Flesh and Blood Has Not Revealed This

“You Are the Christ”

This Sunday, many will hear the gospel reading in which Peter identifies Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:13-20) Peter’s confession is not mere words on his lips, but rather a conviction deep in his heart. "Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

What, then, is the conviction of Peter’s heart? What does it mean to believe that Jesus is "the Christ"? It means believing he is the true Savior from sin, death, and the devil. These three are the "Unholy Trinity" that ruin life, and from which man needs salvation. The world proposes a variety of functional saviors, created things that will somehow fulfill our deepest longings, save us, and make life truly blessed. (The advertisement industry is expert at this.) Peter’s conviction is that none but Jesus is Savior. He’s the one and only Christ, in whom man’s deepest desires find their satisfaction.

There is in the human heart a certain inviolable law. Namely, the human heart most loves whatever is most lovely to it. This same law can be extrapolated thusly: The human heart trusts that which it esteems most trustworthy, desires that which it believes most desirable, and worships and serves that which it finds most good and glorious. Peter’s confession indicates that his heart has grasped the following truth: Jesus is incomparably lovelier and more trustworthy, desirable, good, and glorious than anything else. That is to say, life in Jesus – walking in his ways – is incomparably better than anything the world has to offer.*

*The one who really believes this will live accordingly. Contrariwise, the one who doesn’t live accordingly thereby shows that he does not believe.

“Flesh and Blood Has Not Revealed This”

How did Peter reach this conviction? Jesus says, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Despite Jesus’ statement, people have long tried to arrive at faith through flesh and blood efforts. Two particular ways have predominated.

First, there is the flesh and blood attempt to arrive at faith through eloquent speech and argumentation. (For the record, I am much more prone to this kind of “flesh and blood” attempt than to the next.) If only our preachers were more impressive, or our Christian books (including the Bible!) more intellectually convincing, then we’d all believe that Jesus is the Christ. The result of such thinking? We chase only the most eloquent preachers, rather than the most faithful. And we read book after book in order to convince ourselves that Jesus is the Christ, and yet we still never arrive at such faith.

St. Anselm spoke of faith seeking understanding, but many reverse the order as if faith will be ours once we understand. This never works. Faith is no mere assent of the intellect, but a conviction written on the heart. Whereas intellectual assent can exist solely in the head and can coincide with persistent disobedience, faith cannot. Faith makes fundamental changes to the human will so that it delights in obeying God. No human wisdom can achieve this.

The second “flesh and blood” attempt to produce conversion is through emotional experience. The thinking goes like this: If only we had a certain kind of religious experience, something in which we felt emotional about Jesus, then we’d believe in him and follow his ways. And so, Christians of this bent are always pursuing a religious experience that will produce a certain feeling in them. Worship services and prayer are engaged in for the sake of this feeling, and if the feeling isn’t found, then disappointment ensues. And even if the feeling is found, it never lasts. True faith abides; emotional experiences do not.

While the first “flesh and blood” attempt thinks of faith as mere intellectual assent, the second defines faith as a feeling. Neither is right. Yes, the gospel is intellectually and emotionally persuasive, and faith in Christ does indeed change the intellect and forms one’s feelings. Nevertheless, such intellectual and emotional changes are not faith itself. They are simply its byproducts, and the one who pursues only the byproducts of faith is sinfully mistaken.

One may pursue the most eloquent preachers and books, or the most emotional worship services and service opportunities, but such a man will not be pursuing Jesus. He will have made a god out of his intellect or his emotions, and therefore the true God, Jesus, will remain elusive to him.

“But My Father Who is in Heaven”

Peter’s conviction was wrought in him not by flesh and blood, but by the Spirit of God. The kind of faith that changes the heart and gives rise to discipleship is something God himself works inside a man. 2^nd Corinthians 4:6 is key here: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ – this belief that life in Christ is truly better than anything else – is arrived at not through the flesh and blood efforts of man, but through the revelation of God. It is his gift to those whom he has chosen; it is his work inside his people.

One caveat, however: That does not mean one can go along his merry way and expect to somehow arrive at faith. There is much talk in the Church about faith being a gift of God that we do nothing to earn. That’s true so far as it goes, but it’s also true that faith doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. God has ordained a certain way in which people come to faith. Namely, faith comes through hearing the Word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

That means would-be Christians must hear God’s Word. It is no accident that Christ says, “Take care then how you hear.” (Luke 8:18) In order for the obedience of faith to come about, it is crucial that one listen attentively and submissively to God’s Word – whether his Word is written, preached and taught, or visible (i.e. the Sacraments).

Plant and Water Prayerfully

Perhaps the best analogy for understanding this is 1^st Corinthians 3:6: “I planted the Seed (God’s Word), Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” The duty of Christians is to plant and water the Seed. But in the end, only God can give the growth. That means all planting and watering – all preaching, teaching, listening, learning, Bible-studies, worship services, any and all kinds of spiritual disciplines – must be done prayerfully. They must be done, that is, in complete reliance on and openness to the Spirit of God. Only he can produce true growth in Christ.

A Final Word

Peter’s confession – “You are the Christ” – signified his faith in Christ. Yes, his faith was weak and he was prone to lapses. (Read just a few verses after the passage being addressed here. It’s not pretty.) Nevertheless, Peter had begun to believe in Jesus and be changed by him. This faith was not an achievement, whether intellectual, emotional, or otherwise. No, Peter’s faith was wrought in him by the Spirit of God through the hearing of the Word of God. He heard the Word, and he received it with the obedience of faith. Such is the way of all God’s people right down to this very day.