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In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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You may be seated.

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The confession of St.

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Peter.

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Of St.

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Peter now, is this a subjective generative or an objective generative?

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No, this is not a Greek quiz and it's not a moot question.

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There are those who will take it in the sense of an objective genetic,

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in the sense that we are going to say something about Simon Peter.

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He is the object of a confession.

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Not in this chapel, not from this pulpit.

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The Sainted Martin Franzmann said or wrote I got this from oral

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tradition, that a sermon on a saint is a mangy affair, so be it.

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So it's a subjective generative. It's St.

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Peter confessing.

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Now, what did Peter confess?

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If we would ask this question in the Middle Ages, people would refer

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us to the Apostles Creed.

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Well, after all, it's the Apostles Creed.

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There was that that story that was circulated.

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St.

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Augustine refers to it.

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Martin Luther has a passing reference to it in the Large Catechism.

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So it goes like this that after Pentecost and before beginning the

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evangelization of the world, the twelve Apostles convened in

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Jerusalem.

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And then they decided to draw up a common confession, something that

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every one of them would be teaching to the nations.

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We may assume that Simon Peter was chairing that meeting and that he

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sort of began this creed saying I believe in God, the Father Almighty.

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And then maybe John or James continued and then all the way through to

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the end.

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Now, if we could ask Simon Peter. Well, I can't see him from here

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he is sort of hiding between line behind the column, but he is in the

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window

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there, all in red, holding the keys.

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If we could ask Simon Peter, is that your confession?

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He would probably answer from the window or from up here.

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Oh, yes, that is my confession.

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I did confess my faith in God the Father Almighty maker of

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heaven and earth.

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But on this January 18th, this minor festival, this commemoration of the

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confession of St.

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Peter you should probably be looking elsewhere.

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So, dear St.

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Peter, should we go to maybe Matthew 16?

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And then he would answer, yeah, that would be okay.

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But I think I heard you reading something from Mark, chapter eight

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this morning here in chapel.

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Now, just between you and me, elsewhere today, if people are

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commemorating this occasion, I bet you they'll be reading Matthew 16.

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But not in this chapel, because as we have it in our lectionary. I

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think since the most recent revision of the lectionary in the LCMS,

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we're reading Mark.

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Now, nobody knows exactly why we're reading Mark.

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This could be a Voelzian influence, but not necessarily.

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We could say, well, there's a connection between Simon Peter and Mark.

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After all, Mark has given us the memories of Simon Peter.

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Be that as it may, it's interesting to have this juxtaposition of

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Mark, chapter eight

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and second Peter, the first chapter. In Mark, chapter eight, we have

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Peter saying, you are the Christ, and that's it.

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And Jesus seems to be throwing a bucket of cold water on that

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enjoining silence, saying, Tell no one about me.

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Some readers will say, this is not so much Peter's confession.

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It's Jesus's rejection of a

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sort of wrong statement.

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Others will say, well, this is formally correct.

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You are the Christ.

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But it was inadequate.

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Inadequate in what sense?

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Maybe premature, incomplete, fraught with ambiguity and nationalistic

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overtones.

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So Peter was in the learning process.

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He didn't quite understand what he was saying.

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He would understand it fully later on.

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We are also in a learning process.

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We know more, we have been given more to confess.

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But again, we don't understand everything

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we confess.

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We confess it, but our minds and hearts cannot fathom it.

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So we're on the same page with St.

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Peter.

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So if we could ask him, Dear St.

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Peter, is that your final confession?

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He would say, no, this is my initial confession.

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You have to go to the revised versions of my confession.

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Now, where should we go?

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We could go to the Book of Acts.

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In Acts, chapter two in his sermon on Pentecost, Peter is developing

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what can be called a Christology from below.

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He talks about Jesus of Nazareth, a man that was appointed to us by

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God by means of signs and wonders, and God did it through him.

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But Peter also reaches a high Christology saying that God made him

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Lord and Christ. But, you know, I don't like to construct my

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homiletical house with building materials ordered overnight if I have

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a whole truckload that has been placed on the construction site.

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And by this I mean I think we should go to Second Peter.

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And if I could ask again Simon Peter.

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Dear St.

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Peter.

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Is it okay if we go and take a look at your writing in Second, Peter?

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He would probably answer, yes, this is my final revised edition.

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Go there.

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And if we go there, we'll find some interesting stuff.

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Christ has become sort of a last name.

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He always says Jesus Christ. Three times

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he mentions the Lord.

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And there is a big difference between saying simply Christ and saying

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Lord. As someone wrote,

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to confess Jesus as the Christ means that one recognizes Him as the

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helper of Israel.

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To recognize him as Lord means to assert that this Jesus Christ is not

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simply a national hero, but the ruler of the universe.

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Yes, Lord

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entails divinity.

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And to leave no doubt about this, St.

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Peter is very explicit in calling Jesus Christ our God and Savior.

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You have two names, two titles, God and Savior, and just one

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reference.

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This is an astonishing confession.

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This is parallel in Romans nine five and also in Titus two, verse 13.

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But some people don't quite see it.

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Last week in our SMP class, we were discussing Christology, and then

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we had this author, he was referring to Romans Nine five and say,

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well, here Paul is talking about the Christ, the Messiah.

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And he didn't see that it was saying Christ, who is God over all.

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Well, this is more or less like driving into St.

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Louis, coming from the east and not noticing that there was a big arch

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standing there.

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So Christ, who is God over all, our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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But Peter has more to say.

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He calls him savior.

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Yes to know

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Christ is to know his benefits.

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We learned this from Philip Melancthon but it's right here in Second

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Peer.

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He says that we got entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and

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Savior Jesus Christ.

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He says that we were called to his own glory and excellence.

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And now hold on to your seats because it couldn't get better than

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this.

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We will be made or become partakers of the divine nature.

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If this is not Theosis, what is it?

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But this is as good as it could get

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and this is another way of saying he is our Savior.

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Now it's time to stop.

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But allow me to ask one more question to dear St.

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Peter.

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Is there anything else you would like to say or to highlight this

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morning?

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Well this time we get a real answer coming from the text.

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Peter is saying well remember that I'm writing this to those who have

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obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.

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And that I'm just reminding you of these things.

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So in stirring up by way of reminder so that after my departure 2000

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years later in 2023 you may be able at any time to recall these

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things.

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Two important points.

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What good is it to talk about Peter's confession if we are not

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confessing also at the same time?

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And it's not so that they were heroes of the faith and we are so

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little.

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He says you have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.

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Now which faith?

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We know it.

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Peter says I'm just reminding you.

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Yeah, preaching is reminding and confession is saying it again and

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again.

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And what we confess, what we are being reminded on this day is no

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different from what we confessed at the baptismal font.

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You know, there is no disciplina arcani in Christianity, a secret

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knowledge or a secret doctrine that will be taught only to the

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enlightened or to the more advanced.

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What we confessed at the baptismal font, we're still confessing. Be

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it in the DMin classes, in the PhD classes, in a post doctorate

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program.

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We're always going back to our initial confession, and we are being

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reminded of it. Today

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we're going to make confession as we come up to the communion rail, we

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will be confessing.

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Walter said that Holy Communion is laien predigt.

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It is the preaching of the laity and also of the clergy, because in

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coming up, we will be proclaiming the death of Jesus Christ until he

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comes.

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But we can also make a common confession right now.

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And I invite you to pick your hymnal and open it on page 322.

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And since the confession of St.

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Peter is basically a Second Article confession, I invite you to rise

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and we together say out loud Luther's explanation of this Second

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Article. Which is also our confession of faith in the Lutheran

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Confessions and our confession at this moment.

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I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also

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true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned

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person, purchased and won me from all

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sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His

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holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own

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and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence,

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and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

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This is most certainly true.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen