Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Matthew: Chapter 16].
which he had himself given him. Jesus makes a remarkable play on
Peter's name, a pun in fact, that has caused volumes of
controversy and endless theological strife. {On this rock} (\epi
taut•i t•i petr•i\) Jesus says, a ledge or cliff of rock like
that in 7:24 on which the wise man built his house. \Petros\ is
usually a smaller detachment of the massive ledge. But too much
must not be made of this point since Jesus probably spoke Aramaic
to Peter which draws no such distinction (\K•ph•\). What did
Jesus mean by this word-play?
{I will build my church} (\oikodom•s• mou t•n ekkl•sian\). It is
the figure of a building and he uses the word \ekkl•sian\ which
occurs in the New Testament usually of a local organization, but
sometimes in a more general sense. What is the sense here in
which Jesus uses it? The word originally meant "assembly" (Ac
19:39), but it came to be applied to an "unassembled assembly"
as in Ac 8:3 for the Christians persecuted by Saul from house
to house. "And the name for the new Israel, \ekkl•sia\, in His
mouth is not an anachronism. It is an old familiar name for the
congregation of Israel found in Deut. (De 18:26; 23:2) and
Psalms (Ps 22:36), both books well known to Jesus" (Bruce). It
is interesting to observe that in Ps 89 most of the important
words employed by Jesus on this occasion occur in the LXX text.
So \oikodom•s•\ in Ps 89:5; \ekkl•sia\ in Ps 89:6;
\katischu•\ in Ps 89:22; \Christos\ in Ps 89:39,52; \h•id•s\
in Ps 89:49 (\ek cheiros h•idou\). If one is puzzled over the
use of "building" with the word \ekkl•sia\ it will be helpful to
turn to 1Pe 2:5. Peter, the very one to whom Jesus is here
speaking, writing to the Christians in the five Roman provinces
in Asia (1Pe 1:1), says: "You are built a spiritual house"
(\oikodomeisthe oikos pneumatikos\). It is difficult to resist
the impression that Peter recalls the words of Jesus to him on
this memorable occasion. Further on (1Pe 2:9) he speaks of them
as an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, showing
beyond controversy that Peter's use of building a spiritual house
is general, not local. This is undoubtedly the picture in the
mind of Christ here in 16:18. It is a great spiritual house,
Christ's Israel, not the Jewish nation, which he describes. What
is the rock on which Christ will build his vast temple? Not on
Peter alone or mainly or primarily. Peter by his confession was
furnished with the illustration for the rock on which His church
will rest. It is the same kind of faith that Peter has just
confessed. The perpetuity of this church general is guaranteed.
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