1. “Upon this rock” means, _Upon this declaration that Jesus is the Christ_; in accordance with the reiterated assertion, that “other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 2. Whatever may be meant by the expression, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” cannot be intended to confer any special supremacy upon Peter, since the same authority was immediately (Matt. xviii. 18) extended to all the apostles. It is very evident that Jesus did not regard Peter as infallible; since he soon administered to him the terrible rebuke, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” It is equally plain that the other apostles did not so regard him; since it is recorded (Gal. ii. 11) that Paul withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. To _bind_ and to _loose_, in Jewish phrase, was to _prohibit_ and to _permit_. By this phrase, Jesus announced that his apostles were to be divinely guided in the organization of the Church. Such rites and ceremonies as they should establish were to have the force of divine authority. It was but gradually that Jesus revealed the great mystery of his kingdom to his disciples. He now, for the first time, began to unfold to them the truth,――that he was to go to Jerusalem, there to suffer and to be killed, and to rise again from the dead on the third day. The impetuous Peter, perhaps unduly elated by the commendation he had just received, with the grossest impropriety took it upon himself to rebuke his Lord and Master, whom he had just confessed to be the Messiah. Jesus turned upon him, and, with terrible severity, said,―― “Get thee behind me, Satan! thou art an offence unto me; for thou savorest not [dost not understand] the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Peter needed this rebuke; and it certainly must have satisfied him that he could set up no claim to infallibility. Jesus, continuing his address to his apostles, said, in words which will ever vibrate throughout the whole Christian world,―― “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall find it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”[21]