St. Mathhew 16:13-19
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” ------- It has always been stressful for me when assigned to preach. It just wears me out. This evening, having come home from the Service, I am both relieved and tired. Theology makes me tired. There is so much there, and yet I am so weak and unworthy to be dealing with these things.
Please receive the text above as coming not from me, but from the Creator, Who blesses in every way without any merit or worthiness on our part.
Pinging you here because you prayed over this text recently, and because we discussed it briefly and separately.
what an example for us. i love the story of Simon Peter. he would have fit right in here on FR, imho. he certainly always had a comment asked for or not.
while he had a very shaky trip, at the end, when our Lord had finished building him up, he stood against hell as a very strong place indeed. very much like a ‘rock’ in his unshakable faith in Christ Jesus.
Registered just now just to say Amen. And because I thought you might appreciate these:
https://noisefromthetrain.blogspot.com/search?q=tell+me%2C+where+is+sanity
https://noisefromthetrain.blogspot.com/search?q=safety+in+numbers%3A
“Jesus says, ‘This is My Body’ while distributing the unleavened bread He broke on the night when He was betrayed, and right away reason jumps in and says, ‘Surely what He means is that this bread represents His body. It can’t possibly be the actual thing.’”
The Church (made up of believers) is the spiritual body of Christ:
I Corinthians 10:17 NKJV
For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
Understanding this requires discernment:
I Corinthians 11:29 NKJV
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
When referring to the bread being His body, Jesus is speaking spiritually. It is not the physical act of eating but the Spirit that enables believers to partake in Christ’s life.
John 6:63 NKJV
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
(This was His reply to those who asked: “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” in verse 52. He was speaking spiritually.)
I Corinthians 12:13 NKJV
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
And, as the passage you quoted states: “flesh and blood did not reveal this to you”. These things are spiritually discerned.