Page:A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture (1910).djvu/581

Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee that thou art

Fig. 77. Ruins of Banias (Cæsarea Philippi). (Phot. Bonfils.)

Peter^[1], and upon this rock^[2] I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the

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Son of God, is the source of eternal life. Simon did not obtain this faith by flesh and blood, that is to say through the medium of his human senses, which had seen and recognised our Lord's miracles, nor yet by means of his human reason, but entirely by the grace of God, which had enlarged and enlightened his heart.

1. Thou art Peter. In Greek and Latin the word signifies “rock”. The Syro-Chaldaic word used by our Lord is “Cephas”, which also means “rock” or “stone”.
2. This rock. i. e. on thee, as the rock. Thou hast said that I am Christ, the Son of the living God; therefore I say to thee that thou art that which is signified by the name which I gave thee when I first called thee. Thou art the rock on which I will build My Church, so that it may stand firm for ever. On this occasion our Lord fulfilled the promise which He had made two years before, when He first met Simon and said “Thou shalt be called Cephas (Peter)”. A wise man, said He at the end of His Sermon on the Mount, builds his house upon a rock; and therefore our Lord meant to build His Church upon a rock, that rock being Peter. And as a consequence the gates of hell should not prevail against it. Hell would throw open its gates, and let all its powers loose against the Church,