Matthew 16 Footnotes

16:16 Matthew included the words “Son of the living God,” while Mark excluded them. Peter made the complete confession recorded in Matthew, and each Gospel writer recorded as much of it as necessary for narrative purposes. Matthew emphasized Jesus’s divine Sonship throughout his Gospel and so retained the confession. Mark reserved the confession of Jesus’s divine Sonship for the end of his Gospel (Mk 15:39) in order to tie the confession more explicitly to the cross. Peter presumably meant no more by “Son of the living God” than “the Messiah” (2Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; Mt 26:63), but the virgin birth makes clear that the divine Sonship of Jesus is more than just a title.

16:18 The use of “church” (Gk ekklesia) here (among other reasons) has led some scholars to conclude that this saying is inauthentic. But Jesus’s preaching of the kingdom could easily envision the establishment of the messianic community. Ekklesia merely means “assembly” or “congregation,” and it is used in the Septuagint for the “congregation” of Israel (i.e., God’s people).

16:19 Within the Roman Catholic tradition this passage has been used to support the infallibility of the pope as Peter’s successor. Peter and other NT writers don’t sustain this view. Peter was one among a number who were leaders in the first generation of the church (Ac 15:13-21; 1Co 3:11; Gl 2:9,14; 1Pt 2:7). The context demands that the binding and loosing had especially to do with opening or closing access to the kingdom, most likely through the preaching of the gospel, that is, confessing Christ. Peter was uniquely used by God to build Christ’s church (Ac 2:14-42; 3:1-26; 10:27-48). Matthew 18:18 indicates that the church as an assembly has similar authority; see note there.