The Book of Matthew

Word Study

"leaven," Greek zume (ζύμη). Leaven is the small lump of fermented dough that quietly spreads through the whole batch. In Scripture it is a picture of a corrupting influence that works unseen but pervasively. Jesus is not warning about literal bread, as the disciples first supposed, but about "the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees", their teaching. False doctrine is like leaven: a little of it, tolerated, will work its way through the whole life and church. It must be guarded against at the door, before it spreads.

Explanation

The Pharisees and Sadducees, usually enemies, unite to demand a sign from heaven, and Jesus refuses them any but "the sign of the prophet Jonas" -- His coming resurrection. Men who can read the sky but not the times are spiritually blind by choice. Crossing the lake, He warns of "the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," and the disciples, worrying about forgotten bread, miss His meaning entirely. False teaching, like leaven, spreads silently and corrupts the whole lump; the danger is not a shortage of loaves but a diet of error.

Gospel Focus

The Pharisees and Sadducees were bitter rivals in doctrine, yet they joined forces against Christ, "tempting" Him for "a sign from heaven." They could read the sky for tomorrow's weather but were blind to the "signs of the times", the very Messiah standing before them, doing the works of God. Jesus calls this a "wicked and adulterous generation" and refuses them any sign but "the sign of the prophet Jonas", His death, burial, and resurrection after three days (12:40). A heart set against God will not be argued into faith by more miracles; the greatest sign of all, the empty tomb, is enough for the willing and not enough for the unwilling. Then Jesus turns to His own disciples with a warning: "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Slow to understand, they think He is scolding them for forgetting bread, and He gently reminds them of the two feedings, they of all people should not fear running short of bread with Him. His concern is far weightier: their doctrine. False teaching is leaven, it spreads quietly and corrupts the whole. The Pharisees added human tradition to God's word; the Sadducees subtracted from it, denying the resurrection and the spirit world. Both are deadly. For the Apostolic believer this is a standing charge: guard the doctrine. What we believe about God, about Christ, about salvation is not a side issue; a little error, welcomed, will leaven everything. Hold fast the true gospel, and beware the teaching that would quietly change it.

Word Study

"Peter," Greek Petros (Πέτρος). Jesus makes a deliberate play on words. He names Simon Petros, a stone, a piece of rock. The new name is both gift and calling, yet it is a stone's name, a fragment quarried out, not the mountain itself; and even the confession that earns it came to Simon not from "flesh and blood" but from "my Father which is in heaven."

"this rock," Greek petra (πέτρα). Set over against Simon's new name of Petros, this is the word Jesus chooses for the foundation: He says He will build His church on the petra, the massive bedrock, the great living Rock. The rock is not the man Peter but the truth Peter just confessed: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Scripture consistently calls God, and Christ, "the Rock" (Deuteronomy 32:4; 1 Corinthians 10:4), and no other foundation can be laid than Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). The church stands on the revelation of who Jesus is, not on any man.

Explanation

At Caesarea Philippi Jesus presses the question the whole Gospel has been building toward: "whom say ye that I am?" Peter answers by revelation, not flesh and blood -- "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" -- and Jesus declares that upon this rock, the confessed truth of who He is, He will build His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. The foundation is not Peter the man but the confession Peter makes: Christ Himself, the living God manifested in flesh. To know rightly who Jesus is -- the Christ, God's own Son -- is the bedrock on which everything else stands.

Gospel Focus

This is the heart of the Gospel of Matthew, and the confession on which the whole church rests. Away from the crowds at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks first what men say, John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets, high praise, but all wrong, and then the question that every soul must answer: "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter's answer is Spirit-given truth: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus tells him plainly that "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." No one comes to know who Jesus truly is by human reasoning; it is revealed by God. Then comes the great promise: "upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The rock is the confessed truth of Christ's identity, He Himself, the Son of the living God. It is on this that the church is built, and no power of death or hell can overthrow what Christ builds. To Peter, and through him to the apostles, are given "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." A key opens a door. Peter used those keys on the day of Pentecost, when he stood and preached the first gospel sermon and, to the question "what shall we do?", flung the door of the kingdom open: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). That is the Apostolic gospel, the key that opens the kingdom to every believer, Jew and Gentile alike. The binding and loosing is the authority of the church to declare, on the basis of God's word, the terms on which sins are remitted or retained. So this passage does not exalt a man; it exalts Christ and the gospel of Christ. The one true God has come in flesh as Jesus, the Son of the living God, and on the confession of Him the church is founded and cannot fall. Have you answered His question? Not what others say, but whom say you that He is?

Word Study

"life... soul," Greek psuche (ψυχή). The same word stands behind both "life" and "soul" in these verses. "Whosoever will save his psuche shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his psuche for my sake shall find it... what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own psuche?" The word play is the point: the man who clutches his life to save it forfeits the very thing he grasps; the man who surrenders it to Christ secures it forever. There is no bargain in all the world worth the price of your soul.

Explanation

No sooner is Jesus confessed as Christ than He redefines what Christ came to do: "suffer... be killed, and be raised again." Peter, who spoke by revelation a moment before, now speaks by the flesh -- "be it far from thee, Lord" -- and earns the sharpest rebuke, "Get thee behind me, Satan," for a cross-less Christ is the devil's gospel. Then Jesus binds the disciple's path to His own: "let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." The great paradox governs both Master and servant -- "whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Gospel Focus

"From that time forth", right after the confession, Jesus begins to reveal the cross. He "must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer... and be killed, and be raised again the third day." The Messiah's crown would come by way of the cross; there was no other way to save His people from their sins. Peter, who had just spoken heaven's truth, now speaks earth's folly: "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee." His love was real but his mind was on "the things... of men", a Christ without a cross. Jesus' rebuke is startling: "Get thee behind me, Satan." The same tempter who offered Him the kingdoms of the world without the cross (4:8-9) now spoke through a well-meaning friend. Any gospel that removes the cross, however kindly meant, is the devil's doctrine. Then Jesus lays down the terms of discipleship for all: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." To take up the cross is to reckon oneself dead to self-will and to follow Christ wherever He leads, even to death. And He gives the great paradox: "whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." The self-preserving life is the self-destroying life; the surrendered life is the saved life. He presses it with the most sobering question ever asked: "what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" One soul outweighs the whole world, and once lost it cannot be bought back at any price. This is real, for "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels", the same Jesus, now in glory, will return to judge and "reward every man according to his works." The confession of who Christ is leads straight to the cross He bore and the cross He calls us to carry. Deny yourself, take it up, and follow Him, and you will find that in losing your life for His sake you have saved it.