IIL Previous INTIMITATIONS ON THE suUBJEOT. The previous intimations had been obscure. There had been the intimation of the Baptist when he pointed the Saviour out as “ the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John i. 29), and in the repetition of part of the same at ver. 36. He had himself given several figurative intimations of it, as when he spake of his death by violence, and his resurrection in three days under the similitude of the demolition and rebuilding of a temple. “Destroy,” he said, “this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ This had occurred at the celebration of the first Passover after the commencement of his public ministry. Again, in his discourse with Nicodemus, he represented his crucifixion as an uplifting, and its beneficial effects by a comparison with Moses’ lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, when the bitten Israelite looked and lived. Another intimation of his death, and the first allusion to that event recorded in this Gospel (St. Mark’s), is the removal of the bridegroom, of which he said, “‘ The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them” (ch. ii. 20; Matt. ix. 15). Also, after the feeding of the five thousand, in the synagogue of Capernaum he made a reference to it in the words, “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” But the first clear and dzstinct declaration is that of the preceding chapter (ch. viii.), when “he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
IV. SIMILAR DECLARATIONS IN THE PRESENT AND SUBSEQUENT OHAPTERS. The first public, or at least the first direct and unreserved announcement of his sufferings, death, and resurrection, was made, as recorded in the preceding chapter, after the disciples had been convinced of, and Peter had confessed, his Messiahship, saying, “Thou art the Christ.” On that occasion we learn from the fuller report of St. Matthew that our Lord warmly commended Peter’s confession, but soon after, as both St. Matthew and St. Mark inform us, found cause to condemn his indiscreet and unwelcome rebuke. The commendation is contained in tne words, “I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” The latter clause of the promise just cited has, as is well known, excited no little controversy, and called forth a variety of interpretations. 1. Augustine will have it that the rock op which the Church is built, according to the Saviour’s promise, is Christ himself.
ou. x. i—50.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING Tu ST. MARK. 55
2, Chrysostom maintains that the confession of faith in Ohrist, that Peter had just given utterance to, is the rock on which the Church is based. We admit the show of reason and the plausibility with which both opinions have been expressed and enforced ; still we cannot concur in either. Chrysostom’s explanation is chargeable with over- looking the context. So to some extent, though less so, is that of Augustine; but the latter rests, besides, on a very doubtful distinction between two words which are frequently used in classical writers as interchangeable. According to this interpreter its import would be, “ Thou art Peter (wérpos), a small stone; but [ am Christ, a strong Rock (*érpa), and on this Rock, that is, myself, I will build my Church.” In the Aramaic there is one word (Kipho) for Peter and for rock, just as in French there is one word for both—Pterre, Peter, a man’s name, and pierre, a stone or rock. But in Greek there are the two words already mentioned, viz. érpos and wérpa, 80 that in this play upon the word there is a slight variation in the Greek, without, how- ever, real difference of meaning. Even admitting the distinction between the two words, which has been questioned, if not entirely disproved, the explanation is evidently forced. We require to look more closely at the context as furnished by the eighteenth verse itself, and by the sixteenth. As recorded in the latter, Peter’s answer was, “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Our Lord, after expressing approval of Peter’s reply, and assuring him that the truth contained in it was the outcome, not of human discovery, but of Divine revelation, takes occasion to state another and no less important truth, and that in a form accommodated to the statement of Peter, “* Aud Pay also unto thee, That thou art Peter [*érpos, a rock], and upon this rock (xérpa) I will build my Church ;” that is to say,—You have made a good and true confession in acknowledging my Messiahship and divinity; I also, in my turn, will confess what I have in store for you in connection withmy Church. 3, Your name is significant—it means a rock; and according to your name will be the nature of your work. With the foundation of the Church you will have much to do. On your preaching of the faith which you have just professed its foundation shall be laid. Similarly, elsewhere we read that the Church is “built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone; ” w].ereas apostles and prophets are only the foundation in so far as they themselves, knit together with and cemented to Christ, lay the foundation by thetr exhibition of Christ and declaration of the truth concerning Christ. It is as though our Lord had said to Peter, Among Jews and Gentiles your work is appointed you. Among the Jews on the day of Pentecost your proclamation of the selfsame faith, which you have just confessed, will lay the foundation of the Christian Church; while to Cornelius the same gospel preached by you will inaugurate a similar blessed result among the Gentiles, introducing the first- fruits of the Gentile world into the Church. Still more, to the united Church of the believing Jew and converted Gentile I shall promise and provide security from all the devices of the most wily, and all the assaults of the most Satanic, foes.