been expected to grasp there at Caesarea Philippi is debatable, but for Matthew and his readers, as members of the Messiah’s ekklēsia, the phrase would aptly sum up their corporate identity as the new, international people of God. Much is sometimes made of the fact that Matthew, here and in 18:17, is the only NT gospel-writer to use the term ekklēsia; his is therefore often dubbed “the ecclesiastical gospel.”29 There may be grounds for such a designation on the basis of the gospel’s contents and