Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS

Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.

Introduction...................................................................1

Introduction

As one studies Matthew's gospel, in spite of the strong emphasis on the King and the Kingdom, a careful reader also sees a central, focal emphasis on the doctrine of the church. In fact, Matthew is the only biographer of Christ to mention the word ecclesia, translated "church" in most modern versions. While it is used only three times, the passages (16:18 and 18:17) are given added significance by their unique context, at the heart of the book. In verse 21, immediately following the first reference, comes the crucial facing of Calvary--"From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go 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 begins the second major division of the life of Christ, and in that case verses 13 through 20 are the pivot point of the entire book.

One suggested outline of Matthew's account of the life of our Lord points up this distinctive characteristic in this way:

Just before turning to face the cross, our virgin-born Saviour made a decisive statement concerning His plan for continuing His visible presence and ministry in this world. It is this statement which Matthew, under the verbal inspiration of the Holy Spirit, deliberately placed at the heart of his record of the personal ministry of our Lord. Thus it becomes us, if we profess to be His followers, to consider carefully His meaning and significance in this power-packed paragraph.

There are three possible approaches for those who are willing to take this passage seriously. Of course, one would expect unbelievers to ignore it, as they do most of the Scripture. But those who profess to believe it have often "watered down'' or waved away the significance of the word "church" in this setting, usually because of their particular theory of ecclesiology. Some follow the term in the Scofield Reference Bible (especially in the 18^th

chapter) and refer these to the "future Church," not to any reality present for Jesus and the disciples as He spoke.

Others, willing to make the term "church'' stretch back to Abraham (or Adam), simply assume that Jesus did nothing really unique, but merely revealed the meaning of the laws and changed their forms, so that a union of church and state or a " national church" in the mold of Israel is still valid today.

Between these extremes of hyper-dispensationalism and legalism, surely there is a truth which takes the words of Jesus at face value, believing that the church was built by Jesus, on Jesus, for Jesus, during His earthly ministry, and that churches like that one are still doing business in His name today. This sort of ''Church on the Rock" approach is that which we will follow in this study. We trust that any who disagree will at least be willing to study, and that all who do believe the Bible will profit by such inquiry.

With these introductory ideas in mind, let us first explore the Old Testament for the background of Jesus' words, and then examine our text to determine exactly what our Lord would have us know and do about this central truth from His life among us.

Introduction

Introduction: From Abraham to Christ, Chapter 1

III. From Caesarea Philippi to Calvary, 16:21-27:66