The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 165

II. A BETTER OPINION CONOEBNING JESUS, "Some, Elias; and others Jeremia~ or on? of the prophets." Elijah was a ~ guess; for Jesus was in no .:ray like him Elisha would have been better. Jerem1as was not a bad guess. And it was al'J advance to liken Christ to one of the spiritual, teachin" prophets. It should be borne in mind that there was an almost universal expectati~n of the return of Elijah, and that this had grown to be a national mania, so that every unusual man was suspectecl to be Elijah. III. A BEST OPINION CON0ERNING JESUS, Peter may have been actually in advance of the other disciples in discerning the mystery of Christ; or he may only have been spokesman of a general apprehension. The disciples saw two things; but they involved more than they then saw. 1. Jesus was Messiah; but not the kind of Messiah anticipated. 2. Jesus was Son of the living God; and this involved tb;i,t Jesus was doing his Father's moral work in the souls of men.-R. T. Ver. 16.-Visions of the mystery of Ohrist. It was the end and aim of our Lord's life to reveal the mystery of himself to his disciples. But what is so strange and yet so significant is, that he made scarcely any direct declarations on the subject. He evidently wanted it to be the impression left by his presence, his words, and his works. Later on in his life we find more of what may, in a good sense, be called self-assertion. But in his earlier ministry he virtually answered all inquiries as he answered the two disciples sent from John Baptist: "Go and show again the things ye do see and hear." Let him make what he can of them, and of me by the help of them. The impressions of himself had been borne in daily, for long months, upon those disciples, and so they had gained visions of his mystery. What is that mystery ? I. IT 1s ms DIVINITY. Because the word" divinity" has been applied to created beings, many persons prefer to speak of the Deity of Christ. The opened vision of the disciples found God in a man; they discerned the "Divine-human being, man with God for the soul of his h,1manity." It is hardly in place to inquire what notions of incarnations of deity prevailed among pa,,cran nations, because such notions could not have reached or influenced these simple disciples. It is to the point to inq nire how the Old Testament records and associations would help them. There were " theo- ,phanies" of various forms, which must have been helpful and suggestive. St. John •the apostle, in his Gospel, finely represents the process which had gone on in his own mind, by the help of which he had grasped the mystery of Christ's Deity. It was the •humanity that did it. John gives a series of narratives, and one after another they make on the reader a twofold impression. 1. He says-How manifestly JesllS was a real brother-Man I 2. But then he says-How manifestly Jesus was more than man, a Divine Man I No true noUon of Christ's Divinity can ever be attained save in the disciples' way, by actual, constant, living contact with Christ's humanity. It is tha.t extraordinary humanity which convinces of the Divinity. II. IT 1s HIS SoNSHIP. A previous homily has dealt with this point. The impres- sion on which we now dwell is that the Divinity of Christ is to be conceived as "equality with God," not subordination or creation. The contrast to son is servant. A servant is told the will; a son shares the will. A servant i:; at the footstool; the soo. is oo. the throne. "I and my Father are one."-R. 'l'. Ver. 18.-'.17ie rock-truth. "Upon this rock l will bui!J my Church." There has been grave dispute over this passage. Is the rock-foundation of the Church (1) Feter himself; or (2) Peter's faith; or (3) Peter's confession; or (4) Christ himself, the Son of the living God? Without entering into that discussion, we may simply say that this is true-the coufession which Peter made express~11 the foundation, the rock- truth of Christianity, every doctrine of which rests secure on the Divine-human Sons hip of our Lord, Peter is taken as representing this rock-truth, because he was the first distinctly to give it expression. The figure of rock-foundation needs explanation in the light of Eastern modes of building, and ideas of building. Still, we know the impor- tance of sound foundations, though there is no longer more than a poetical interest in foundation-stones. I. THIS CONFESSION WAS TIIE ROCK-FOUNDATION OF CHRIST'S REVELATION. For Jesus brought a revelation/tom God, which was a revelation of God. Search down to  I68 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [oH, XVI, 1-28.