00500
 \\This defileth the man\\ (\\touto koinoi ton anthrpon\\). This word is
 from \\koinos\\ which is used in two senses, either what is "common"
 to all and general like the _Koin_ Greek, or what is unclean and
 "common" either ceremonially or in reality. The ceremonial
 "commonness" disturbed Peter on the housetop in Joppa
 # Ac 10:14
 See also
 # Ac 21:28; Heb 9:13
 One who is thus religiously common or unclean is cut off from
 doing his religious acts. "Defilement" was a grave issue with the
 rabbinical ceremonialists. Jesus appeals to the crowd here: \\Hear\\
 \\and understand\\ (\\akouete kai suniete\\). He has a profound
 distinction to draw. Moral uncleanness is what makes a man
 common, defiles him. That is what is to be dreaded, not to be
 glossed over. "This goes beyond the tradition of the elders and
 virtually abrogates the Levitical distinctions between clean and
 unclean" (Bruce). One can see the pettifogging pretenders shrivel
 up under these withering words.

00501
 \\Were offended\\ (\\eskandalisthsan\\). First aorist passive. "Were
 caused to stumble," "have taken offence" (Moffatt), "have turned
 against you" (Weymouth), "were shocked" (Goodspeed), "War
 ill-pleased" (Braid Scots). They took umbrage at the public
 rebuke and at such a scorpion sting in it all. It cut to the
 quick because it was true. It showed in the glowering
 countenances of the Pharisees so plainly that the disciples were
 uneasy.
 See note on "Mt 5:29"

00502
00503
 \\They are blind guides\\ (\\tuphloi eisin hodgoi\\). Graphic picture.
 Once in Cincinnati a blind man introduced me to his blind friend.
 He said that he was showing him the city. Jesus is not afraid of
 the Pharisees. Let them alone to do their worst. Blind leaders
 and blind victims will land in the ditch. A proverbial expression
 in the O.T.

00504
 \\Declare unto us the parable\\ (\\phrason hmin tn paraboln\\).
 Explain the parable (pithy saying) in verse
 # 11
 not in verse
 # 14
 As a matter of fact, the disciples had been upset by Christ's
 powerful exposure of the "Corban" duplicity and the words about
 "defilement" in verse
 # 11

00505
 \\Are ye also even yet without understanding?\\ (\\Akmn kai hmeis\\
 \\asunetoi este\\). \\Akmn\\ is an adverbial accusative (classic \\aichm\\,
 point (of a weapon)=\\akmn chronou\\ at this point of time, just
 now=\\eti\\. It occurs in papyri and inscriptions, though condemned
 by the old grammarians. "In spite of all my teaching, are ye also
 like the Pharisees without spiritual insight and grasp?" One must
 never forget that the disciples lived in a Pharisaic environment.
 Their religious world-outlook was Pharisaic. They were lacking in
 spiritual intelligence or sense, "totally ignorant" (Moffatt).

00506
 \\Perceive ye not?\\ (\\ou noeite\\). Christ expects us to make use of
 our \\nous\\, intellect, not for pride, but for insight. The mind
 does not work infallibly, but we should use it for its God-given
 purpose. Intellectual laziness or flabbiness is no credit to a
 devout soul.

00507
 \\Out of the mouth\\ (\\ek tou stomatos\\). Spoken words come out of the
 heart and so are a true index of character. By "heart" (\\kardias\\)
 Jesus means not just the emotional nature, but the entire man,
 the inward life of "evil thoughts" (\\dialogismoi ponroi\\) that
 issue in words and deeds. "These defile the man," not "eating
 with unwashed hands." The captious quibblings of the Pharisees,
 for instance, had come out of evil hearts.

00508
00509
00510
00511
 \\A Canaanitish woman\\ (\\gun Chananaia\\). The Phoenicians were
 descended from the Canaanites, the original inhabitants of
 Palestine. They were of Semitic race, therefore, though pagan.
 \\Have pity on me\\ (\\eleson me\\). She made her daughter's case her
 own, "badly demonized."

00512
 \\For she crieth after us\\ (\\hoti krazei opisthen hmn\\). The
 disciples greatly disliked this form of public attention, a
 strange woman crying after them. They disliked a sensation. Did
 they wish the woman sent away with her daughter healed or
 unhealed?

00513
 \\I was not sent\\ (\\ouk apestaln\\). Second aorist passive indicative
 of \\apostell\\. Jesus takes a new turn with this woman in
 Phoenicia. He makes a test case of her request. In a way she
 represented the problem of the Gentile world. He calls the Jews
 "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" in spite of the conduct
 of the Pharisees.

00514
00515
00516
 \\Even the dogs\\ (\\kai ta kunaria\\). She took no offence at the
 implication of being a Gentile dog. The rather she with quick wit
 took Christ's very word for little dogs (\\kunaria\\) and deftly
 turned it to her own advantage, for the little dogs eat of the
 crumbs (\\psichin\\, little morsels, diminutive again) that fall
 from the table of their masters (\\kurin\\), the children.

00517
 \\As thou wilt\\ (\\hs theleis\\). Her great faith and her keen
 rejoinder won her case.

00518
 \\And sat there\\ (\\ekathto ekei\\). "Was sitting there" on the
 mountain side near the sea of Galilee, possibly to rest and to
 enjoy the view or more likely to teach.

00519
 \\And they cast them down at his feet\\ (\\kai eripsan autous para tous\\
 \\podas autou\\). A very strong word, flung them down, "not
 carelessly, but in haste, because so many were coming on the same
 errand" (Vincent). It was a great day for "they glorified the God
 of Israel."

00520
00521
 \\Three days\\ (\\hmerai treis\\). A parenthetic nominative (Robertson,
 _Grammar_, p. 460). \\What to eat\\ (\\ti phagsin\\). Indirect question
 with the deliberative subjunctive retained. In the feeding of the
 five thousand Jesus took compassion on the people and healed
 their sick
 # 14:14
 Here the hunger of the multitude moves him to compassion
 (\\splagchnizomai\\, in both instances). So he is unwilling (\\ou\\
 \\thel\\) to send them away hungry. \\Faint\\ (\\ekluthsin\\). Unloosed,
 (\\eklu\\) exhausted.

00522
 \\And the disciples say to him\\ (\\kai legousin auti hoi mathtai\\).
 It seems strange that they should so soon have forgotten the
 feeding of the five thousand
 # Mt 14:13-21
 but they did. Soon Jesus will remind them of both these
 demonstrations of his power
 # 16:9,10
 They forgot both of them, not just one. Some scholars scout the
 idea of two miracles so similar as the feeding of the five
 thousand and the four thousand, though both are narrated in
 detail by both Mark and Matthew and both are later mentioned by
 Jesus. Jesus repeated his sayings and wrought multitudes of
 healings. There is no reason in itself why Jesus should not on
 occasion repeat a nature miracle like this elsewhere. He is in
 the region of Decapolis, not in the country of Philip
 (\\Trachonitis\\).

00523
 \\A few small fishes\\ (\\oliga ichthudia\\, diminutive again).

00524
 \\On the ground\\ (\\epi tn gn\\). No mention of "grass" as in
 # 14:19
 for this time, midsummer, the grass would be parched and gone.

00525
 \\Gave thanks\\ (\\eucharistsas\\). In
 # 14:19
 the word used for "grace" or "blessing" is \\eulogsen\\. Vincent
 notes that the Jewish custom was for the head of the house to say
 the blessing only if he shared the meal unless the guests were
 his own household. But we need not think of Jesus as bound by the
 peccadilloes of Jewish customs.

00526
00527
00528
 \\The borders of Magadan\\ (\\eis ta horia Magadan\\). On the eastern
 side of the Sea of Galilee and so in Galilee again. Mark terms it
 Dalmanutha
 # Mr 8:10
 Perhaps after all the same place as Magdala, as most manuscripts
 have it.

00529
 \\The Pharisees and Sadducees\\ (\\hoi Pharisaioi kai Saddoukaioi\\). The
 first time that we have this combination of the two parties who
 disliked each other exceedingly. Hate makes strange bedfellows.
 They hated Jesus more than they did each other. Their hostility
 has not decreased during the absence of Jesus, but rather
 increased. \\Tempting him\\ (\\peirazontes\\). Their motive was bad. \\A\\
 \\sign from heaven\\ (\\smeion ek tou ouranou\\). The scribes and
 Pharisees had already asked for a sign
 # 12:38
 Now this new combination adds "from heaven." What did they have
 in mind? They may not have had any definite idea to embarrass
 Jesus. The Jewish apocalypses did speak of spectacular displays
 of power by the Son of Man (the Messiah). The devil had suggested
 that Jesus let the people see him drop down from the pinnacle of
 the temple and the people expected the Messiah to come from an
 unknown source
 # Joh 7:27
 who would do great signs
 # Joh 7:31
 Chrysostom (_Hom_. liii.) suggests stopping the course of the
 sun, bridling the moon, a clap of thunder.

00530
 \\Fair weather\\ (\\eudia\\). An old poetic word from \\eu\\ and \\Zeus\\ as
 the ruler of the air and giver of fair weather. So men today say
 "when the sky is red at sunset." It occurs on the Rosetta Stone
 and in a fourth century A.D. Oxyr. papyrus for "calm weather"
 that made it impossible to sail the boat. Aleph and B and some
 other MSS. omit verses 2 and 3. W omits part of verse 2. These
 verses are similar to
 # Lu 12:54-56
 McNeile rejects them here. Westcott and Hort place in brackets.
 Jesus often repeated his sayings. Zahn suggests that Papias added
 these words to Matthew.

00531
 \\Lowring\\ (\\stugnazn\\). A sky covered with clouds. Used also of a
 gloomy countenance as of the rich young ruler in
 # Mr 10:22
 Nowhere else in the New Testament. This very sign of a rainy day
 we use today. The word for "foul weather" (\\cheimn\\) is the common
 one for winter and a storm. \\The signs of the times\\ (\\ta smeia tn\\
 \\kairn\\). How little the Pharisees and Sadducees understood the
 situation. Soon Jerusalem would be destroyed and the Jewish state
 overturned. It is not always easy to discern (\\diakrinein\\,
 discriminate) the signs of our own time. Men are numerous with
 patent keys to it all. But we ought not to be blind when others
 are gullible.

00532
 Same words in
 # 12:39
 except \\tou prophtou\\, a real doublet.

00533
 \\Came\\ (\\elthontes\\). Probably= "went" as in
 # Lu 15:20
 (\\ire\\, not \\venire\\). So in
 # Mr 8:13
 \\aplthen\\. \\Forgot\\ (\\epelathonto\\). Perhaps in the hurry to leave
 Galilee, probably in the same boat by which they came across from
 Decapolis.

00534
00535
 \\They reasoned\\ (\\dielogizonto\\). It was pathetic, the almost jejune
 inability of the disciples to understand the parabolic warning
 against "the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (verse
 # 6
 after the collision of Christ just before with both parties in
 Magadan. They kept it up, imperfect tense. It is "loaves"
 (\\artous\\) rather than "bread."

00536
 Jesus asks four pungent questions about the intellectual dulness,
 refers to the feeding of the five thousand and uses the word
 \\kophinous\\
 # 14:20
 for it and \\sphuridas\\ for the four thousand
 # 15:37
 and repeats his warning
 # 16:11
 Every teacher understands this strain upon the patience of this
 Teacher of teachers.

00537
00538
00539
00540
 \\Then understood they\\ (\\tote sunkan\\). First aorist active
 indicative of \\sunimi\\, to grasp, to comprehend. They saw the
 point after this elaborate rebuke and explanation that by
 "leaven" Jesus meant "teaching."

00541
 \\Caesarea Philippi\\ (\\Kaisarias ts Philippou\\). Up on a spur of Mt.
 Hermon under the rule of Herod Philip. \\He asked\\ (\\rt\\). Began to
 question, inchoative imperfect tense. He was giving them a test
 or examination. The first was for the opinion of men about the
 Son of Man.

00542
 \\And they said\\ (\\hoi de eipan\\). They were ready to respond for they
 knew that popular opinion was divided on that point
 # 14:1
 They give four different opinions. It is always a risky thing for
 a pastor to ask for people's opinions of him. But Jesus was not
 much concerned by their answers to this question. He knew by now
 that the Pharisees and Sadducees were bitterly hostile to him.
 The masses were only superficially following him and they looked
 for a political Messiah and had vague ideas about him. How much
 did the disciples understand and how far have they come in their
 development of faith? Are they still loyal?

00543
 \\But who say ye that I am?\\ (\\hmeis de tina me legete einai?\\). This
 is what matters and what Jesus wanted to hear. Note emphatic
 position of \\hmeis\\, "But _you_, who say ye that I am?"

00544
 Peter is the spokesman now: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
 living God" (\\Su ei ho Christos ho huios tou theou tou zntos\\). It
 was a noble confession, but not a new claim by Jesus. Peter had
 made it before
 # Joh 6:69
 when the multitude deserted Jesus in Capernaum. Since the early
 ministry (John 4) Jesus had avoided the word Messiah because of
 its political meaning to the people. But now Peter plainly calls
 Jesus the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the God the
 living one (note the four Greek articles). This great confession
 of Peter means that he and the other disciples believe in Jesus
 as the Messiah and are still true to him in spite of the
 defection of the Galilean populace (John 6).

00545
 \\Blessed art thou\\ (\\makarios ei\\). A beatitude for Peter. Jesus
 accepts the confession as true. Thereby Jesus on this solemn
 occasion solemnly claims to be the Messiah, the Son of the living
 God, his deity in other words. The disciples express positive
 conviction in the Messiahship or Christhood of Jesus as opposed
 to the divided opinions of the populace. "The terms in which
 Jesus speaks of Peter are characteristic--warm, generous,
 unstinted. The style is not that of an ecclesiastical editor
 laying the foundation for church power, and prelatic pretentions,
 but of a noble-minded Master eulogizing in impassioned terms a
 loyal disciple" (Bruce). The Father had helped Peter get this
 spiritual insight into the Master's Person and Work.

00546
 \\And I also say unto thee\\ (\\k'ag de soi leg\\). "The emphasis is
 not on 'Thou art Peter' over against 'Thou art the Christ,' but
 on \\Kag\\: 'The Father hath revealed to thee one truth, and I also
 tell you another" (McNeile). Jesus calls Peter here by the name
 that he had said he would have
 # Joh 1:42
 Peter (\\Petros\\) is simply the Greek word for Cephas (Aramaic).
 Then it was prophecy, now it is fact. In verse
 # 17
 Jesus addresses him as "Simon Bar-Jonah," his full patronymic
 (Aramaic) name. But Jesus has a purpose now in using his nickname
 "Peter" which he had himself given him. Jesus makes a remarkable
 play on Peter's name, a pun in fact, that has caused volumes of
 controversy and endless theological strife. \\On this rock\\ (\\epi\\
 \\tauti ti petri\\) Jesus says, a ledge or cliff of rock like that
 in
 # 7:24
 on which the wise man built his house. \\Petros\\ is usually a
 smaller detachment of the massive ledge. But too much must not be
 made of this point since Jesus probably spoke Aramaic to Peter
 which draws no such distinction (\\Kph\\). What did Jesus mean by
 this word-play?

 \\I will build my church\\ (\\oikodoms mou tn ekklsian\\). It is the
 figure of a building and he uses the word \\ekklsian\\ which occurs
 in the New Testament usually of a local organization, but
 sometimes in a more general sense. What is the sense here in
 which Jesus uses it? The word originally meant "assembly"
 # Ac 19:39
 but it came to be applied to an "unassembled assembly" as in
 # Ac 8:3
 for the Christians persecuted by Saul from house to house. "And
 the name for the new Israel, \\ekklsia\\, in His mouth is not an
 anachronism. It is an old familiar name for the congregation of
 Israel found in Deut.
 # De 18:26; 23:2
 and Psalms
 # Ps 22:36
 both books well known to Jesus" (Bruce). It is interesting to
 observe that in
 # Ps 89
 most of the important words employed by Jesus on this occasion
 occur in the LXX text. So \\oikodoms\\ in
 # Ps 89:5
 \\ekklsia\\ in
 # Ps 89:6
 \\katischu\\ in
 # Ps 89:22
 \\Christos\\ in
 # Ps 89:39,52
 \\hids\\ in
 # Ps 89:49
 (\\ek cheiros hidou\\). If one is puzzled over the use of "building"
 with the word \\ekklsia\\ it will be helpful to turn to
 # 1Pe 2:5
 Peter, the very one to whom Jesus is here speaking, writing to
 the Christians in the five Roman provinces in Asia
 # 1Pe 1:1
 says: "You are built a spiritual house" (\\oikodomeisthe oikos\\
 \\pneumatikos\\). It is difficult to resist the impression that Peter
 recalls the words of Jesus to him on this memorable occasion.
 Further on
 # 1Pe 2:9
 he speaks of them as an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy
 nation, showing beyond controversy that Peter's use of building a
 spiritual house is general, not local. This is undoubtedly the
 picture in the mind of Christ here in
 # 16:18
 It is a great spiritual house, Christ's Israel, not the Jewish
 nation, which he describes. What is the rock on which Christ will
 build his vast temple? Not on Peter alone or mainly or primarily.
 Peter by his confession was furnished with the illustration for
 the rock on which His church will rest. It is the same kind of
 faith that Peter has just confessed. The perpetuity of this
 church general is guaranteed.

 \\The gates of Hades\\ (\\pulai hidou\\) \\shall not prevail against it\\
 (\\ou katischusousin auts\\). Each word here creates difficulty.
 Hades is technically the unseen world, the Hebrew Sheol, the land
 of the departed, that is death. Paul uses \\thanate\\ in
 # 1Co 15:55
 in quoting
 # Ho 13:14
 for \\hid\\. It is not common in the papyri, but it is common on
 tombstones in Asia Minor, "doubtless a survival of its use in the
 old Greek religion" (Moulton and Milligan, _Vocabulary_). The
 ancient pagans divided Hades (\\a\\ privative and \\idein\\, to see,
 abode of the unseen) into Elysium and Tartarus as the Jews put
 both Abraham's bosom and Gehenna in Sheol or Hades (cf.
 # Lu 16:25
 Christ was in Hades
 # Ac 2:27,31
 not in Gehenna. We have here the figure of two buildings, the
 Church of Christ on the Rock, the House of Death (Hades). "In the
 Old Testament the 'gates of Hades' (Sheol) never bears any other
 meaning
 # Isa 38:10
 Wisd. 16:3; 3Macc. 5:51) than death," McNeile claims. See also
 # Ps 9:13; 107:18; Job 38:17
 (\\pulai thanatou pulroi hidou\\). It is not the picture of Hades
 _attacking_ Christ's church, but of death's possible victory over
 the church. "The \\ekklsia\\ is built upon the Messiahship of her
 master, and death, the gates of Hades, will not prevail against
 her by keeping Him imprisoned. It was a mysterious truth, which
 He will soon tell them in plain words (verse
 # 21
 it is echoed in
 # Ac 2:24,31
 " (McNeile). Christ's church will prevail and survive because He
 will burst the gates of Hades and come forth conqueror. He will
 ever live and be the guarantor of the perpetuity of His people or
 church. The verb \\katischu\\ (literally have strength against,
 \\ischu\\ from \\ischus\\ and \\kat-\\) occurs also in
 # Lu 21:36; 23:23
 It appears in the ancient Greek, the LXX, and in the papyri with
 the accusative and is used in the modern Greek with the sense of
 gaining the mastery over. The wealth of imagery in
 # Mt 16:18
 makes it difficult to decide each detail, but the main point is
 clear. The \\ekklsia\\ which consists of those confessing Christ as
 Peter has just done will not cease. The gates of Hades or bars of
 Sheol will not close down on it. Christ will rise and will keep
 his church alive. _Sublime Porte_ used to be the title of Turkish
 power in Constantinople.

00547
 \\The Keys of the kingdom\\ (\\tas kleidas ts basileias\\). Here again
 we have the figure of a building with keys to open from the
 outside. The question is raised at once if Jesus does not here
 mean the same thing by "kingdom" that he did by "church" in verse
 # 18
 In
 # Re 1:18; 3:7
 Christ the Risen Lord has "the keys of death and of Hades." He
 has also "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" which he here hands
 over to Peter as "gatekeeper" or "steward" (\\oikonomos\\) provided
 we do not understand it as a special and peculiar prerogative
 belonging to Peter. The same power here given to Peter belongs to
 every disciple of Jesus in all the ages. Advocates of papal
 supremacy insist on the primacy of Peter here and the power of
 Peter to pass on this supposed sovereignty to others. But this is
 all quite beside the mark. We shall soon see the disciples
 actually disputing again
 # Mt 18:1
 as to which of them is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven as
 they will again
 # 20:21
 and even on the night before Christ's death. Clearly neither
 Peter nor the rest understood Jesus to say here that Peter was to
 have supreme authority. What is added shows that Peter held the
 keys precisely as every preacher and teacher does. To "bind"
 (\\dsis\\) in rabbinical language is to forbid, to "loose" (\\lusis\\)
 is to permit. Peter would be like a rabbi who passes on many
 points. Rabbis of the school of Hillel "loosed" many things that
 the school of Schammai "bound." The teaching of Jesus is the
 standard for Peter and for all preachers of Christ. Note the
 future perfect indicative (\\estai dedemenon, estai lelumenon\\), a
 state of completion. All this assumes, of course, that Peter's
 use of the keys will be in accord with the teaching and mind of
 Christ. The binding and loosing is repeated by Jesus to all the
 disciples
 # 18:18
 Later after the Resurrection Christ will use this same language
 to all the disciples
 # Joh 20:23
 showing that it was not a special prerogative of Peter. He is
 simply first among equals, _primus inter pares_, because on this
 occasion he was spokesman for the faith of all. It is a violent
 leap in logic to claim power to forgive sins, to pronounce
 absolution, by reason of the technical rabbinical language that
 Jesus employed about binding and loosing. Every preacher uses the
 keys of the kingdom when he proclaims the terms of salvation in
 Christ. The proclamation of these terms when accepted by faith in
 Christ has the sanction and approval of God the Father. The more
 personal we make these great words the nearer we come to the mind
 of Christ. The more ecclesiastical we make them the further we
 drift away from him.

00548
 \\That they should tell no man\\ (\\hina mdeni eipsin\\). Why? For the
 very reason that he had himself avoided this claim in public. He
 was the Messiah (\\ho Christos\\), but the people would inevitably
 take it in a political sense. Jesus was plainly profoundly moved
 by Peter's great confession on behalf of the disciples. He was
 grateful and confident of the final outcome. But he foresaw peril
 to all. Peter had confessed him as the Messiah and on this rock
 of faith thus confessed he would build his church or kingdom.
 They will all have and use the keys to this greatest of all
 buildings, but for the present they must be silent.

00549
 \\From that time began\\ (\\apo tote rxato\\). It was a suitable time
 for the disclosure of the greatest secret of his death. It is now
 just a little over six months before the cross. They must know it
 now to be ready then. The great confession of Peter made this
 seem an appropriate time. He will repeat the warnings
 # 17:22
 with mention of betrayal;
 # 20:17-19
 with the cross) which he now "began." So the necessity (\\dei\\,
 must) of his suffering death at the hands of the Jerusalem
 ecclesiastics who have dogged his steps in Galilee is now plainly
 stated. Jesus added his resurrection "on the third day" (\\ti\\
 \\triti hmeri\\), not "on the fourth day," please observe. Dimly
 the shocked disciples grasped something of what Jesus said.
