The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Cont)

It is the Death of the Messiah that makes the blessings of the New Covenant available to the Gentiles

From the foregoing it can be suggested that the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Covenant was not something initiated by the followers of Jesus, but rather the work of the Spirit of God fulfilling the will of God. But on what grounds could a righteous God include a group of people into a Covenant which did not initially name them? Let us return to the first and foundational covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant.  The Abrahamic Covenant had three main facets–dealing with the ‘Seed’; the ‘Land’ and the ‘Blessing’. The ‘Seed’ aspect dealt with the posterity of Abraham, and in particular included a particular member of his descendents who would be Messiah and King. The Davidic Covenant was the offspring of the ‘seed’ aspect in the Abrahamic Covenant which designated that the future ruler and Savior of the nation would come from the line of David. The ‘land’ aspect dealt with the homeland prepared for the ‘seed’ of Abraham, it would be the place where the ‘seed’ would be planted. The Land Covenant was the offspring of the ‘land’ feature in the Abrahamic Covenant and was used among other things to motivate the people to remain faithful to the God of Abraham. But the main feature, indeed the predominant feature was the ‘Blessing’ aspect, which declared that Abraham was to be blessed, the posterity of Abraham was to be blessed, and those that blessed Abraham or his posterity were to be blessed, indeed all families of the earth could be blessed in Abraham. The clauses that speak of blessing are inclusive not exclusive, and include Gentiles in the blessing of Abraham. Now the New Covenant is the offspring of the ‘blessing’ aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant, and if it is to be true to the intention of the Abrahamic Covenant, must likewise be inclusive and not exclusive, that is, must include all nations and families. Therefore, to understand the New Covenant as being available to all people is not to insert something foreign into its structure, but rather is interpreting the covenant in the light of its parent Covenant that was declared in the first book of the T’nach.

 It can be assumed that Peter and the other apostles that travelled with Jesus received instructions to make the New Covenant immediately available when they were taught by the risen Messiah during the period between the resurrection morning and the ascension. However, the inclusion of the Gentiles, while imposed on Peter as the keeper of the keys, seemed to wait for Saul to develop the doctrine. Saul, a man also taught directly by the Messiah, understood very early that the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Covenant could be traced back to the Abrahamic Covenant.

 We have already considered how he described the Mosaic Covenant as a wall of separation between Jew and Gentile. That during the period of the Law it precluded the Gentiles from any access to the covenant blessings of Israel. He wrote: “at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”. (Eph. 2:12) The Gentiles were first excluded by the Law of Moses, a wall of partition. But the death of the Messiah was the ‘end’ of the Law,[1] that is, the purpose and goal of the Law had been accomplished. ‘End’ (Gk. telos) here is usually considered to mean “termination, the limit at which a thing ceases to be (always of the end of some act or state, but not of the end of a period of time)”; or “the end to which all things relate, the aim, purpose.”[2] Here, it is suggested, it carries both meanings. It was terminated because it had achieved its goal. It was no longer needed. So the middle wall of partition became unnecessary. Paul speaks of it being broken down. “For He … has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Eph. 2:14) which means Gentiles now have access to the covenant blessings of Israel. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. (Eph. 2:19)

The extent of the inclusion is spelt out for us. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father”. (Eph. 2:14-18) This means there is now no difference between the Jew and the Gentile in respect of the blessing of salvation that the New Covenant provides. Peter, the keeper of the keys, said it first, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith”. (Acts 15:8-9) And Paul confirmed it when he dealt with the place of Israel in the purposes of God (Romans chapters nine through eleven). He said, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him”. (Rom. 10:12)  In other words, the Church comes into blessing under the Abrahamic Covenant, because Christ, in His death, did away with the Law of Moses, the wall that separated Jew and Gentile. Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, wrote: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. (Gal. 3:13-14) This indicates that we can share in the blessing of Abraham. His argument, of course, is that this can only be so if the Gentile has similar faith to Abraham, and the evidence of that faith, in the context of the current dispensation, is faith in the Messiah of Israel, Jesus. “‘Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham”. (Gal. 3:6-7) This maintains then that we are children of Abraham by faith, and therefore have access to the New Covenant. This, of course, raises further questions which should be considered. First, if the middle wall of partition has been broken down and the Gentiles have access by faith to the Abrahamic Covenant, what does this mean for Gentile participation in the ‘seed’ aspect and the ‘land’ aspect? These questions, while important, are almost supplementary to the main question that has troubled the Church for centuries. Does this doctrine mean that the Church has replaced Israel in the purposes of God? It is to these questions we must now turn. (But next time!)

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[1] Rom.10.4

[2] Strongs Greek Dictionary #5056

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

The New Covenant as it applies to Gentiles

The Roman Centurion. The third conversion is that of Cornelius, a soldier in the employ of Rome, who was a ‘God-fearer’.  He already had some knowledge of the Jewish religion, and demonstrated his generous disposition by acts of kindness and gifts of money to the local synagogue. Peter was instructed to visit him and preach the gospel. To overcome Peter’s reluctance to visit a non-Jew, the Messiah sent instructions from heaven. Peter had a vision of a sheet let down from heaven with many different animals in it. He was instructed to “kill and eat”. But he was an observant Jew and, as he thought, under Mosaic Law. He had been taught to discern between clean and unclean, and some of these animals were designated unclean. Peter objected to the divine command. He said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” (Acts 10:14) Three times he received the command before the vision ended. So when Peter was asked to go to the home of Cornelius, Peter, who would normally have refused, accepted the invitation. When he arrived there, he first explained how the Lord had overcome his reluctance. Then he spoke of the person and work of Jesus, the Messiah. But before Peter came to the end of his message the Spirit of God had fallen on the assembled company, a clear witness that they had been accepted for salvation. This Gentile household was the first among the non-Jewish population to embrace Christianity. To seal their conversions they were baptized. 

 

In summarizing these three important personal experiences, there are some things to remark on. Placed as they are in Luke’s history, it suggests that they are representative of certain groups of people. These three conversions contain valuable indicators that show how the New Covenant gravitated from a national, fully Jewish environment to an international Jewish/Gentile environment.

This group is made up of representatives from the three main people groups recognized by the Hebrew nation; a Jewish proselyte (the Ethiopian statesman), a Hebrew of Hebrews (Rabbi Shaul), and a Gentile (the Roman Centurion).

They also represent the three main population streams that rose from the sons of Noah, that is, Ham, Shem and Japheth.  The Ethiopian is from Africa (Ham); the Centurion is from Europe (Japheth) and Saul is a Jew (Shem). They are evidence of the truth expressed by Paul, the gospel of the Messiah “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Gentile)”. (Rom. 1:16) So that in Jesus “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female” (Gal.3.28) for all are one in Him.

In addition, there are elements of the gospel highlighted which indicate the means by which the gospel is effected. With the African the Word of God is central, he was reading from Isaiah, giving Philip the opportunity to explain that Jesus was the Messiah predicted in the T’nach. Clearly, this feature is central to all conversions because “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. (Rom. 10:17) However, in Luke’s history, Saul’s experience revolved around the Lord – it was a personal encounter with the risen Messiah. Here is emphasized the centrality of the person of Jesus in salvation. Paul himself will give the only answer possible when asked “what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16.30) “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31). With Cornelius the descent of the Spirit of God upon the household is the dominant feature. Again, without the work of the Spirit of God there can be no salvation: “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”. (1 Cor. 12:3)

And could we not say that the whole salvific act of Jesus, the death, resurrection and ascension, is incorporated here. His death is evident in the Isaiah passage that the Ethiopian read, and no doubt, central in the witness of Philip. The resurrection is key in the experience that Paul had on the Damascus road. That Jesus had been resurrected and was alive was the truth that Paul had to grapple with. And while not specifically identified in the narrative, it was the ascended Christ that poured out the Spirit upon the Centurion’s household in a similar fashion to that which took place on the day of Pentecost.[1]

A last comment on these significant personal encounters – the personnel involved were Peter, the individual who had authority from the Messiah to open the door of salvation to Jew and Gentile, and who later became the apostle to the Jews; Philip the evangelist, a man gifted of the Holy Spirit, who was himself a gift to the Church;[2] and of course the one person who will dominate the second half of the book of Acts and begin to take the gospel to the ends of the earth – Saul, later known as Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. This particular conversion was of such importance that the Savior took personal control of the event, and Saul’s meeting with the resurrected Christ became a cornerstone of his defense of his apostolic commission.[3] Let us tabulate these truths and see them all side by side.

Acts 8.26 ff              Acts 9.1 ff                 Acts 10.1 ff

Personal Details                     Personal Details                        Personal Details

Ethiopian Statesman               Jewish Rabbi                              Roman Centurion

Jewish Proselyte                      Jew (Hebrew of Hebrews)         Gentile

Descendent of Ham                Descendent of Shem                  Descendent of Japheth

Emphasis:                              Emphasis:                                 Emphasis:

Word of God &                      Person of Jesus &                       Spirit of God &

Christ Crucified                      Christ Resurrected                     Christ Ascended

Result:                                    Result:                                       Result:

Saved and Baptized                Saved and Baptized                   Saved and Baptized

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[1] Acts 2.33

[2] Eph.4.11

[3] 1 Cor.9.1

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

The New Covenant as it applies to Gentiles (Continued)

The Jewish Rabbi. Saul of Tarsus, Rabbi and special envoy of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, was given letters of authority to extradite and imprison any followers of Jesus who had fled to Damascus. He himself was to execute the extradition warrant. He was on this mission, and had almost reached Damascus when he had a traumatic experience. He was blinded by the glory of God, and heard a voice speaking to him out of heaven. It was Jesus Himself, asking “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9.4) He fell to the ground and acknowledged that Jesus was alive and the true Messiah of Israel.  “So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:6) What did the ascended and glorified Messiah commission Paul to do? Ananias, a disciple of Jesus, living in Damascus, was given the first intimation of the high profile mission that Paul was to undertake. “He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) Note here that it is the risen Messiah that authorizes the widening of the New Covenant to embrace not only the children of Israel, but also Gentiles. The offer of the gospel to non-Jewish nations was not an initiative thought up by the early Church leaders – it was an initiative imposed from the throne of God.

This should not have been a surprise to those who were students of the T’nach. Isaiah had already indicated that the suffering servant of Jehovah should not only be the Savior of Israel but also a light to the Gentiles. “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isa. 49:6) This was a great support and strength to the Savior, especially in the garden of Gethsemane when He faced His final rejection with its associated death sentence. To limit the benefit of the sacrifice of the Son of God to just the Hebrew race is, in the words of Scripture, “too small a thing”. His sacrifice and the salvation it purchased must be available to all peoples, that is, “to the ends of the earth”. Matthew, when he wrote his gospel, understood that the Gentiles were included and wrote of another prophetic utterance from Isaiah. The curious quote was inserted in the narrative of the twelfth chapter of his biography when the official rejection of the Messianic claim of Jesus was about to be confirmed. The Isaiah prophecy was, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.” (Matt. 12:17-21) Matthew, writing for a Jewish readership, is indicating that if Israel would not receive Jesus as Messiah, many of the Gentiles would. Luke’s writing also made the point. When he gave the history of the birth of Jesus, he recorded the event that took place in the Temple when the infant Messiah was presented to the Lord. An elderly Israelite Simeon took up the baby into his arms and said to the Lord, “my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

The Messiah and the New Covenant

The New Covenant as it applies to the Gentiles

 

There is no ambiguity about the declaration of Jeremiah in respect of the New Covenant. It is for the Hebrew people, those of the houses of Judah and Israel. Yet the same offer of salvation under that Covenant was made to both Jew and Gentile by those commissioned to be the spokesmen of the Messiah. Did they take too much upon themselves? Did they widen the offer without authorization? Many thought so. There were large numbers in the early Church that supported those who taught that a Gentile should become a Jewish proselyte before being allowed the benefits of a Covenant relationship with God. They were mainly converted Pharisees. They believed the only door that was open was labeled ‘Jews only’. Therefore circumcision and obedience to the Law of Moses were pre-requisites for entrance into the new community. Even Peter, true Jew that he was, had difficulty in considering even the possibility of the Gentiles being admitted without first converting to Judaism. It took the personal intervention of the risen Messiah to change his mind-set.

 

Luke, in his history of the events of that period lays out three conversions that indicate the movement of the gospel from being only Jewish or Jewish/Gentile to being available to non-Jews. The first seven chapters deal with events in Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus. It details the birth of the Christian Church, with thousands converted, all of them Jewish, and Peter at the heart of it all.  Then the history turns to those conversions that demonstrate the widening of the offer of the gospel.  In chapters 8, 9, and 10 of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke, the consummate historian, records how the gospel changed the lives of three individuals, an African statesman, a Jewish Rabbi and a Roman centurion.

 

Philip's fountain where he baptised the African statesman

The African Statesman.  Here is a man, evidently a person who had embraced the religion of the Jews, returning to Ethiopia where he held high office in government. He was in his chariot reading from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet—that is, a portion of the sacred writings of the Jews.  He had been up to Jerusalem to attend a festival, and bought the scroll while he was there.  Philip, himself a new Christian, met with him and asked if he understood what he was reading. He was reading that part of the Isaiah prophecy that said, ‘In His humiliation   He   was   deprived   of justice.   Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth.” (Acts 8:33,34) The Ethiopian asked Philip, “… of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” (Acts 8:34) Philip explained Isaiah was speaking of the Messiah who was to come and die for the sins of the Jews. The Ethiopian, already educated regarding the Jewish Messiah - it had been the main subject of conversation and speculation while he had been in Jerusalem - was able to understand the principle of the substitutionary nature of the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and Redeemer of Israel. He asked if he could become a Christian, and be baptized. Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” (Acts 8.37)  The African responded, not only in the affirmative, but with the formula that was declared to be the foundational doctrine of the new community, the Church of the Messiah. He said, “I believe that Jesus Christ (Messiah) is the Son of God.” (Acts 8:37) He was baptized there and then.

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

The New Covenant (Continued)

The Messiah and ‘This Generation’

The Messiah, who always chose His words with great care, isolated His contemporary generation from all other generations when He spoke of His rejection. “He (the Son of Man) must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” (Luke 17.25)  It will be that single generation that will stand at the bar of God and be accused of unlawfully rejecting their Messiah, because it was with that one generation He contended. He never said, ‘all future generations’ will be under the judgment of God; He only ever said, ‘this generation’.  “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here” (Matt.12.41,42).

Previous generations had rejected the servants of the Lord, but that one generation alone rejected the Son of God. Their own words will condemn them.[1]  This is the teaching of the parable of the vinedressers.  Having beaten, abused and sometimes killed the servants of the Lord of the vineyard, their response when the Son and Heir presented the claims of their Lord, was: “This is the heir, come let us kill him” (Matt.21.38). The judgment will be inclusive, that is, all the martyrs of the T’nach who were rejected as messengers of God, will also rise up against this generation because He was the One to whom all prophecy was pointing, for He was the greatest prophet of all (“the Word became flesh”) (John 1:14). Matthew reports the words of Jesus directly. “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation”.Mt 23:31-36

Because of the rejection of the Messiah, the offer of the New Covenant to the nation was deferred. It will require the national leaders of Israel to call on Jesus in repentance and supplication and accept Him as Messiah and Lord. There is no guarantee that they will ever do this of their own accord, but prophecy alerts us to the time when the nation will suffer great persecution. They will be brought to the end of their resources. At that time, the Lord will pour out upon them the spirit of grace and supplication and they will repent in the words of Isaiah 53, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. (Isa. 53:5-6) Then the Messiah will return with power and great glory to save them, and the New Covenant will come into its full glory. But in the meantime, as Peter indicated on the day of Pentecost, individual Israelites did not need to wait for that future day.  The blessings of the New Covenant were available immediately to them if they would reject the decision of their leaders, turn to Jesus in repentance and supplication, and take Him as Messiah and Lord. In the mercy of God these Israelites who had been involved in those events that led to the judgment of God were re-offered the opportunity to recognize Jesus as Messiah. Peter encouraged them to re-examine the evidence and escape the blanket judgment upon the nation. The preaching of the early Church leaders made the same points, that the crucified Messiah had been raised and exalted, and salvation was available for those who received Him as such, that is, as Lord and Messiah. But what about Gentiles, that is those who had not previously been Jewish proselytes?

To this subject we now turn. (BUT NEXT TIME)

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[1] Matt.23.31-36

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Continued)

The Day of Pentecost

Those believers that qualified to be members of the new order, the Church, were gathered in Jerusalem at the Feast of Weeks, when the ascended Son of God sent the Spirit of God to initiate the New Covenant for them. As with the Messiah at His baptism, so now with the disciples of the Messiah, the Spirit of God descended and rested upon each of them. More than that, He indwelt them, thus fulfilling that part of the New Covenant that speaks of the law, statutes and ordinances of God being written on tablets of flesh. Spontaneous praise to God broke out and was heard and understood by many of those who were in Jerusalem for the feast, no matter which was their native language. This phenomenon drew much public attention, and gave Peter an opportunity to explain the significance of these unusual events and how they were the activity of the Man that was recently crucified, but who had been resurrected and returned to heaven to a place of honor at the throne above. In this, the first public address of the new dispensation, Peter references prophetic Scriptures to explain what had happened. He brought forward the words of Joel who spoke of the day when the New Covenant would be in play. Peter said, “… this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:16-18) That Joel was speaking of a day when the Spirit of God will be poured out upon all flesh, that is all Jewish flesh, is supported by other writers. For example, Paul says, “all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” (Rom. 11:26) In that future day it will be all Jewish flesh without exception. But the T’nach regularly uses the words ‘all flesh’ to refer to the whole of humanity.[1] And, in the light of the historic events of the day of Pentecost, we must initially interpret the phrase as all flesh without distinction, that is, the young and the old, male and female, bond and free. And later events allow us to add Jew and Gentile but that is getting ahead of ourselves.

 Many of the crowd convicted by Peter’s words, no doubt because they had tacitly, if not actively, rejected the claims of Jesus, raised the question, “what shall we do?” (Acts 2.37) This prompted Peter, apostle to the Jews, and holder of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to respond and in his response we will find the clue needed to illuminate how it would be possible for individual Jews to receive the blessings of the New Covenant. Peter said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” (Acts 2:38-40) What is envisaged here is an offer of the blessing of the New Covenant to those who would distance themselves from the decision of the nation’s leaders and recognize Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and take Him as their Lord. Peter, in saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation” recognized that it was ‘this generation’ that was under a suspended sentence from the Son of God. Those that wish to be saved from the blanket judgment that was upon the nation were required to act then, on the day of Pentecost, in the same manner as the whole nation will be required to act sometime in the future. Indeed, any Israelite of any generation has the same opportunity, and can know the same salvation, if they fulfill the conditions that Peter laid on his listeners, to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  

More Next Time:

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[1] Gen.6.12,13,17; Job 34.15; Ps.65.2; 145.21; Isa.40.5, 6, etc

The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

The Messiah and the New Covenant

The New Covenant as it applies to Individual Members of the Hebrew Race

 

For what has been observed so far it seems that the implementation of the New Covenant for the Hebrew nation as a whole awaits a future day when they will be brought to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah and King. How can it be implemented for individuals? It is Peter that began the process. This was to be expected – for he had been specially selected for that ministry. The record of his commissioning is in Matthew chapter 16. It took place when Peter himself was finally and completely convinced of the Messianic claims of Jesus.  He confessed - “You are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the living God.” (Matt. 16:16) These titles encompass the person and work of the incarnate God. Jesus indicated this was to be the foundation for a new order, a collective of people with the same conviction, that Jesus is both Messiah and Son of God. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17-19)

 

Those that have the same conviction and confession as Peter will be called out to be a new entity, the ‘ekklesia’, the called out ones, the Church. Since the ‘ekklesia’, the Church, is here spoken of as a building, the analogy is continued by the use of the image of ‘keys’. Peter is considered to be the steward with the keys to the building. His ministry, recorded by Luke in the book of Acts, includes those occasions when he opened the door to the kingdom of heaven and admitted Messianic believers into the Church.

 

The Introduction of the new ‘house rules’ that controlled entry and membership of the Church.

 

To facilitate this change to the implementation of the New Covenant, Peter is given authority to bind and loose. Within Jewish culture these words are understood to mean forbid and permit. The terms binding and loosing were in regular use in rabbinic canon-law. They represented the legislative and judicial powers of the rabbinic office. In the new age that was dawning, that is, the Church age, these powers were granted by the head of the Church, the Messiah, first to Peter, and later to the other apostles.[1] These were the ones charged to advertise the new ‘house rules’ that were to be in place in the new dispensation of grace. Holders of the apostolic office were empowered to immediately offer the benefits of the New Covenant to those individuals who qualified to enter the Church, that is, those individuals whose confession of Jesus is that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. Once the door had been opened, of course, others were permitted to enter, as long as it was on the same basis – acceptance of the person and work of the Messiah.

Next Time: The Day of Pentecost

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[1] John 20:23