"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (14) And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (15) He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? (16) And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. (17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (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. (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. (20) Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ."
The question Jesus here put to his disciples, is that grand and momentous question which everyone should ask his own heart, for in the proper apprehension of it consists everlasting life. John 17:2-3. Some read the words thus. Whom do men say that I am? Do they call me the Son of Man? Do they indeed know me in my human nature, the seed of the woman promised? Reader! it is blessed, yea very blessed, so to know him. Hebrews 2:16-18. The various opinions concerning Christ at that time, may serve to shew that there always hath been, and always will be, as now, great variety of notions, concerning Christ. But, Reader! there can be but one right judgment, and that must be formed from divine teaching. And hence, when Peter for himself and his few faithful companions, declared that Jesus was the Christ of God, the Lord made this remarkable answer; that flesh and blood could not reveal the glorious truth; and none but the Father which is in heaven. I beg the Reader to pause over this account of Christ for his own sake, and see whether his knowledge of Christ comes from the same Almighty teaching. If, my brother, like Peter, you know and believe that Christ is the Christ of God, most evident it is, from what Jesus hath here said, that you have never learnt it from flesh and blood, but God himself hath been your teacher, and, like Peter, you are blessed in that knowledge also. See those sweet Scriptures; Matthew 11:27; John 6:45-46; Galatians 1:15-16; Ephesians 1:17-18; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 3:14, etc. What follows in the promise made to Peter, is not simply to Peter as Peter, but as representing the Lord's body, his Church. Christ himself is the rock Jehovah hath laid in Zion. So the Prophet was commissioned to tell the Church. Isaiah 28:16. And so Peter himself, in reference to Christ, explained it. 1 Peter 2:6-8. Hence when Jesus said, upon this rock trill I build my Church, he meant himself, on whom Peter and all true believers are alike built, and from their union with Christ, neither hell nor corruption shall be able to prevail. By the keys of the kingdom of heaven, given to Peter, I venture to believe (but I do not presume to decide) is meant the power and prevalency of prayer, whensoever Jesus, by his outpouring of his Spirit, gives a spirit of prayer, And certain it is, that when the Lord the Holy Ghost gives a spirit of grace and. supplication to a child of God, the prayer, indicted by the Spirit, is in conformity to the will of God, and exactly in unison with the intercession of Christ. Hence the binding, or loosing, both in earth and heaven, must be secured, because all the Persons of the God. head are engaged in the agency. Whatsoever ye ask in my name, (said Jesus), believing, he will give it you. John 16:23.