, but that is not its primary purpose. Its primary purpose is to proclaim Christ, to worship Christ, to witness to Christ, and to draw other people to Christ.Christ tells Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” In other words, at this moment Peter is given the authority to open the door of the kingdom of heaven because he has been entrusted with the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.In this context the phrase “binding and loosing” means simply forbidding or permitting. The authority Christ gives to the Apostle Peter concerns teaching, making judgements, and church discipline. All of this authority is given for the building up of Jesus Christ’s Church.Peter, the Apostles, and Shared AuthoritySpeaking of Peter specifically, it is important to note that in the Gospels and elsewhere Peter is given a certain primacy among the apostles. He is singled out by Christ. The early Church also understood Rome—where Peter eventually became bishop and where he was martyred—as holding a place of particular importance and authority in the Christian Church.Yet it is equally important to note that a similar authority is given to all of Christ’s twelve apostles elsewhere in the Gospels. Shortly after this passage, in Matthew 18, Christ says to all the twelve: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”In a related passage in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, after the resurrection, Christ appears to the eleven remaining apostles, breathes on them, and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”Consider those verses for a moment. Christ gives the apostles, including Peter, the Holy Spirit and tells them they have the authority to forgive or not to forgive sins—or, we might say, to pronounce forgiveness or to withhold it. This is clearly not an independent authority they possess apart from Christ. It is an authority given by Christ and exercised in his name. Nevertheless it is a real authority, and it sh