Scriptural Designations of God's Ideal Church. - This ideal Church of God is set forth in the New Testament under various designations and symbols; for example, the kingdom of God, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the temple of God, the body of Christ, the church of the first-born, the kingly priesthood, the Lamb's bride, the New Jerusalem, etc. Let us proceed to study some of these titles.

CHAPTER III

THE CHURCH OF THE KING'S ROCK

asked his And they

HAVING come into the region of Cæsarea Philippi, Jesus disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? said, Some, John the Baptizer; others, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He says to them, But who do ye say that I am? And Simon Peter answering said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood did not reveal it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to thee, that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.-Matthew 16: 13-19.

This language is not only remarkable in itself; it is especially significant because it is the only occasion, excepting one, on which the Lord of the Kingdom himself used this term, "ecclesia" (church). Let us, then, study it with special carefulness.1

Peter's Confession. - Simon Peter answering said to Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." It was Peter's twofold confession: first, his confession of the Messiahship of Jesus, "Thou art the Christ;" and,

1 The author has discussed this paragraph in his previous volume entitled, The Kingdom (pages 263-270). Pertinent and vital as the discussion was in that volume, it is even more pertinent and vital in this. That volume treated of "The Kingdom," this volume treats of "The Church." Accordingly, the author reproduces at this point the substance of the former study.

secondly, his confession of the Christ's divine origin and relation, "The Son of the living God." As such, Peter's confession was intensely personal, clear, emphatic, comprehensive, profound, adoring. No wonder that Jesus answering said, "Happy art thou, Simon son of John; for flesh and blood (capacities merely human) did not disclose it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven."

Peter, Rock. And now Jesus would confess his confessor: "And I also say to thee, that thou art Peter (Térρos, stone, rock, ledge, cliff); and on this rock (Téτρą, rock, ledge, cliff) I will build." It is a notable instance of what the rhetoricians call "paronomasia," or play upon words. For, although Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, yet he was the most perfect of men, and therefore the most natural of men. As such he must have been endowed with an exquisite humor, for humor is a natural endowment of all greatest souls; recall David, Luther, Lincoln. Beware of the triste, doleful, unnaturally lugubrious Christs of medieval art. "Peter, thou

art rock; and on this rock I will build." Not on rocklike Peter alone, not on Peter's rock-like confession alone; but on both rock-like Peter and on Peter's rock-like confession the King will build his rock-like church. For Peter's own stalwart personality and his sublime confession that Jesus the Nazarene is the long-promised Messiah, even Jehovah's own infinite Son-this is, indeed, the solid granite ledge on which our King is rearing his spiritual ecclesia or church of redeemed humanity, his basileia or kingdom of transfigured mankind. "Peter, thou alike in thy name, in thyself, and in thy confession, art rock; and on this rock I will build—"

The King's Ecclesia.-"My éккλŋσíα, my church." What did our King mean by this word “ ἐκκλησία, church?" Observe the question is not, What does "church" mean to us in our day? But the question is, What did "church" mean to Jesus and Peter at Cæsarea Philippi? We have no right to inject a nineteenth-century meaning into a first-century word. Remember that we have no Scripture evidence, according to the oldest texts, that exλnoía, in this sense of a Christian organization or organized "church," began to exist until some time after Pentecost. Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that Jesus in speaking to Peter would use language that Peter would understand. Now "èккλŋola" (church) was a word with which Peter, as a pious Jew versed in the Old Testament, would be familiar; for it is the Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew word "gahal," meaning 'assembly," or "congregation"; as in the constantly recurring phrases, "'Еккλŋσía (assembly) of Jehovah," "Ekkληoía (congregation) of Israel," etc. This accounts, as we have seen, for the martyr Stephen's expression, "The кλŋσía (assembly, congregation, church) in the wilderness." Accordingly, when Jesus pronounced the words, "Mу èкêλŋσía,” Рeter would instantly think of the Mosaic eкλŋσía, or Jehovah's congregation of Israel. Our King's emphasis, however, is not so much on the noun "ékkλŋoía" as on the pronoun "My"; "On this rock I will build, no longer any ẻккλησíα of Moses, but my ἐκκλησία, the ἐκκλησία of My congregation and kingdom.” And this ἐκκλησία, or congregation, is not an ἐκκλησία in the sense of a local institution or organized church, but the exλnoía in the sense of a spiritual congregation or

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divine kingdom. For there is an èккλŋoía larger and diviner than even the ecclesiastical organizations of the apostolic period; it is the Kingdom of God as administered by his Son in the hearts of men, the spiritual corporation of transfigured characters, the body of Christ, the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

Gates of Hades. prevail against it." "Hades" is the Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew "Sheol," meaning "the realm of the dead." "The gates of Hades" is a metaphor, personifying the powers of destruction. The figure is that of the massive portals of a city, as seat of government, (compare "Sublime Porte") or fortress, or prison. "Shall not prevail against it" is a continuation of the figure. The gates of destruction shall not be able to swallow up or imprison the Kingdom of God, or Christ's own ’Еêêλŋσía. The gates of Hades have prevailed against the church of Moses in the wilderness. They have prevailed against the organized churches in Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. But the gates of Hades have not prevailed against the Kingdom of God, the Ecclesia of Peter's rock-like confession.

"And the gates of Hades shall not

Crowns and thrones may perish,

Kingdoms rise and wane,

But the Church of Jesus

Constant will remain ;

Gates of hell can never

'Gainst that Church prevail;

We have Christ's own promise,

And that cannot fail. — SABINE BARING-GOULD.