@Mt 16:1-12. A SIGN FROM HEAVEN SOUGHT AND REFUSED--CAUTION AGAINST THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES.
For the exposition, see on Mr 8:11-21.
@Mt 16:13-28. PETER'S NOBLE CONFESSION OF CHRIST AND THE BENEDICTION PRONOUNCED UPON HIM--CHRIST'S FIRST EXPLICIT ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS APPROACHING SUFFERINGS, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION--HIS REBUKE OF PETER AND WARNING TO ALL THE TWELVE. ( = @Mr 8:27 9:1 Lu 9:18-27).
The time of this section--which is beyond doubt, and will presently be mentioned--is of immense importance, and throws a touching interest around the incidents which it records.
Peter's Confession, and the Benediction Pronounced upon Him. (@Mt 16:13-20).
13. When Jesus came into the coasts--"the parts," that is, the
territory or region. In Mark (@Mr 8:27) it is "the towns" or
"villages."
of Cæsarea Philippi--It lay at the foot of Mount Lebanon, near the
sources of the Jordan, in the territory of Dan, and at the northeast
extremity of Palestine. It was originally called Panium (from a
cavern in its neighborhood dedicated to the god Pan) and Paneas. Philip, the tetrarch, the only good son of Herod
the Great, in whose
dominions Paneas lay, having beautified and enlarged it, changed its
name to Cæsarea, in honor of the Roman emperor, and added
Philippi after his own name, to distinguish it from the other
Cæsarea (@Ac 10:1) on the northeast coast of the Mediterranean
Sea. [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 15.10,3; 18.2,1]. This quiet and
distant retreat Jesus appears to have sought with the view of talking
over with the Twelve the fruit of His past labors, and breaking to them
for the first time the sad intelligence of His approaching death.
he asked his disciples--"by the way," says Mark (@Mr 8:27), and
"as He was alone praying," says Luke (@Lu 9:18).
saying, Whom--or more grammatically, "Who"
do men say that I the Son of man am?--(or, "that the Son of man
is"--the recent editors omitting here the me of Mark and Luke
[@Mr 8:27 Lu 9:18]; though the evidence seems pretty nearly
balanced)--that is, "What are the views generally entertained of Me, the
Son of man, after going up and down among them so long?" He had now
closed the first great stage of His ministry, and was just entering on
the last dark one. His spirit, burdened, sought relief in retirement,
not only from the multitude, but even for a season from the Twelve. He
retreated into "the secret place of the Most High," pouring out His soul
"in supplications and prayers, with strong crying and tears"
(@Heb 5:7). On rejoining His disciples, and as they were pursuing
their quiet journey, He asked them this question.
14. And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist--risen
from the dead. So that Herod Antipas was not singular in his surmise
(@Mt 14:1,2).
some, Elias--(Compare @Mr 6:15).
and others, Jeremias--Was this theory suggested by a supposed
resemblance between the "Man of Sorrows" and "the weeping prophet?"
or one of the prophets--or, as Luke (@Lu 9:8) expresses it, "that
one of the old prophets is risen again." In another report of the
popular opinions which Mark (@Mr 6:15) gives us, it is thus expressed,
"That it is a prophet [or], as one of the prophets": in other words,
That He was a prophetical person, resembling those of old.
15. He saith unto them, But whom--rather, "who."
say ye that I am?--He had never put this question before, but the
crisis He was reaching made it fitting that He should now have it from
them. We may suppose this to be one of those moments of which the
prophet says, in His name, "Then I said, I have labored in vain; I have
spent my strength for naught, and in vain" (@Isa 49:4): Lo, these
three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree; and what is it? As
the result of all, I am taken for John the Baptist, for Elias, for
Jeremias, for one of the prophets. Yet some there are that have beheld
My glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, and I shall
hear their voice, for it is sweet.
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God--He does not say, "Scribes and Pharisees, rulers and people, are all perplexed; and shall we, unlettered fishermen, presume to decide?" But feeling the light of his Master's glory shining in his soul, he breaks forth--not in a tame, prosaic acknowledgment, "I believe that Thou art," &c.--but in the language of adoration--such as one uses in worship, "THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!" He first owns Him the promised Messiah (see on Mt 1:16); then he rises higher, echoing the voice from heaven--"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"; and in the important addition--"Son of the LIVING GOD"--he recognizes the essential and eternal life of God as in this His Son--though doubtless without that distinct perception afterwards vouchsafed.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou--Though
it is not to be doubted that Peter, in this noble testimony to Christ,
only expressed the conviction of all the Twelve, yet since he alone
seems to have had clear enough apprehensions to put that conviction in
proper and suitable words, and courage enough to speak them out, and
readiness enough to do this at the right time--so he only, of all the
Twelve, seems to have met the present want, and communicated to the
saddened soul of the Redeemer at the critical moment that balm which was
needed to cheer and refresh it. Nor is Jesus above giving indication of
the deep satisfaction which this speech yielded Him, and hastening to
respond to it by a signal acknowledgment of Peter in return.
Simon-Barjona--or, "son of Jona" (@Joh 1:42), or "Jonas"
(@Joh 21:15). This name, denoting his humble fleshly extraction, seems
to have been purposely here mentioned, to contrast the more vividly with
the spiritual elevation to which divine illumination had raised him.
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee--"This is not the
fruit of human teaching."
but my Father which is in heaven--In speaking of God, Jesus, it is to
be observed, never calls Him, "our Father"
(see on Joh 20:17),
but either "your Father"--when He would encourage His timid believing
ones with the assurance that He was theirs, and teach themselves to call
Him so--or, as here, "My Father," to signify some peculiar action or
aspect of Him as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
18. And I say also unto thee--that is, "As thou hast borne such
testimony to Me, even so in return do I to thee."
That thou art Peter--At his first calling, this new name was announced
to him as an honor afterwards to be conferred on him (@Joh 1:43). Now
he gets it, with an explanation of what it was meant to convey.
and upon this rock--As "Peter" and "Rock" are one word in the dialect
familiarly spoken by our Lord--the Aramaic or Syro-Chaldaic, which
was the mother tongue of the country--this exalted play upon the word can be fully seen only in languages which have one
word for both. Even
in the Greek it is imperfectly represented. In French, as
WEBSTER
and WILKINSON remark, it is perfect, Pierre--pierre.
I will build my Church--not on the man Simon-Barjona; but on him as
the heavenly-taught confessor of a faith. "My Church," says our Lord,
calling the Church His OWN; a magnificent expression regarding Himself,
remarks BENGEL--nowhere else occurring in the Gospel.
and the gates of hell--"of Hades," or, the unseen world; meaning, the
gates of Death: in other words, "It shall never perish." Some explain it
of "the assaults of the powers of darkness"; but though that expresses a
glorious truth, probably the former is the sense here.
19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven--the
kingdom of God about to be set up on earth
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven--Whatever this mean, it was soon expressly
extended to all the apostles (@Mt 18:18); so that the claim of
supreme authority in the Church, made for Peter by the Church of Rome,
and then arrogated to themselves by the popes as the legitimate
successors of St. Peter, is baseless and impudent. As first in
confessing Christ, Peter got this commission before the rest; and with
these "keys," on the day of Pentecost, he first "opened the door of
faith" to the Jews, and then, in the person of Cornelius, he was
honored to do the same to the Gentiles. Hence, in the lists of the
apostles, Peter is always first named.
See on Mt 18:18. One
thing is clear, that not in all the New Testament is there the vestige
of any authority either claimed or exercised by Peter, or conceded to
him, above the rest of the apostles--a thing conclusive against the
Romish claims in behalf of that apostle.
20. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ--Now that He had been so explicit, they might naturally think the time come for giving it out openly; but here they are told it had not.
Announcement of His Approaching Death and Rebuke of Peter (@Mt 16:21-28).
The occasion here is evidently the same.
21. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples--that
is, with an explicitness and frequency He had never observed before.
how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things--"and be
rejected," (@Mr 8:31 Lu 9:22).
of the elders and chief priests and scribes--not as before, merely by
not receiving Him, but by formal deeds.
and be killed, and be raised again the third day--Mark (@Mr 8:32)
adds, that "He spake that saying openly"--"explicitly," or "without
disguise."
22. Then Peter took him--aside, apart from the rest; presuming on
the distinction just conferred on him; showing how unexpected and
distasteful to them all was the announcement.
and began to rebuke him--affectionately, yet with a certain generous
indignation, to chide Him.
saying, Be it far from thee: this shall not be unto thee--that is,
"If I can help it": the same spirit that prompted him in the garden to
draw the sword in His behalf (@Joh 18:10).
23. But he turned, and said--in the hearing of the rest; for Mark
(@Mr 8:33) expressly says, "When He had turned about and looked on
His disciples, He rebuked Peter"; perceiving that he had but boldly
uttered what others felt, and that the check was needed by them also.
Get thee behind me, Satan--the same words as He had addressed to the
Tempter (@Lu 4:8); for He felt in it a satanic lure, a whisper from
hell, to move Him from His purpose to suffer. So He shook off the
Serpent, then coiling around Him, and "felt no harm" (@Ac 28:5). How
quickly has the "rock" turned to a devil! The fruit of divine teaching
the Lord delighted to honor in Peter; but the mouthpiece of hell, which
he had in a moment of forgetfulness become, the Lord shook off with
horror.
thou art an offence--a stumbling-block.
unto me--"Thou playest the Tempter, casting a stumbling-block in My
way to the Cross. Could it succeed, where wert thou? and how should the
Serpent's head be bruised?"
for thou savourest not--thou thinkest not.
the things that be of God, but those that be of men--"Thou art carried
away by human views of the way of setting up Messiah's kingdom, quite
contrary to those of God." This was kindly said, not to take off the
sharp edge of the rebuke. but to explain and justify it, as it was
evident Peter knew not what was in the bosom of his rash speech.
24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples--Mark (@Mr 8:34) says,
"When He had called the people unto Him, with His disciples also, He
said unto them"--turning the rebuke of one into a warning to all.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me.
25. For whosoever will save--is minded to save, or bent on saving.
his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it--(See on Mt 10:38,39).
"A suffering and dying Messiah liketh you ill;
but what if His servants shall meet the same fate? They may not; but who
follows Me must be prepared for the worst."
26. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul--or forfeit his own soul?
or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?--Instead of these
weighty words, which we find in @Mr 8:36 also, it is thus expressed
in @Lu 9:25: "If he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be
cast away," or better, "If he gain the whole world, and destroy or
forfeit himself." How awful is the stake as here set forth! If a man
makes the present world--in its various forms of riches, honors,
pleasures, and such like--the object of supreme pursuit, be it that he
gains the world; yet along with it he forfeits his own soul. Not that
any ever did, or ever will gain the whole world--a very small portion of
it, indeed, falls to the lot of the most successful of the world's
votaries--but to make the extravagant concession, that by giving himself
entirely up to it, a man gains the whole world; yet, setting over
against this gain the forfeiture of his soul--necessarily following the
surrender of his whole heart to the world--what is he profited? But, if
not the whole world, yet possibly something else may be conceived as an
equivalent for the soul. Well, what is it?--"Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?" Thus, in language the weightiest, because the
simplest, does our Lord shut up His hearers, and all who shall read
these words to the end of the world, to the priceless value to every man
of his own soul. In Mark and Luke (@Mr 8:38 Lu 9:26) the following
words are added: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My
words [shall be ashamed of belonging to Me, and ashamed of My Gospel] in
this adulterous and sinful generation"
(see on Mt 12:39), "of
him shall the Son of man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His
Father, with the holy angels." He will render back to that man his own
treatment, disowning him before the most august of all assemblies, and
putting him to "shame and everlasting contempt" (@Da 12:2).
"O shame," exclaims BENGEL,
"to be put to shame before God, Christ, and
angels!" The sense of shame is founded on our love of
reputation, which causes instinctive aversion to what is fitted to
lower it, and was given us as a preservative from all that is properly
shameful. To be lost to shame is to be nearly past hope.
(@Zep 3:5 Jer 6:15 3:3). But when Christ and "His words" are
unpopular, the same instinctive desire to stand well with others
begets that temptation to be ashamed of Him which only the expulsive
power of a higher affection can effectually counteract.
27. For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his
angels--in the splendor of His Father's authority and with all His
angelic ministers, ready to execute His pleasure.
and then he shall reward, &c.
28. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here--"some of those
standing here."
which shall not taste of death, fill they see the Son of man coming in
his kingdom--or, as in Mark (@Mr 9:1), "till they see the kingdom
of God come with power"; or, as in Luke (@Lu 9:27), more simply still,
"till they see the kingdom of God." The reference, beyond doubt, is to
the firm establishment and victorious progress, in the lifetime of some
then present, of that new kingdom of Christ, which was destined to work
the greatest of all changes on this earth, and be the grand pledge of
His final coming in glory.