“The Blessings of Sonship” No. 3 by Rev. Toru Asai

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mat 16:16)."

The most significant part of this confession by Peter in the mind of Jesus was "the Son": God is not only the Father of Jesus, but also of his disciples—one of the predominant themes in the gospel of Matthew. It frequently records the words of Jesus who taught his disciples calling God as "your heavenly Father" (5:16, 45, 6:1, 8, 15, 7:11, etc.). You see the same theme flowing in this passage of Mat 16.

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven (v. 17).

According to Jesus, it was the Father himself who taught Peter that Christ is his Son. Here, the apparent implication, on the basis of the theme of Matthew, is that this God became also Peter's Father through his confession. And it should be remembered that in the Bible, the concept of sonship is always associated with the idea that children are heirs.

And I tell you that you are Peter (rock), and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (vv. 18-19).

Kingdoms are inherited (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-10, James 2:5 etc.) . Thus, to have "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" means to inherit this kingdom with authorities. However, in order to be an heir of this kingdom, Peter needed to be a stone rejected by men following the example of Jesus who became the first such stone. Yet, Peter had no idea what this meant at this point (cf. 1 Pet 2:4ff., Eph 2:20). From that time on Jesus began to tell his disciples that he would suffer, be killed, and be raised to life on the third day.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you (v. 22)!"

In the eyes of Peter's mind, this messiah would go up to Jerusalem to be a glorious king, and the one sitting right next to him was Peter himself. Suddenly, Jesus turned and said:

Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men (v. 23).

Here, the way Jesus acted was almost equivalent to the way he acted when Satan said to him, "All this (all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor) I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me (Mat 4:9)." It is important to note that the issue in both cases was the inheritance of kingdoms. Jesus said to the disciples:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it (vv. 24-25).

To "deny himself and take up his cross," or to "lose his life for me" means to die with Christ, and it points to the spiritual rebirth that a believer in Christ experiences. Such is the one chosen to be an heir of the world. Keep in mind what God said in Jer 27:5: "With great power … I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to any I please."

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul (v. 26)?