The Confession of St. Peter
Dear friends in Christ. In the Church we use the word confession in two ways. Really, the word confession means the same thing—a declaration—but there are different connotations / associations in our mind. First, there is the confession of sins. That’s when we acknowledge before God and each other that we are sinners and by our sins earn and deserve nothing but His wrath and damnation. We declare our sin. That’s when we ask God for the forgiveness of our sins for Christ’s sake; when we run to His mercy and forgiveness in Christ and hold to that forgiveness won for us by Jesus and pronounced and given to us in the absolution.
The other way confession is used is the confession of faith. That’s when we declare before God, our fellow Christians and the whole world in Whom we believe—the holy Triune God—and what we believe about Him and what He says in His holy word—the Bible. Not only do we confess our faith in church using the creeds, but when people ask us about what we believe, who ask [us] a reason for the hope that is in [1 Pt 3.15] us. We also confess our faith by our lives—how we live them, our thoughts/ attitudes not being determined by the society around us but by our consciences being formed by the word of God. It should be clear to the world that we are Christians. We declare our faith.
Our theme today is confession—confession of faith. Many Christians are today observing a Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Christians recognize that all human life is a gift of God that is only to be ended by Him; because God creates and gives the gift of life, we recognize the value/ dignity of human life in all its forms—no matter how little society may value the weak and vulnerable. We recognize abortion and so-called euthanasia as sin. We recognize that life issues are much more than “political” issues. They are spiritual matters touching people’s hearts and souls. That’s why as Christians we address them not as political issues but within the context of God’s holy Law and His life-giving Gospel.
1. Today the Church also observes a fairly recent addition to the Church year calendar—the Confession of St. Peter. On this day we hear Jesus’ question [Mt 16.15] “But who do you say that I am?” and [Mt. 16.16] Peter’s response: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. St. Peter is the spokesman for the 12 that day and for the Church, our Lord’s faithful Christians down through the ages. As was with the case of St. Peter that day, and with all Christians down through the ages, the very fact that we are Christians, the very fact that we recognize that Jesus is the true God and Savior of the world, the very fact that we confess our faith before others is not feather in our cap; it does not somehow make us better than others; it certainly does not make us worthy of heaven. Instead, it simply shows us that God has had mercy upon us, showed us His grace and gave us the gift of faith and now strengthens us to confess that faith. Jesus puts it this way to Peter in today’s Gospel [Mt. 16.17]: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Perhaps that’s what Peter is still reflecting upon as he writes in today’s text: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. It’s not that we have come to know and recognize Jesus as the true God and our Savior because we are smarter or better than others. It’s not that we have been “persuaded” or convinced ourselves that Christianity is the one, true and saving faith. It’s certainly not that we have decided to follow Jesus. Instead, flesh and blood has not revealed this to [us], but my Father who is in heaven; and His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. Did you catch that? – His divine power has granted to us, what? – all things that pertain to life and godliness. God doesn’t just give us a “jump-start” and then leave the rest to us. The very fact that we are Christians, that we enjoy every heavenly gift and blessing, is solely God’s work. So great is the Lord’s grace to us! And as we hear Peter’s beautiful confession of Christ, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, we also hear Jesus’ word Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and we rejoice in it because there is grace! Just as Peter was the recipient of that grace, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, so too are we!
When it comes right down to it, isn’t this the heart and core of epiphany, the Epiphany season we are now in the midst of? Basically all throughout the Epiphany season we have been hearing—beginning with the Wise Men searching for Jesus and having to take the detour to Scripture to find where He would be born, to Jesus being baptized and the Father announcing [Mt. 3.17]: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, we have been seeing the Baby born in the manger revealing Who He really is—the Son of God and the Savior of the world. All people, left to themselves and their own devices—you and me—wouldn’t know Jesus rightly: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. But we have been so wonderfully blessed by God in grace: For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Our Christian faith—that we know the true God aright as the holy Triune God and that the Son, who became also true man—is a saving knowledge—again, a knowledge that God Himself, in grace, has revealed to us. Our text: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. The point is the foundation of our Christian faith is knowledge. It is certain, concrete fact. Our faith dare never be based on our feelings. They are uncertain, fickle and easily manipulated by the devil and our own sinful flesh. On the flip side, our faith dare never be based on our own thoughts—but solely on the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. The foundation of our Christian faith, that faith which we, like St. Peter also confess, is knowledge, a saving knowledge because it is a knowledge that God revealed to us in the Bible—in the writings of the holy prophets and apostles—and in the Word made flesh, Jesus. In Christ Jesus, in the Scriptures we find out Who the true God is, namely the holy Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Scripture and in the Person of Christ we see that God is a holy God who demands from us a perfect holiness and who must punish sin; and we see that He is a merciful God and our Savior from sin. In Christ and in Scripture we come to see what He, our merciful God has done to save us from our sins and to give us eternal life. In other words, this saving knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, leads us to fear, love and trust in Him.
This saving knowledge that God reveals to us is the instrument of His divine power [which] has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Nothing else is needed for salvation. Remember, this saving knowledge is not just knowledge for the sake of knowledge; it is not just bare knowledge, but it is knowledge which faith holds and clings to. Faith needs an object, something that it holds to. It holds to that saving knowledge that God has revealed. That’s why faith holding alone to what God has revealed in Scripture, holding to Jesus and His saving work, holding to his precious and very great promises, is a saving faith.
2. Notice, again, God hasn’t just given us this knowledge for knowledge’s sake but by/ through His revealing it to us, by this epiphany, He called us to his own glory and excellence. By revealing this to us God is calling us to faith, calling us to believe what He is revealing to us and to hold to it firmly. This very same knowledge that He reveals, by the word that He uses to proclaim and reveal Himself and to give us his precious and very great promises, He is calling us and by the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts to believe and receive it, and so be part of His holy kingdom, the Church; He is calling us to his own glory and excellence. And why? So that…you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Just like it did with St. Peter who boldly confesses what flesh and blood did not reveal to Him, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, so too do we live out our faith and confession. In our lives we live as Christians because, basically, we have no choice since we have, through faith, become partakers of the divine nature. Through God’s gracious work on us of revealing Himself and through the faith He works in us, we have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. We have become partakers of the divine nature. How beautifully we see this in holy Baptism. For in baptism [Rm 6. 3-11] we are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. In baptism we are clothed with Christ [Gl 3.27]. Of course, we are not divine/ we are not made gods, but the holy God is in us. Jesus promises us [Jn 15.4; Jn 14.23]: Abide in Me and I in you; and If anyone love Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him. And St. Paul [2 Co 6.16] assures us Christians: For you are the temple of the living God.
How gloriously this revelation and knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, affects us. Through it and his precious and very great promises, the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts to believe/ receive it. Through this faith we escape from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire and we become partakers of the divine nature. That means with the Holy Triune God in us, as we are the temple of the living God, He gives us the power to fight against our old sinful nature and desires; He gives us the power to fight against sin and overcome it and to live a life more and more in accord with God’s will, a life that confesses in word and deed that faith in Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Faith, that saving knowledge revealed by God, is a living active power. It led St. Peter to confess his faith that day when Jesus asked, But who do you say that I am?; it led him later to go out into all the world proclaiming Jesus is the Christ; it led him later to give up his life in Rome as a martyr. Faith is just as powerful in the life of each Christian as we live out in our everyday lives—perhaps not as dramatically as St. Peter—our faith and our confession. As we, led by the Holy Spirit in us, live our lives we make a confession as we grow in our participation of the divine nature:
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
We, dear Christian, by the work and power of the Holy Spirit, we give evidence of the divine nature recreated in us and we grow in it. We treasure His work in us and on us. We rejoice in this great grace of God who revealed this saving knowledge to us of who He is and that He is our Savior. This saving knowledge leads us into a joyous confession of Christ our Savior in word and deed: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. What welcome words for us today: Blessed are you…! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. INJ Amen