​This passage of scripture is hotly debated in the religious world. You have the Roman Catholics saying that this passage teaches that Peter would be the first great leader (Pope) to the Roman Catholic Church. Others respond by saying that the “rock” that Jesus will build His church on is not Peter, but the truth that Peter spoke in His great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mat 16:16). They believe it is only the truth of Jesus’ kingship that the church is built upon. So which is it? I believe neither gives us a full picture of what the context shows and that the truth is in the middle of the two positions. Often when we approach this passage, I believe we tend to over-react to what we believe is false teaching. I do agree that the passage is not saying that Peter was not the first “Pope” of a hierarchal organization/church. This text cannot be used to substantiate this claim because 1.) this passage is not talking about a physical head of an earthly organization (which became the Roman Catholic church hundreds of years later); and 2.) the rest of scripture does not show that Peter was the supreme bishop over all of Christ’s church & its bishops. The rest of the New Testament shows this was not the case. The only way, I believe, to come to the conclusion that the Roman Catholic church comes to is to read into the text their preconceived bias.
 
Also, this passage is not merely showing us that Peter’s confession is what the church is built upon. It shows us so much more than this. It DOES talk about Peter being given special authority from God, and we tend to completely ignore this fact as we respond to false teaching. Peter is told by Jesus, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Jesus is giving Peter a special level of authority here. He is telling him that he would be given the keys to kingdom, which shows us that PETER would be the one to open the gates to the kingdom (with the “keys”) so men can enter. This is what ends up happening in the book of Acts. Peter, in Acts 2, uses the authority given to Him by Jesus, preaches the Gospel (the keys) to the Jews, and in Acts 10 He does the same with the Gentiles (Cornelius and His household). Peter opened up the door for all nations to enter the kingdom. It was the teachings that Peter gave (revealed to him by the Spirit); words that came from his mouth, which would begin the building of the church‘s “foundation.” Jesus chose Peter to be the one to do this.
 
So as we consider what Jesus is saying in Matthew 16, it is possible that Jesus is saying that Peter is “the rock” that Jesus would use to open the gates of the kingdom of heaven and to teach the people of God as an Apostle of Jesus. Jesus would build the great foundation of His church upon Peter’s inspired preaching. But this does not necessarily mean that Peter himself is the great first leader/pope of the church. Jesus is still the head of the church (Colossians 1:18) and is its builder and owner (Matthew 16:18-19), and Peter was only one man of many who Jesus used to build the foundation of the church. Peter may have started building the foundation, but he was not the only one who built upon it. In Ephesians 2:19-21, Paul says, "you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” This passage shows that all of the Apostles and prophets of Jesus are the foundation (the “rock”/authority) the church is built upon. They all gave us inspired teaching that Jesus used to build His church. They gave us the teaching that we must build our lives upon (Matthew 7:24-25). This passage says that these men are the ones the church is built upon, and Jesus is the cornerstone that gives every stone its direction. I do believe the teaching of all of these men (given by Jesus) is inferred in these passages, but it does show us the special place that these men had in God’s plan to build His church. Let’s not ignore this fact as we respond to false teaching about Peter and his contemporaries.

What do we do when our King is silent on a matter? Does God’s silence prohibit or permit? This has been a topic of debate for centuries, and is one which I have wrestled with for years. Below are a few principles and passages of scripture that show some of the conclusions I have come to in my studies of Bible Authority:

First, if we are seeking to please God, we will only do that which we know is pleasing to Him. We will examine what He does say, and base our practices on what is revealed by our Shepherd. Jesus gives us a great example of this in John 5. In verse 19 He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” He says in verse 30, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Is this not the kind of attitude we need to have if we want to please God? We should only want to do what we know is pleasing to Him; what we know will bring Him glory. The reason why we shouldn’t want to act on silence is because it is acting in an area of the unknown when it comes to God’s will. If we don’t know if it is pleasing to God, we should not want to do it as His people!

We need to remember: The ONLY way we can know for certain that something is pleasing or displeasing to our King is if He reveals it to us through His Apostles and Prophets in the New Testament. When God is truly 100% silent on a matter, we (as those who desire to please Him) need to show some caution in saying that God condemns or approves of something. It is dangerous to be presumptuous either way when God does not reveal His mind on a matter. God is the only One who can properly commend and approve, and He is the only One who can properly condemn and disapprove. Silence should not be seen as a reason to condemn an action or commend an action. “We don’t know” at times is the best thing we could say. We should stick with the old saying that we "speak where the Bible speaks and are silent when the Bible is silent." 

Second, God is not silent about as many things as we think He may be. Here are two reasons as to why this is the case:

• First, there may be some general principles or commands that apply to a subject not specifically mentioned in the New Testament. For instance, God also does not specifically mention dancing or condemn dancing in the New Testament, but He is not totally silent about it. He gives other commands in scripture that show that some kinds of dancing are displeasing to Him. In Galatians 5:19-21, in Paul's listing of the “works of the flesh,” he condemns what is variously translated “lewdness” or “lasciviousness” or “licentiousness.” These words carry the idea of “indecent bodily movements that can arouse indecent sexual desire.” That describes many kinds of dancing done today.
• Second, we also need to remember that not everything that is authorized must be specified. General authority is given often, which includes matters not specifically mentioned in scripture. For instance, we are commanded to go into all the world to preach the Gospel. The specifics of how to "go" are not given. This being the case, we have the freedom to choose any mode of transportation and to use the various forms of electronic communication that we have been blessed with to teach God's word.  

​I could say more points about how to deal with silence, but I will leave it at this. Hopefully these are at least some helpful things to think about when thinking about the “silence” of our King.

​Do you have any specific questions about the silence of the scriptures, let me know in the comments below!

In our first article in this series, we discussed what our primary motivation must be as Christians. We were redeemed by Christ to be His possession. We are His, and because of this, we are to make sure we please Him in all that we do as His people (2 Cor 5:9-10; Colossians 1:9-10) . This being the case, we need to learn what is pleasing to Him and what is not pleasing to Him. The only objective place where we can go to get this information is in the word of God. Only the word of Christ given through His Apostles and Prophets can equip us with the knowledge we need in order to be pleasing to God under the New Covenant.

But the question arises, how does our King in His word communicate to us what is pleasing to Him? He communicates His will to us the same way any of us communicate our will to others. For instance, parents, whenever they want to communicate to their kids that something is pleasing to them, how do they do it? Can I suggest they do it in one of three ways. They will either TELL them that what they want them to do, SHOW them what they want their kids to do, or IMPLY something to them in what they tell them or show them. Is there another way but these three ways to communicate your will to someone? This is how God in His word communicates His will to us.

• He TELLS us what pleases or displeases Him in direct statements and commands;
• He SHOWS us what is pleasing or displeasing to Him with illustrations or examples; or
• He IMPLIES something to us. He desires that we make logical conclusions from what He has told us or showed us.

This is how our Lord communicates to us in scripture.

Let’s look at an example of these in action in the New Testament. Let’s look at what God reveals about baptism:

TELLS

He tells us, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). If we want to be pleasing to God, we will do what He tells us to do here in this direct statement to be saved. God uses both direct statements and commands to show us that baptism is something we must do to be pleasing Him.

SHOWS

Jesus gives us a multitude of examples in scripture of people being baptized. We learn in these examples that a way of baptizing that pleases God is by immersion. John was baptizing because it was a place where there was much water (John 3:23). When the Ethiopian Eunuch was baptized, we see that they went down into the water and then came out of the water (Acts 8:38-39). We are not given any examples of other modes of baptizing that are pleasing to God other than immersion. It is also the only mode that is inherent in the definition of the word.

IMPLIES

God also implies certain things to us in scripture about baptism. God implies to us that preaching about baptism is included in “preaching Jesus.” We are told that Philip preached Jesus to the Eunuch, and the Eunuch responded by saying as they traveled, “look, water, what hinders me from being baptized?” This implies that Phillip told him about baptism. Another thing God implies to us in scripture about baptism is that babies cannot be baptized. Since he tells us that one must believe, repent, and confess Jesus as Lord before baptism, then it logically follows from this that an infant cannot be baptized because they are unable to do those things. Also, when God tells us in Mark 16:16 that we need to believe and be baptized to be saved, and when He shows us in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost that one must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, God is implying to us that these passages apply to us if we want salvation and the remission of our sins. We must use our ability to reason and the logic that God gives us as we come to commands, direct statements, and examples within the Bible to decide whether they apply beyond their original audience to us.
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How our King reveals His will on baptism shows us how He reveals what is pleasing to Him regarding every Biblical doctrine/teaching. Once again, what other way is there for our King to reveal His decrees to us other than these three ways? This is how communication works, and this cannot be denied. It is a self-evident truth. One cannot communicate their will about anything without telling you something, showing you something, or implying something to you.

What is our goal as Christians? Why is it that we do what we do? How we answer this question is important. We need to have the right reason as to why we choose to do what we do in service and worship to God. I believe the Apostle Paul sums up pretty well what that reason should be in 2 Corinthians 5:9:
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“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

In everything we do, is this our desire? This needs to be the motivation we have in approaching the will of God and the Authority of Christ. Each one of us as Christians must make it our goal and aim to be pleasing to Him in EVERYTHING we do. This must be where we begin any discussion about Bible authority because we need to remember what our goal is. In our worship, in the organization of the local church,  in evangelism, and in every aspect of our lives, our goal must be to please the Lord. The question that always must be asked is, "Does this please Him? Does this action please our King?" 

Then once we ask this question, we must find the answer. And in order to do so, there are many places we do not primarily go to get it:

• Our feelings or intuition. No matter where we believe these feelings are coming from, they are not the ultimate source of authority. Saying “I feel God would like it if we do this” when God does not speak on the matter or says something else on the matter is dangerous. Our feelings are not King. 
• What we have always done as a church. Traditions are not our King. They must be submitted to what He says also. Just because we have done something a certain way for so wrong does not make it right.
• What our families have always believed. Our parents, grandparents, and other families members are not our King either. Pleasing them in our beliefs and practices must not be our primary concern. When we become Christians, we make the decision to take Jesus’ words above even what those closest to us say. Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26) Our allegiance to Him as King needs to far surpass our allegiance to anyone else.
• What preachers and elders say. Even those who we look up to and respect in the church are not the King of our lives. If they say, "do this" and it contradicts scripture, we cannot do it! 

These things are not how we find out what is pleasing to our King Jesus. 

Paul told the Colossians in 1:9-10 that he prayed that they would “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" and that they "may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…”
If we want to be fully pleasing to God, we need to be filled with the knowledge of His will. But where do we get this knowledge? The only way in which we can “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding…and increasing in the knowledge of God…” is to, as Paul says in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” Only the word of Christ given through His Apostles and Prophets can equip us with the knowledge we need to be pleasing to God. We cannot know whether anything is pleasing or displeasing to God unless He reveals it to us in His word.