WHEN Simon Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Master promptly forestalled any assumption that Peter's declaration might come from an emotional impulse by his immediate reply, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." On that spiritual recognition of the Christ, Jesus proposed to build his church. On page 583 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy defines "Christ" as follows: "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error;" and on page 589 she defines "Jesus" as, "The highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing to light man's immortality."
For Peter to behold Jesus as the Christ in a burst of spiritual illumination, then presently, during the dark hours of the crucifixion, to deny that he ever knew Jesus, betrayed a type of weakness which could not be overlooked in a potential church builder. At the last spiritual breakfast on the Galilean shore, Jesus turned to Peter and inquired into the nature of his loyalty. Did Peter's protestations of loyalty ring true? Was this examination preliminary to a momentous decision? Jesus concluded his inquiry by a prophetic remark about Peter's latter days. When Peter countered with a question about John's future, Jesus made his historic reply, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" In other words, Jesus here forecast his revelation to John on Patmos. The decision had been made, and it was John and not Peter who was ordained to be the recorder of Jesus' prophetic words about the Church.
The purpose or mission of the Church was attested by Jesus' declaration, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Thus Jesus proclaimed the Church of Christ to be a spiritual idea which would provide a full and complete remedy for sin or hell. It is not difficult to see that such a church—the Church Triumphant —must be spiritually discerned before it could be humanly expressed.
