Matthew 16:17,18

Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, &c.— Bar-jona is the Son of Jona. Some authors suppose, that John and Jona are one and the same. Flesh and blood is a Hebraism, signifying his own reason, or any natural power whatever. This knowledge had not been communicated to him, either by the sentence of the Sanhedrim, declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, or by the authority of any human testimony whatever, but merely by the teaching of God. See on John 6:45. "Blessed and happy art thou, O Peter; for this confession which thou hast made is not a bare human conjecture, formed by report, or by the unassisted sagacity of thine own mind; but my Father in heaven has discovered it to thee, and wrought in thy soul this cordial assent, in the midst of those prejudices against it, which present circumstances might suggest."Our Saviour goes on, and promises, (alluding to the surname of Peter, which comes from Πετρα, a rock,) that he should have a principal concern in establishing his kingdom. "Thou art, as thy name signifies, a substantial rock; and, as thou hast shewn it in this good confession, I assure thee, that upon this rock I will build my church: faith in me, as the Son of God, shall be its great support, and I will use thee as a glorious instrument in raising it." This is evidently one of those Scriptures, the sense of which might be most certainly fixed by the particular tone of voice and gesture with which it was spoken: if our Lord altered his accent, and laid his hand on his breath, it would shew, that he spoke not of the person, but of the confession of Peter,—as most protestant divines have understood it; and meant to point out himself as the great foundation. Compare 1 Corinthians 3:10. And it is observable, to confirm this sense, that the Lord, when he says upon this rock, does not make use of the word Πετρος, referring to Peter himself, but πετρα, which is an appellative noun, and immediately refers to Peter's confession: but if our Saviour turned to the other Apostles, and pointed to Peter, that would shew that he meant to intimate the honour he would do him, in making him an eminent support to his church. This is the sense in which many of the commentators have understood it. However, to be a foundation in this sense was not his honour alone; his brethren shared with him in it (see Ephesians 2:20. Revelation 21:14.); as they did also in the power of binding and loosing; (see Matthew 18:18. John 20:23.). Upon the whole, how weak the arguments are which the papists draw hence to support the supremacy of Peter in their wild sense of it, is sufficiently shewn by Bishop Burnett on the Articles, p. 198. Dr. Barrow on the Creed, serm. 28.; Dr. Patrick, in his sermon on the text; and many others needless to be named. There seems a reference in the expression before us to the common custom of building citadels upon a rock. The gates of hell or of death, is a periphrasis for hell or death itself. So the phrase is used, Isaiah 38:10 where Hezekiah, speaking of himself, says, I shall go, εν πυλαις αδου, to the gates of Hades, that is to say, "I shall die." Our Lord's meaning therefore is, that the Christian church shall never be annihilated; no, not by the united force of men and devils combined against it. See More's Theological Works, page 110. Whitby, Grotius, &c.