alman, Die Worte Jesu pp. 174-178.
In regard to the essential meaning of this series of metaphors as applied to St, Peter, the following points howl be noted: (1) They seem to be all conditioned by the scope of the first of them, the
* It is true that the word cepha is not used by the Syriac versions in these two But that the word cepAa does mean ‘a rock’ as well as ‘a stone’ is clear from the fact that it is used to render mirpa in Mt 27@ (Pesh.) 27% (Syr#® Peah.); it may therefore have been used by our Lord in the saying In question. See additional note on the Rabbinical use of Rook in reference to Abraham at end of art. 1 Perma.
4 Com; the remarkable legend preserved in Apoe, Baruch 1018 and (in a somewhat different form) in the Kest of the Words of Baruch 4, ‘Jeremiah took the keys of the sanctuary of God and went out of the city and cast them away before the sun, saying, ‘To thee 1 say, Osun, take the keys of the sanctuary of God . . . forasmuch as we were not found worthy to keep them, because we were false stewards.”’
PETER (SIMON)
rock-foundation, ἔνε. our Lord is dealing with the first stage of the history of the new ecclesia. The relation of St. Peter to the new Israel is in some sense to correspond to the relation of Moses and Joshua to the ancient Israel. (2) The promise as to ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ given here to St. Peter is in Mt 1818 given to the disciples. It would seem, therefore, if the words in the two places are to be understood in precisely the same sense, that St. Peter is, on the former occasion, singled out from the other disciples because he would be the first to exercise, or would be the leader in the exercise of, a power common to all. At the same time it must be noted that (a) the context in ch. 18 (viz. vv.!5-17- 2-) deals with the forgiveness of sins ; (8) Dalman (p. 177) shows that in Jewish Aramaic the word ‘to loose’ (xz), at any rate, is used meta- phorically in various senses. It does not then seem certain that the terms must bear the same meaning in both passages. (3) The Bk. of the Acts records the historical fulfilment of the promises to St. Peter. But it must be remembered that in that Book we have not a complete history of the earliest days of the Church, and that the writer is himself familiar rather with somewhat later developments. There may well have been occasions, unnoticed by the author of the Acts, which contributed to the ἀραῖς οὺς fulfilment of the Lord’s promises to St. eter.
(C) The Lords rebuke of St. Peter.—The con- fession of St. Peter and our Lord’s announcement that He Himself would be the founder of a new Israel form the turning-point in the education of the Twelve. Mt marks the transition by the phrase ἀπὸ τότε ἤρξατο (v."1), which in 4!7 stands at the beginning of the ministry, and occurs nowhere else. Henceforth the Lord reveals to the apostles the mystery of the Divine purpose (δεῖ) as to the Messiah —His humiliation in His rejection by the repre- sentatives of Israel at Jerusalem (the centre of Israel’s life) and His death, His exaltation in the Resurrection. The idea of a suffering Messiah was alien to current Jewish expectations (cf. Schiirer, HJP τι. ii. p 184 ff.). St. Peter at once
rotests as ae his Master’s appropriation of it to
imself. His action (προσλαβόμενος) and his words * alike zoply, a position of kindly patronage towards the Lord. The Lord turns immediately upon him, and the sight of the other disciples (Mk) necessi- tates a public and severe rebuke—a reversal for the time of the words of commendation just pro- nounced ;—a sentence of rebufl, pronounced as upon an enemy, takes the place of the beatitude; the rock-foundation of Messiah's Israel has become Messiah’s stumbling-stone; a temper of mind capable of receiving the revelation of the Father has been succeeded by a temper of mind wholly earthly.
A week after these events at Cxsarea (Mk 92%, Mt 17", Lk 9°5-), the three disciples, who had been witnesses of a previous revelation of Christ as the Life, are allowed, on the Mount of Transfiguration, to learn the ‘mystery’ of Christ as the Glory of God. The impulsive and inopportune request of St. Peter sprang from a dread oF the withdrawal of the outward signs of revelation (cf. 2 Co 3738); it was the prayer of a consciously weak and earthly faith. he revelation on the mountain confirmed both elements in the disclosure of the issues of Messiah’s life on earth which the Lord gave at Cesarea. The uniqueness of His Person was brought home to the Three by (a) the glory of the Lord Himself; (6) His mysterious converse with the Founder and the Reformer of Israel’s polity,
*Syrn in Mk 852 reads, ‘But Simon Cepha, as if sparing Him, said to Him, (God) spares Thee.’ The last words, a formula af deprecation (cf. 6.5. Ac 1014 118), render the ἵλεώς σοι of
Mt 1 in Syreur Pesh. From this formula the remarkable paraphrase, ‘as if sparing Him,’ is derived.
PETER (SIMON)