Mark 8
DODDMark 8:22-30
Parallels: Luke 9; Matthew 16
Christ gradually heals the blind man at Bethsaida; and owns to his disciples that he is the Messiah, applauding Peter for expressly acknowledging him under that character. Mark VIII. 22—30. Mat. XVI. 13—20. Luke IX. 18—21.
MARK VIII. 22.
AND when our Lord had thus crossed the sea, he came to Bethsaida; and his fame AND he cometh to Bethsaida,
Christ cures a blind man at Bethsaida.
being well known there, as soon as he entered the place, they brought him a blind man, and entreated him that he would be pleased only to touch him, as being well assured that this would be sufficient for the recovery of his sight. And, as he chose to work this miracle in private, he took hold of the blind man’s hand, and led him out of the town in the most tender and condescending manner; and having spit upon his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw any thing. And looking up, he said, I do indeed discern the forms of things, in an imperfect manner, and see men walking before me, but it is so obscurely, as that I am hardly able to distinguish them from trees, any otherwise than by their motion. Then he laid his hands again upon his eyes, and caused him to look up a second time; and upon this he found his sight was perfectly restored, so that he saw every man and thing about him clearly and distinctly. And he sent him away directly to his own house, which lay in some neighbouring village; and said unto him, Enter not into the ungrateful town of Bethsaida, to proclaim what has now been done for thee; neither tell the circumstances of it to any man dwelling in the town, for they are unworthy the knowledge of such a miracle; but content thyself with returning thy acknowledgments to God for his favour to thee; for I assure thee, that in what I do I am animated only by a sincere regard to the glory of him that sent me, and to the relief of afflicted creatures.
And Jesus, with his disciples, went out from the city of Bethsaida, in the neighbourhood of which this miracle had been performed, and came into the towns belonging to a city in the northern part of Canaan, (near mount Lebanon,) which had formerly been called Laish,
and led him out of the town.] Grotius it was an intimation of his just disre against the inhabitants of Bethfor their ingratitude and infidelity, he would not permit them to be eyeasses of this miracle, or even suffer person who received the cure to go thither to proclaim it. Compare 21. sect. lix.
I see men walking they might not be fa and these might be pened then to be gon by the story, that our him out of the town, company to attend hi
his disciples, Whom do men say that I am?
ut now bore the name of Cesarea Philippi, having lately been rebuilt by Philip the tetrarch. And it came to pass by the way, as they were on their journey, when Jesus was just come into [those] parts, he retired a while for devotion; and when he had been praying with his disciples apart, he inquired of them, saying, Whom do men say that I, who have so long conversed among them as the Son of man, am? What notions do you find that men generally form of me?
And they, replying, said, Some [say that thou art] John the Baptist risen from the dead, with an additional power of working miracles; but others [say] that thou art Elijah the prophet, who art come to prepare the way of the Messiah; and others say that thou art Jeremiah; and others, in a more general way, that one of the ancient prophets is risen again.
And, after they had told him what were the thoughts of others, he then said to them, for the trial of their faith, But tell me truly and plainly your own sentiments; whom do you yourselves think and say that I am? And Simon Peter immediately answered, with his usual zeal and forwardness, and said to him, in the name of the rest, Lord, we well know that thou art the great expected Messiah; and art not only the Son of man, the worthy Heir of that glorious and extensive kingdom promised to him; but art, in a proper and incommunicable sense, the Son of the ever living God; and we believe in thee as such, and adore thee under that Divine character.
Cesarea Philippi, &c.] Philip the tetrarch, called the chief city of this tract of land Cesarea, in honour of Tiberius Cesar; and Philip’s own name was added, to distinguish it from that other Cesarea so often mentioned in the Acts (chap. viii. 40; ix. 30; x. 1; xii. 19; xxi. 8; xxiii. 23, 33, and xxv. 4, 13,) which was a fine port on the Mediterranean sea, and had been rebuilt by Herod the Great, and named in honour of Augustus Cesar. Josephus gives Philip so good a character, that some have thought our Lord retired into his territories for security from the
insults of his enemies elsewhere. See L’Enfant’s Introduction, p. 27. Others say that thou art Jeremiah.] Mr. Cradock has observed, that the Jews seem to have had a tradition among them, that Jeremiah the prophet would appear among them, when the Messiah came, to recover the ark of the covenant, which they fancied he had hid: 2 Mac. ii. 5. (See Cradock’s Harmony, Part. ii. p. 12.) And Dr. Whitby imagines, they might farther encourage themselves in that notion, from Jer. i. 5, 10. (See his note on Mat xvi. 14.)
And applauds Peter’s confession that he is the
And Jesus, replying, said unto him, Thou hast confessed a truth, and a truth of the utmost importance; blessed art thou, therefore, O Simon Bar Jonas, (or the son of Jonas,) in being brought thus firmly to believe it: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] to thee, thou hast not learnt it by human report, or the unassisted sagacity of thine own mind; but my Father in heaven has discovered it to thee, and wrought in thy soul this cordial assent in the midst of those various prejudices against it, which present circumstances might suggest. And, as thou hast been so ready to make this acknowledgment, I also in return say to thee, Thou art indeed Peter, (see John i. 42. p. 130,) thou art, as thy name signifies, a substantial rock; and, as thou hast shewn it in this good confession, I assure thee, that upon this rock I will build my church;^c faith in me as the Son of God shall be its great support, and I will use thee as a glorious instrument in raising it: yea, so immoveable and firm shall its foundation be, and so secure the superstructure, that though earth and hell unite their assaults against it, and death, in its most dreadful forms, be armed for its destruction, the gates of hell, or the unseen world, shall not finally prevail against it to its ruin;^f but one generation of Christians
^c Upon this rock I will build my church.] I look upon this as one of those scriptures the sense of which might be most certainly fixed by the particular tone of voice and gesture with which it was spoken; and therefore have paraphrased it with a latitude, which an intelligent reader will easily observe. If our Lord altered his accent, and laid his hand on his breast, it would shew that he spoke, not of the person, but of the confession of Peter (as most protestant divines have understood it,) and meaned to point out himself as the great Foundation. Compare 1 Cor. iii. 10, 11. But if he turned to the other apostles, and pointed to Peter, that would shew, he meaned to intimate the honour he would do him, in making him an eminent support to his church. This is the sense which Grotus, Le Clerc, Dr. Whitby, Dr. Clarke, and L’Enfant defend, and it seems to suit best with the connection; (see Whitby, in loc.) But to be a foundation in this sense, was not his honour alone: his brethren shared with him in it,
(see Eph. ii. 20, and Rev. xxi. 14.) as they did also in the power of binding and loosing. (See Mat. xviii. 18, and John xx. 23.) On the whole, how weak the arguments are which the Papists draw from hence, to support the supremacy of Peter in their wild sense of it, is sufficiently shewn by Bishop Burnet on the Articles, p. 180; Calvin, Institut. lib. iv. cap. 6; Dr. Barrow on the Creed, Serm. xxviii. Dr. Patrick in his Sermon on this text, and a multitude more, whom I need not name. There seems a reference in this expression to the common custom of building citadels upon a rock.
^f The gates of hell shall not prevail against it to its ruin.] It is most certain that the phrase here used cross as, does generally in the Greek writers signify, the entrance into the invisible world; as Elsner (Vol. I. p. 77, 78,) and Albert (Observ. p. 111, 112,) have abundantly proved. So the seventy use it, Isaiah xxxviii. 10, and Job xxxviii. 17. (Compare Wisd. of Sol. xvi. 13.) So that it is equivalent to the gates of death, Psal.
the kingdom of heaven are promised to Peter.
shall arise after another, even to the very end of time, to maintain this truth, and to venture their lives and their souls upon it, till at length the whole body of them be redeemed from the power of the grave. In the mean time, I will raise thee, O Peter, and thy brethren, whose faith herein agrees with thine (compare John xx. 23,) to distinguished honours in my church; and I will give unto thee, in particular, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and make thee the instrument of opening it both to the Jews and Gentiles: g yea, so fully shalt thou be instructed in my will, and in the constitution of my kingdom, that whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven; h that is, thou shalt have authority to
vii. 18, and elsewhere. The plainest and fullest sense seems to be what I have given in the paraphrase; for the vindication of which, see Dr. Moore’s Theological Works, p. 110, and Dr. Whitby’s note on this place. Grotius also supposes it refers to the final triumph of the saints over the grave at the general resurrection. This does indeed imply a victory over the power and power of infernal spirits; but I cannot apprehend a reference to this to be chiefly intended; as it is certain, that the Greek word φως [hades] does very seldom signify the state of the damned, but generally has seen in Hebrew,) the invisible world in general. See Mr. Howe’s Works, Vol. II pag. 61, 62.
g I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, &c.] As stewards of great families, especially of the royal household, bore a key, probably a golden one (as the lands of the bedchamber do,) in token of their office, the phrase of giving a person the key naturally grew into an expression of raising him to great power: (compare Isa. xxii. 22, and Rev. iii. 7.) And this seems more natural and certain than bishop Burnet’s supposition, that Christ refers to the custom of giving a key to the Jewish rabbies when they were admitted into their office, in token of the power given them to expound the scripture. (See Grotius on Luke xi. 52, and bishop Burnet’s four Discourses, p. 241, 242.) Peter’s opening the kingdom of heaven, as being the first that preached it, both to the Jews, (Acts ii.) and to Gentiles, (Acts x.) may be considered as an illustration of this promise:
But I apprehend it more fully explained by the power of binding and loosing afterwards mentioned.
h Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, &c.] A power to bind and loose may signify, in general, great authority in a family or state; which sense it plainly has, both in Josephus and Plutarch. (See Elsner. Observ. Vol. I. p. 80.) When applied to judges in criminal cases, it signifies to absolve or condemn (see Raphel. Annot. ex Herod, page 169;) and when used of teachers, especially in the Jewish language, it refers to their explications of the law; and thus to bind is to oblige a person to do or forbear any thing in question, or to declare a thing commanded or forbidden; and to loose is to declare the thing to be indifferent, or the person at liberty with respect to it. (See Lightf. Hor. Heb. in loc.) The learned Selden has endeavoured to shew that the clause before us must be interpreted in this sense (see Seld. de Synod. lib. ii. cap. 7;) and many of the greatest characters for criticism in our own country and abroad have followed him; and among the rest the present celebrated Bishop of Winchester, in his glorious controversy on the subject of Church Authority. I have included that sense, and taken the words in a yet greater extent, as the learned Puffendorf also does (De Habitu Relig. Christ, &c. § 22—25;) and I shall, with great pleasure, submit to those ecclesiastical rulers who shall prove, as the apostles did, their power to explain the laws of Christ in a decisive way, and their authority efficaciously to absolve or condemn men, according to the sense they give of them.
Vo.
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Reflections on the sure foundation of the Church
declare what precepts of the Mosaic religion are superseded, and what are continued, and what things are allowed or forbidden to my disciples; and I will myself confirm those decisions, whether general or personal, as made by the influences of my unerring Spirit communicated to thee and thy brethren, and will determine men’s final state in a manner agreeable to them.
And upon this he strictly charged and commanded his disciples that they should tell no man, at present, this thing concerning him, which he had so expressly acknowledged to them, that he was Jesus the Messiah, and that he actually professed and owned the title; because he knew it was like to be interpreted in a very unjust and unnatural manner, which might have rendered him and his followers obnoxious to the Romans, who would unreasonably look on such a profession as a claim to regal power, and utterly inconsistent with the rights of Cesar.
IMPROVEMENT.
Mat. 16, 18 We here behold the great Foundation of our faith and hope, even Jesus, the Rock of ages, the same yesterday, today, and for ever (Heb. xiii. 8,) who is Christ the Son of the living God. Other foundation can no man lay (1 Cor. iii. 11.) On him may our souls rest, and the fiercest tempests shall rage in vain!
Our Lord foretold that the gates of hell should not be able to prevail against his church as thus founded; and behold, even to this day, the accomplishment of the prediction. As Christians of one age have sunk into their graves, a new harvest has sprung up in the next; and, in spite of all the artifices of Satan to pervert young minds, and all the advantages with which he attacks them, instead of the Fathers have been the children, to be accounted to the Lord for a generation. (Psal. xlv. 16, and xxii. 30.)
Let us thankfully adore the Divine goodness herein; and be very sensible how much we are indebted to that goodness in those powers communicated to the apostles, on whom, as subordinate foundations we are built (Eph. ii. 20.) As they received so ample a commission, and obtained grace from the Lord to be faithful to it, let us pay the humblest regard to their teachings; as well knowing, that what they have bound on earth, is bound in heaven, and what they have inculcated, was solemnly confirmed by a Divine authority.
Christ plainly foretells his sufferings and death.
If we have listened with attention to those immortal writings of theirs, by which, being dead, they yet speak; and have found them the effectual means of revealing Christ in our hearts, in all his Divine glories and saving powers; let us remember, that we owe it not to flesh and blood, or the most excellent human instruments, alone, but to the influences of our Father in heaven.
That efficacious grace is freely exercised, and operates in various methods; on some, in a more instantaneous way; on others, like the power of Christ on the blind man, of whom we have been reading, by more gradual advances. Let us be thankful for whatever light we receive, and press on to brighter discoveries; and join with them proportionable degrees of gratitude to Christ, and veneration for his gospel.
lxxxviii Verse 17
Mark viii. 23—25.