SECTION XIV.

THE FIRST FOUNDING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH IN CONTRAST TO THE OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH IN ITS DEGENERATE HISTORICAL FORM.

(Matt. xvi. 13-xvii. 21.)

The revelation of the contrast between the New Testament Church which Christ was come to establish, and the opposite degenerated form of the Old Testament economy, had now come to maturity. He had now to fill His disciples with the consciousness that they belonged to a new community, and that they would have to carry through a difficult but victorious contest with the old.

For this end He brought them to make a definite confession of His name, — a conscious confession in contrast to the vague although favourable opinions which were diffused regarding Him among His contemporaries. When they had retired into Gaulonitis, as far as the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He put to them the question, 'Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? 'They answered, * Some say that Thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.' This statement of the disciples proves two things: first, that the general public opinion in respect to the person of Jesus had been for the moment considerably lowered by the efforts of His opponents, since people now no longer ventured to designate Him decidedly as the Messiah, and that they rather agreed to hold Him for a forerunner of the Messiah; secondly, that their opinions concerning Him were very various, according to their various dispositions of mind. Some shared the superstitious opinion of Herod Antipas, connected with the theory of the metempsychosis, and which was designed perhaps to quiet the princes distress of conscience for the murder he had committed on John. Others, who rated Him highest, and admired His holy zeal, were inclined to see in Him the "second Elijah, the most definite forerunner of the Messiah. Others, who perhaps felt themselves more attracted by the gentleness and winning sadness in His character and way of working, named Him Jeremiah. Others only made a general acknowledgment of something higher in Him, and were willing to let Him pass for one of the prophets. The disciples were now to give a distinct confession in opposition to these erroneous and divergent opinions; therefore Christ asked further, 'But whom say ye that I am?' And Simon Peter answered, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' On this definite confession, which he spoke in the name of all the disciples, followed Christ's blessing: 'Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father, which is m_ heaven.' The believer is blessed in confessing Christ's name; for it does not proceed from his old nature, it is to be considered as a revelation from the Father. Jesus addressed this blessing to Peter. Peter, with his fellow-disciples, had indeed before this held the Lord to be the Messiah, but he had not heretofore confessed Him as Christ with a distinct confession in opposition to the opinions of the world, of his people, of the hierarchs among his people, and with consciousness of that contrast.

This clearness, power, and joyfulness of his testimony made _ it appear as a new revelation of the Father in his heart, which Christ Himself, who did not outwardly enjoin upon His followers faith in His Messiahship, but had educated them to a free, divine, living faith, greeted with heavenly joy.,

Thus, then, was the first solemn Christian confession given birth to, in contrast to the insufficient and false opinions regarding Christ. And now, by this first solemn Christian confession, the first foundation was also laid for the Christian Church. Christ declared: 'I say unto thee. That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (πέτρα) I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.' Not upon Peter as such, but upon, the rock (the petra), or upon the petrinity of Peter, upon the testimony of God in him, which appears in his confession, and makes him Peter, will Christ build His Church. The deepest foundation is Christ Himself, His life.¹ But by connection with Him Simon becomes Peter; and this through the spirit of confession from above, through his natural disposition to become a confessor through the confessor-like boldness of his trusting nature, and through the confession of his mouth. The Church of Christ shall never be wanting in these four petrine characteristics. Upon this rock she shall victoriously resist the clanking gates of the kingdom of the dead, which would in a thousand ways draw her down into its dark bosom (especially by the sufferings of the cross, the martyr's death, and the inquisitor's fire).

The Church is now founded (see above, vol. ii., p. 310). Christ therefore now announces also the fundamental regulation of church order: 'And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' This power of the keys is undoubtedly the power of apostolical church discipline. The binding and loosing upon earth (see above, ii. 314) denotes quite distinctly the act of excluding from the Christian society, and of receiving into it again. But it must not be forgotten, that these keys are the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The highest thing granted here consists in Peter's having a promise that he would be enabled to execute with purity the sentences of Heaven itself in the affairs of the Christian society. But where this certainty is forfeited, where that is loosed on earth which is bound in heaven, and vice versa, then the keys of the kingdom of heaven are also forfeited (see Rev. iii. 7). In any case, indeed, every community is justified in having its own keys; but if the keys of an outward Church of Christ are no longer identical with the heavenly keys, they are in antagonism to that for which they were designed. But the real heavenly keys will continue in the Church until the end of the world.

But Christ, by charging His disciples that they should not yet go forth among the people with the confession that He was Jesus the Christ, showed that this founding of the new Church still needed a new sealing by the Holy Spirit, This also became manifest in the fact, that Peter could soon afterwards express opposition to Christ in a manner very contrary to his confession. This fact forms a melancholy contrast to his previous confession. Now, — after the disciples had made confession to Christ in contrast to the direction taken by the people, when the conflict was declared, — they should be specially prepared for open and steadfast contest with that direction. The question now is. How shall this contest be carried on? Christ showed them how, by beginning from that time to 'show to His disciples' that He must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. This revelation Peter did not like to hear: it contradicted the wishes and hopes of his Messianic views. He there took Him apart, and began even to rebuke Him, saying, 'Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee! 'But Jesus withdrew immediately, and in turning said, 'Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not of the things that be of God, but those that be of men.' So soon had the holy frame in which he made the confession disappeared under the continued influence of his old state of mind, in which he could set himself as tempter before the Son of God, and in which the Son of God was obliged to order behind Him, as a Satan, him whom He had so lately called blessed.

Turning to the disciples, our Lord now uttered the categorical word: 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me! For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what counter-pledge has a man wherewith to redeem his (once pledged) soul? 'And then He showed them why it is so dangerous to secure this life at the price of forsaking Him, and how it brings no danger whatever to the true life to face distress and death for His sake: 'For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, with His angels (with all the splendour of manifestation, and all the spirits of God); and then He shall reward every man according to his works.' This great announcement could not fail to encourage them to follow Him cheerfully on the path of the cross. Thus they should hold themselves firmly prepared for whatever might occur.

But that they might not form too alarming notions of the destiny that awaited them. He added, 'Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.' This hope should be sufficient for them. These words, we doubt not, contained the kindly thought, that in the hour when Himself was led away as a prisoner. He would secure them by His protection; but still more the gracious promise, that they, by following the direction of His Spirit, would be conducted over the tasting of death into the glorious manifestation of His kingdom.

After our Lord had thus armed Himself for His death, and prepared His followers for the fellowship of His sufferings, it was needful for Him to collect and arm Himself in the presence of the Father, by celebrating in an extraordinary manner the destiny which He was about to accomplish, and also to strengthen His disciples, by letting the most peculiarly chosen among them be witnesses of this celebration. From this need proceeded that mysterious fact which has been called the history of His transfiguration, but which at bottom must be considered as the antecedent celebration of His future eternal glorification. Six days after the initiation of all His disciples into the mystery of His impending death. He took the three most confidential disciples, Peter, James, and John, and brought them with Him up into a high mountain. Here, in the deepest secrecy. He was transfigured before their eyes, and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment became white as the light. And, behold, there appeared to Him Moses and Elias, talking with Him. The intercourse of Christ with the great heroes of the old theocracy was the occasion and means of the disciples also beholding these appearances from the other world; and Peter was so overjoyed at this intercourse with the heavenly beings, that he exclaimed, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.' He said this just at the moment when the revelation of the other world reached its climax. Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and lo! (ἰδού) a voice out of the cloud, which said, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him,' This was, therefore, a special intimation of the Father Himself, who thus a second time glorified the Son by an extraordinary testimony. When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. The lofty mutual intercourse between the Father and the Son now raised them, as some time before it had raised John the Baptist, into the same prophetic region in which, in the days of old, Isaiah and other prophets had seen the glory of Jehovah, And as in similar cases the overpowered prophets needed that the Angel of the Covenant who appeared to them should touch them to bring them again to themselves,² so did the disciples here, Jesus came and touched them, and said, 'Arise, and be not afraid; 'and when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. So the manifestation had passed away with the command, Hear ye Him! As they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them that they should say nothing of this vision to any man until His Resurrection from the dead should have taken place. Meanwhile the disciples appeared soon to feel the contrast between that nearness to heaven and heavenly comfort of existence, and the dark earthly lot they were now going to meet. They were not pleased that Elijah did not go down with them into the valleys to open the way for the Lord with his former fiery zeal. So they asked Jesus, 'Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? 'He answered them, 'Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things,' and then gave them the explanation, 'Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.' They now understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist, and must have now felt how solemn in this connection the saying was: Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

On the top of the mount, Christ and His disciples had looked into heaven; at the foot of the mount, they had to encounter the power of hell. There they had had intercourse with blessed spirits; here they had to contend against the spirits of the pit. For when they came back into the valley, where a multitude surrounded those of the disciples who had remained behind, a man came, and, kneeling before Jesus, said, 'Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for oft-times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him,' Our Lord had here to make the painful experience, that the disciples He had left behind had no longer full possession of the power which He had formerly imparted to them, probably in consequence of the dejection occasioned by His telling them of His impending sufferings. He answered with indignation, '0 faithless and perverse (inwardly distracted by worldliness, and thereby enfeebled) generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? 'True, this was not addressed to the disciples alone, but it was specially applicable to them. Then followed the command, 'Bring him hither to Me/ The child was brought to Jesus, He rebuked the demon, and he departed out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

The disciples came to Him apart, and besought Him to tell them why they had failed to effect a cure. Jesus answered them directly, 'Because of your unbelief; 'and then added, 'For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.' Faith is the union of the mind with God in a definite relation; and in this relation it thus becomes the organ of Divine Omnipotence itself. Hence a man can, in faith, will only what God wills. But he may lose this union with the will of God when he does not keep his faith lively. And how is he to maintain a living faith? By constant consecration of his whole mind to God, which is effected by prayer and constant renunciation of the world, which gives itself expression in fasting. Our Lord impresses this upon them by the words, 'Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.'

The three disciples chosen to accompany our Lord had before this experienced a mortification upon the mount. The divine revelation there had made them wish to withdraw from the world into a pious hermit-life, in the solitude of the mountain, and they were afterwards obliged to acknowledge that that wish was foolish. The remaining disciples again received a mortification in the valley, by their failing to cure the demoniac boy. It almost seems as if we had here a twofold historical symbol. The Church desires first to become a hermit or cloister Church upon the heights of distance from the world, and is not allowed; she must again out into the world (see above, vol. iii. 90). Then, in the valley, in her closest proximity to the world, she is set to heal the demon-possessed progeny of an elder generation, weak in faith — the poor child of an afflicted father — a sick child who is lunatic (worldly), and whom the demon casts now into the water, and now into the fire (see above, vol. ii. 337); and she is unable to effect it, because she herself is divided and distracted in heart, until Christ comes again with His power. But these very mortifications which the disciples experienced had to become the means for the strengthening imparted to them. The three chosen disciples first received comfort in being assured that the Spirit of Christ, and His institution the Church, and consequently their path, was at one with Moses and Elijah, and so with the Old Testament; further, that they should be members of a glorified band of spirits, among whom a peaceful dwelling-place should be prepared for them beyond the grave; and, finally, that, by -following Christ, they should enter into fellowship with the elect of the kingdom of God, with the Father in heaven Himself, and that by doing so they would manifest obedience to Him. This imparting of strength to them was profitable to the other disciples also, by raising their tone of mind; and they were all, by Christ's miracle at the foot of the mountain, filled with fresh confidence that He would overcome all hostile demons upon His path.

When we take a retrospect of the whole section, we see here the first beginnings of all the essential features of the Church of Christ. She begins her existence with the lofty and living confession, that Jesus is the Christ, in contrast to the vague, various, and wavering opinions of the world, and establishes herself, as faithful in confession, upon a rock, confronting the menaces of Hades. Next, she is seen as the called to the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, which most severely condemns flight from suffering; and has the promise that she shall be conducted, as in a dream, over the terrors of death into the divine and spiritual brightness of the perfected appearance of Christ and His kingdom. She is strengthened for her path of suffering by connecting herself most intimately, in deepest retirement and blending of life, with the spirits of the Church above, — that she, so to speak, enters with one foot into the world of spirits, to arm herself there for her warfare with the world. And, finally, she shows her heavenly power in that she does not, through fellowship with the spirits of heaven, betake herself to a slothfully contemplative hermit-life here in this world, but that she enters with the blessings of this fellowship into the warfare with the world which is appointed for her, and here overcomes all the demons of hell which meet her in darkened human life, as if she, after Christ's example, were coming constantly from a heavenly height down into the darkest of vales, to illume them with heaven's own light.

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