that the reproof which was directed to that. apostle almost immediately after this promise was given to him, recorded in this same chapter,—and his subsequent disgrace,-were designed at once as means of keeping him humble, and of warning the church against the falsehoods and tyranny which have marked the history of his pretended successors. stood by the Jews with reference to authoritative teaching in matters of religion: to bind signifies to forbid or declare unlawful; to loose means to permit, or declare lawful. Such was the authority given by Christ himself to his inspired apostles; but in this they have no successors. It is the duty of ministers of the Gospel, in our day, to proclaim the laws of the kingdom; but they have no authority either to enact or to annul them. Such authority belongs to Christ himself, originally; to the apostles, by delegation; to others, not at all. seem to compel us to understand the words in question as relating to the person of the apostle. Perhaps no other interpretation would ever have been given, if Romanists had not perverted and misapplied the passage with a view to prove their false assertion that St. Peter possessed authority over the other apostles, and that a successor in that pretended authority exists in the Bishop The expressions, "to bind" and of Rome. The assertion and pre-" to loose" were commonly under"to tended derivation of such ecclesiastical authority is mere usurpation and imposture, from beginning to end; but why should we be reluctant to discover and admit the fact that the Lord Jesus was pleased to bestow upon St. Peter a peculiar honour, in token of his approbation of his plain and good confession? The honour given to this apostle on account of his profession was, in fact, bestowed upon that profession itself, --and is well adapted to mark its value and importance to the end of time. And it must be remembered that, although St. Peter was the first to preach successfully to Jews and Gentiles that great truth which he was the first to assert in reply to our Saviour's question, yet the other apostles afterwards were successful in the same employment, and some of them, probably, on a more extensive scale. Other apostles and prophets, in common with St. Peter, were "the foundation" on which the church was built; see Eph. ii. 10; Rev. xxi. 14. St. Peter had no authority over the rest of the apostles; See Matt. xviii. 18; xx. 26; Acts xv; Gal. ii. 11.-And it would seem READER. Some say that thou art John the Baptist, &c.—How many and various were the opinions of men concerning Christ! How gross the mistakes into which some men fell respecting Him! And so it is to the present day. There is but one right view of Christ,-one true opinion concerning him and his glorious work; but how numerous, how diversified, are the sentiments of men on this great subject! Some say one thing, and some another. And yet all these various doctrines, except one, must be more or less distant from the truth. May we have grace and wisdom to behold him, by a lively faith, as the Christ, the Son of Man and the Son of the living God, the Saviour of the world, our Prophet, Priest, and King! These various opinions display a mixture of ignorance and knowledge respecting the condition of the soul of man after death. The people who held these sentiments must have believed in the existence of the immortal spirit after its departure from the body; but they also believed the false doctrines of some philosophers who had taught that the soul which has animated our body passes into another, upon the dissolution of its former tenement. Let us beware of mixing the speculations of human philosophy with the declarations of Divine truth. Let it be our aim, by humility, by prayer, by a careful study of God's word, with a simple adherence to the pure record of inspiration,-to attain that inestimable blessing, a right judgment in all things! God's written word is a light to our feet; human traditions and philosophy are a mist and darkness, in spiritual things. But whom say ye that I am? "This is a question we should every one of us be frequently putting to ourselves, 'Whom do we say, what kind of one do we say, that the Lord Jesus is? Is he precious to us? Is he in our eyes the chief among ten thousand? Is he the beloved of our souls?' It is well or ill with us, according as our thoughts are right or wrong concerning Jesus Christ." Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.-Such was the Apostle's right belief; such his open and plain profession. May we also believe "with the heart unto righteousness," and with the mouth make confession "6 unto salvation." May we be at all times thankful for "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ;" and always watchful lest by any evil works we should be found to deny that blessed Saviour whom we acknowledge and honour with our lips. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona. See ch. xiii. 16; Ps. lxxxix. 15. Well therefore may we make it the object of our ardent desire, with St. Paul, to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection (Phil. iii. 8-11); and well may we make it the subject of our prayer, in behalf of ourselves and others, that we "may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." (See Eph. iii. 14-19.) Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.-The mere light of nature could not discover a Saviour, or satisfy us of the love of God towards ourselves as fallen and guilty creatures; nor can our own understandings and hearts receive the message of salvation without divine illumination and influence. But my father which is in heaven. See ch. xi. 25. May God thus shine into our hearts by his works, his word, and his heavenly grace! Upon this rock will I build my Church.-Let us adore at once the sovereignty and the wisdom of the great Head of the Church in his choice of instruments for the first propagation of the Gospel; and let us consider the honour which our Saviour has here put upon the possession and acknowledgment of pure and simple faith in himself. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.-Craft and artful policy, iniquitous sentences and censures, violent and arbitrary measures, all these things have been employed against the Gospel of the Saviour, and the members of his church, but in vain. Let us confidently trust in the Almighty arm of the Redeemer, no less than in his love and compassion. Why do the heathen rage? Psalm ii. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, &c.-This power of binding and loosing,—of teaching with authority,-was given to the other apostles, as well as to St. Peter, ch. xviii. 18. Let us thankfully and reverently receive those inspired instructions which have been transmitted to us in their writings. Our Lord, on various occasions, confirmed the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures, (e. g. Luke xxiv. 27, 44; John v. 39); and in the passage now before us he affixes his seal to the Apostolical writings. We receive as divine, without hesitation, all the recorded teaching of the Apostles, seeing that those chosen men were empowered and commissioned to sonal ministry on earth.—May we have grace to receive, with firm affection and becoming veneration, all those holy Scriptures which have been written for our learning! HYMN. Christ is the sure foundation-stone Though foolish builders, scribe or priest, Yet on this rock the church shall rest What though the gates of hell withstood! Lord, grant thy grace to each of us To build on Christ alone; § LV. WATTS. CHAP. XVI. 21-28. Jesus foreshoweth his death, reproving Peter for dissuading him from it: and admonisheth them that will follow him to bear the cross. 21 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. declare the will of God concerning 22 Then Peter took him, and us. And we are sure that we find the mind of Christ no less in the began to rebuke him, saying, Apostolical Epistles, than in the very* Be it far from thee, Lord: this words of our Saviour during his per- shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, 'Satan: 'thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not It may be asked, In what sense did our Lord use the term Satan in his answer to Peter, ver. 23? Some interpreters refer us to the original the things that be of God, but meaning of the word, which is op those that be of men. 24 "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. 25 * For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or 'what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: ' and then he shall reward every man accord ing to his works. 28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. 7ch. xx. 17. Mark viii. 31; & ix 31; & x. 33. Luke ix. 22.; &xvili. 31.; & xxiv. 6. 7. t Gr. Pity thyself. -tee 2 Sam. xix. 22.- Rom. vili. 7.-u ch. x. 38. Mark viil. 34 Luke ix. 23.; & xiv. 27. Acts xiv. 22. 1 Thes. 8. 3. 2 Tim. iii. 12- Luke xvii. 33. John rii. 25.- Ps. xlix. 7. 8.-2 ch. xxvi. 64. Mark viii. 38. Lake ix. 26.-a Dan, vil. 10. Zech. xiv. 5. ch. xxv. 31. Jude xiv.- Job. xxxiv. 11. Ps. Ixii. 12. Prov. xxiv. 12. Jer. xvii. 10.; & xxxii. 19. 2 Cor. v. 10. 1 Pet. i. 17. e Mark ix. 1. Luke ix. 27. Rom. ii. 6. 1 Cor. iii. 8: Rev. ii. 23.; & xxii. 12. Reader. There are some points in these verses which may require a little explanation. poser, adversary, and so would render the phrase, Get thee behind me, thou opponent of my work! But the word is not used in this sense in the New Testament, being employed only as an appellative, or the name of that great adversary of God and his people, the prince of the power of the air, the Devil.-Others, with more propriety, observe that our blessed Lord perceived that Satan was at work by means of Peter, and was in fact approaching him with a temptation through the agency of the Apostle;—that he had taken advantage of Peter's ignorance of the real nature and tendency of his advice, or of his vanity and love of earthly prosperity and dominion, and had employed him as an instrument to suggest the unholy thought of shrinking from the task of suffering which had been appointed for the Redeemer by the will of the Father; and that our Saviour, in his reply, addressed himself directly to the invisible demon, rejecting his impious counsel with abhorrence, just as he gave him his final reproof and dismissal in the wilderness, chap. iv, 10. -Or we may regard this rebuke as addressed solely to Peter, and implying that he was imitating the great adversary, and serving his interests, by giving counsel against suffering and submission; that being precisely the nature of the temptation with which Satan made his attack in He answered and said unto them.Not without mourning over their ungodliness and folly, for St. Mark tells us (viii. 12) that "he sighed deeply in his spirit."-By his answer our blessed Lord reproves the ignorance and stupidity of unbelieving men with regard to spiritual things and the truths of religion, especially as contrasted with their shrewdness and intelligence in temporal matters. Men take pains to inform themselves about things in which they feel that their interest and happiness are concerned, and hence they become well skilled in them; and the reason why they know so little of religious truth is that they are not persuaded and sensible of its importance. Why is it that men of good common sense, men of learning, men of science, are often SO unconcerned with regard to Christian truth and the interests of religion,-why is it that they are often so ignorant, so ostentatiously ignorant, of Gospel facts? Is it that religion is really beneath their notice? No. It is that they have no love for the pursuit ; no wish, no desire to be instructed in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Can ye not discern the signs of the times? See Jer. viii. 7-9.-It is a good and profitable exercise, and a source of much practical wisdom, to compare the state of the world, and the dispensations of divine providence, with the declarations of God's will in his holy word. If the Jews, in our Saviour's time, had considered what was passing before their eyes, with due reference to the predictions of their own prophets, this would have become a means of leading them to a knowledge of the truth concerning the Messiahship of Jesus. A wicked and adulterous generation, &c.-See note on ch. xii. 38-40.The sign demanded by curious, proud, and captious men was absolutely refused; but this refusal was accompanied with the promise of a miracle which should be abundantly sufficient for the conviction and comfort of men of humble and believing minds, while, at the same time, it would leave without excuse all those who should continue in unbelief. He left them and departed.-Christ forsakes those who in their hearts depart from him. The Gospel, as we have already seen, abounds with warnings of this kind. Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.-We must be on our guard against false doctrines and evil principles. They are very insidious and dangerous; and if we do not fortify our minds by a devout study of God's word, by watchfulness, and prayer, we may easily become a prey to the most mischie vous delusions. |