Matthewchapter 16
28 verses · Matthew, by tradition · AD 50 to 65 · The Gospels
Key verse
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
It stands in Peter's Confession and the Keys of the Kingdom, verses 13 to 20.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign; leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees warned against. At Caesarea Philippi, Peter confesses: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' 'Upon this rock I will build my church.' First passion prediction. Take up the cross; lose the life to find it.
Context
Gospel · Matthew · Matthew overview
The world of this chapter
The Galilean ministry, at its northern limit · c. AD 29 · Caesarea Philippi, at the foot of Mount Hermon, twenty-five miles north of the lake · Jewish readers who needed to know on what ground the church stood
Historical context
The place is the point. Caesarea Philippi lay at the northern edge of the land, beside a great spring gushing from a cliff at the base of Mount Hermon. The site had been a shrine of the Greek god Pan for centuries, its rock face cut with niches for idols, and Philip the tetrarch had rebuilt the town and named it for Caesar. It was, in short, the most pagan ground in the region.
The demand for a sign from heaven came from an unlikely alliance. Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed about nearly everything, resurrection, angels, the authority of tradition, and their appearing together shows how far the opposition had consolidated.
The answer about the weather is the folk forecasting of any coastal country: red sky at evening, fine tomorrow; red and threatening at morning, storm coming. They could read the sky and not the times.
The keys given to Peter carry an Old Testament echo a Jewish reader would catch. In Isaiah, a royal steward is given the key of the house of David, the officer who controls access to the king. Binding and loosing was standard rabbinic language for declaring a thing forbidden or permitted.
Significance
In front of a cliff full of idol niches and a temple to Caesar, Peter says: you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Matthew's readers, worshipping in a world of many lords, knew exactly what it cost to say that sentence out loud.
But the second half is what would have unsettled them most. The moment the confession is made, Jesus begins to say he must suffer and be killed, and Peter, who just got it right, gets it violently wrong. A crucified Messiah was still the hardest thing for a Jewish believer to explain, and Matthew shows the first disciple choking on it too.
Where the chapter sits
Matthew 16 falls in Parables of the Kingdom (chapters 13). Discourse 3: hidden then revealed.
Peter's confession. 'Thou art the Christ', followed by the first passion prediction.
Before it: Mission of the Twelve, chapters 10. After it: Community in the Kingdom, chapters 18.
The whole shape of Matthew→The structure of this chapter
Threads running through this chapter
- The sign of the prophet JonahType, v. 4
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Demanding a Sign; Beware the Leaven
1. (vv. 1-2)
Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting: Pharisees and Sadducees held almost nothing in common, the one clinging to oral tradition and a future resurrection, the other rejecting both, yet here they arrive together against a shared enemy. Henry treats the alliance itself as a warning sign the disciples should have read, since the same coalition of otherwise hostile parties reconvenes at the trial in chapter 26. Their demand for a sign from heaven asks for something grander than the healings already performed on earth, a request the text calls tempting him rather than honest inquiry.
Matthew 16:1
“See also Mar 8:11-12. The Pharisees also, and the Sadducees - See the notes at Mat 3:7. Tempting - That is, trying him - feigning a desire to see evidence that he was the Messiah, but with a real desire to see him make the attempt to work a miracle and fail, so that they might betray him and ruin him. A sign from heaven - Some miraculous appearance in the sky.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Matthew 16:1
“7, 8 , and yet unanimous in their opposition to Christ; because his doctrine did equally overthrow the errors and heresies of the Sadducees, who denied the existence of spirits and a future state; and the pride, tyranny, and hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who were the great imposters of the traditions of the elders. Christ and Christianity meet with opposition on all hands.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 16:1
“In these verses we find our Lord assailed by the untiring enmity of the Pharisees and Sadducees. As a general rule these two sects were at enmity between themselves; in persecuting Christ, however, they made common cause. Truly it was an unholy alliance! Yet how often we see the same thing in the present day. Men of the most opposite opinions and habits will agree in disliking the Gospel, and will work together to oppose its progress. “There is no new thing under the sun” ( Ecclesiastes 1:9 ).”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
Matthew 16:2
“When it is evening - There are certain signs of fair and foul weather, which ye are in the constant habit of observing, and which do not fail. - The signs of the times: the doctrine which I preach, and the miracles which I work among you, are as sure signs that the day-spring from on high has visited you for your salvation; but if ye refute to hear, and continue in darkness, the red and gloomy cloud of vindictive justice shall pour out such a storm of wrath upon you as shalt sweep you from the face of the…”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:2
“This is not found in most codices: it is clear that from the arrangement and stability of the elements, both fair and rainy days can be predicted. However, the scribes and Pharisees, who seemed to be experts in the law, could not understand the advent of the Savior from the prophecy of the prophets.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Matthewpatristic
Matthew 16:2
“Can ye not discern the signs of the times? [1.] "Do you not see that the Messiah is come?" The sceptre was departed from Judah, Daniel's weeks were just expiring, and yet they regarded not. The miracles Christ wrought, and the gathering of the people to him, were plain indications that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, that this was the day of their visitation.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 3-4)
discern the face of the sky: Jesus answers with a weather proverb every farmer in the region would recognize, red sky at evening for fair weather, red and overcast at morning for storm, and then presses the irony: they can read the sky's face with ease but cannot read the hour standing in front of them. Some early manuscripts omit this weather saying, a text critical note the exposition holds alongside the reading, since the KJV floor carries it in full and the point stands either way. The sign refused here is the sign of Jonas repeated from 12:39-41, its second sounding in this Gospel, and Jesus simply leaves them and departs.
Matthew 16:3
“And in the morning, it will be foul weather today,.... When you rise in the morning, and take a survey of the heavens, it is a very usual thing with you to say, it is like to be windy or rainy weather today, for the sky is red and lowring; which shows, that the clouds are so thick that the sun cannot pierce through them, and its face is not seen; so that it may be reasonably concluded they will issue in rain, or wind, or both. O ye hypocrites.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:3
“The sky is red and lowering - The signs of fair and foul weather were observed in a similar manner among the Romans, and indeed among most other people. Many treatises have been written on the subject: thus a poet: - Caeruleus pluviam denunciant, Igneus euros Sin Maculae incipient Rutilo immiscerier Igni, Omnia tunc pariter Vento Nimbisque videbis Fervere Virg. Geor. i. l.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:4
“A wicked and adulterous generation,.... He says the same things here, as he did to the Pharisees on a like occasion, in Mat 12:39. And he left them; as persons hardened, perverse, and incurable, and as unworthy to be conversed with: and departed: to the ship which brought him thither, and went in it to the other side of the sea of Galilee; see Mar 8:13.”
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:4
“Wicked and adulterous generation - The Jewish people are represented in the Sacred Writings as married to the Most High; but, like a disloyal wife, forsaking their true husband, and uniting themselves to Satan and sin. Seeketh after a sign, σημειον επιζητει, seeketh sign upon sign, or, still another sign.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:4
“Now he called them evil because their wicked deeds had made them evil people (evil because of deliberate wickedness) and adulterous because when the Pharisees and Sadducees left their metaphoric spouse, the true word, they committed adultery, with falsehood and the law of sin.Assume there are two laws: the law of our bodies, which is in conflict with the law of our mind.”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.4patristic
Matthew 16:4
“A wicked and adulterous generation - Ye would seek no further sign, did not your wickedness, your love of the world, which is spiritual adultery, blind your understanding.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3. (vv. 5-7)
forgotten to take bread: Crossing the lake without bread, the disciples hear Jesus warn, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and immediately turn the saying into a grocery complaint among themselves. Barnes notes the comic misreading is entirely human, a spiritual warning heard through the filter of an immediate practical worry, the very kind of small anxiety Jesus had addressed at length in the Sermon on the Mount. Leaven in Jewish thought was already a standing figure for a corrupting influence that spreads quietly through a whole batch, which is precisely why Jesus reaches for it here.
Matthew 16:5
“When his disciples were come to the other side,.... Of the sea, as Munster's Hebrew Gospel adds, to Bethsaida, Mar 8:22 as they were either in the ship, or going from the shore to the said place, they recollected themselves, that they had forgotten to take bread: having but one loaf, as Mark says, in the ship; the seven baskets of fragments being either expended, or given away to the poor, of their own accord, or by Christ's orders.”
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:5
“The account in these verses is also recorded in Mar 8:13-21. Mat 16:5 And when his disciples were come to the other side - That is, to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Mark says that he entered into a ship again, and departed to the other side. The conversation with the Pharisees and Sadducees had been on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. See the notes at Mat 15:39. They crossed from that side again to the east. Had forgotten to take bread - That is, had forgotten to lay in a sufficient supply.”
Matthew 16:5
“How had they no bread, seeing that as soon as they had filled seven baskets they entered into the boat, and came into the parts of Magedan? There they hear that they ought to take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But the Scripture is witness that they had forgotten to take the baskets with them.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 16:6
“Then Jesus said unto them,.... Either taking occasion from the disciples observing that they had forgot to take bread with them, or on account of what passed between him and the Pharisees and Sadducees, he gave the following advice to his disciples; take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:6
“Beware of the leaven - What the leaven of Pharisees and Sadducees was has been already explained, see Mat 16:1. Bad doctrines act in the soul as leaven does in meal; they assimulate the whole Spirit to their own nature. A man’s particular creed has a greater influence on his tempers and conduct than most are aware of. Pride, hypocrisy, and worldly-mindedness, which constituted the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, ruin the major part of the world.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:6
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees - That is, of their false doctrine: this is elegantly so called; for it spreads in the soul, or the Church, as leaven does in meal. They reasoned among themselves - What must we do then for bread, since we have taken no bread with us? Why reason ye - Why are you troubled about this?”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:6
“But now they forgot; we will hope it was because their minds and memories were filled with better things. Note, Christ's disciples are often such as have no great forecast for the world. Here is the caution Christ gave them, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 16:7
“Either what should be the meaning of this caution of Christ's, and upon what account he should say this to them; or they were anxiously concerned what they should do for provision: saying, because we have taken no bread; for the phrase, "it is", is a supplement, and is not in the original text, which confines the sense to the first way of interpretation; the words may be read without it, and confirms the other sense, and which receives strength from what follows.”
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:7
“After Jesus said this, the disciples thought to themselves (not aloud but in their hearts), "We did not bring bread." Then they said something else, like "If we had bread, then we wouldn't need the yeast from the Pharisees and Sadducees, but since we don't have bread, we are at risk of taking their yeast.”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12:5patristic
Matthew 16:7
“They reasoned - For, as Lightfoot observes, the term leaven was very rarely used among the Jews to signify doctrine, and therefore the disciples did not immediately apprehend his meaning. In what a lamentable state of blindness is the human mind? Bodily wants are perceived with the utmost readiness, and a supply is sought with all speed. But the necessities of the soul are rarely discovered, though they are more pressing than those of the body, and the supply of them of infinitely more importance.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4. (vv. 8-10)
O ye of little faith: This is the fourth and final sounding of the little faith refrain in this Gospel, and Jesus ties the rebuke directly to memory, do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and the seven loaves of the four thousand. Naming both feedings by their differing numbers in one breath answers, in passing, any suspicion that Matthew has told one story twice, since Jesus himself treats them as two separate events with two separate counts of baskets recovered. The failure he names is not ignorance of a fact but a fear that forgets what that fact already proved about him.
Matthew 16:8
“When Jesus perceived, he said - Αυτοις, unto them, is wanting in BDKLMS, and twenty others; one of the Syriac, the Armenian, Ethiopia, Vulgate, and most of the Itala; also in Origen, Theophylact, and Lucifer Calaritanus. Mill approves of the omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text. O ye of little faith - There are degrees in faith, as well as in the other graces of the Spirit. Little faith may be the seed of great faith, and therefore is not to be despised.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:8
“This should serve to excuse a fault, Peradventure it was an oversight. See how easily Christ forgave his disciples' carelessness, though it was in such a material point as taking bread; and do likewise. But that which he chides them for is their little faith.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 16:9
“Do ye not understand,.... Meaning either the sense of the advice he had now given; or rather his almighty power displayed in the two miracles of feeding five thousand at one time, and four thousand at another, with a very small quantity of provision; for to this the word "understand" refers, as well as the following: neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?”
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:9
“Do you not remember the five loaves, and the five thousand men, and how many baskets you took up? Cannot he then who fed so many, feed you?”
Thomas Aquinas· written before 1274· Commentary on Matthewpatristic
Matthew 16:9
“Do ye not yet understand - the five loaves - neither the seven - See the notes on Mat 14:14, etc. How astonishing is it that these men should have any fear of lacking bread, after having seen the two miracles which our blessed Lord alludes to above! Though men quickly perceive their bodily wants, and are querulous enough till they get them supplied, yet they as quickly forget the mercy which they had received; and thus God gets few returns of gratitude for his kindnesses.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:10
“Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand,.... Have you forgot the other miracle done but a very little while ago, when I fed four thousand men, beside women and children, with seven loaves and a few small fishes; and how many baskets ye took up? no less than seven large baskets; and am I not able to provide for you? distress not yourselves about this matter; give not way to unbelief, which must argue great stupidity and insensibility.”
5. (vv. 11-12)
spake it not to you concerning bread: The disciples finally understand what verse 6 had actually meant, that Jesus spoke not of bread at all but of doctrine, the corrupting teaching of two parties who otherwise agreed on almost nothing. Clarke reads this delayed understanding as typical of the disciples through this whole stretch of the Gospel, slow at first and then given the plain meaning once Jesus states it outright. The warning covers both the legalism of the Pharisees and the rationalism of the Sadducees, a corruption that can wear either face.
Matthew 16:11
Some were distracted by the use of bread and yeast. In order to clarify and enlighten them in a still symbolic way that he was not speaking about literal bread but about yeast as representing teaching, Jesus adds, "How is it that you do not understand that I was not talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.6patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:11
“How is it that ye do not understand - We are not deficient in spiritual knowledge, because we have not had sufficient opportunities of acquainting ourselves with God; but because we did not improve the advantages we had. How deep and ruinous must our ignorance be, if God did not give line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:12
“By occasion of the precept, which the Savior had commanded, saying: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, He teaches them what the five loaves and the seven signify: the five thousand men, and the four thousand, who were fed in the wilderness. Although the greatness of the miracles is clear, yet something else is shown in spiritual understanding. For if the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees signifies not bodily bread, but perverse traditions and heretical doctrines, why do the foods, with which the people of God are nourished, not signify the true and complete teaching?”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Matthewpatristic
B. Peter's Confession and the Keys of the Kingdom
1. (vv. 13-15)
Cesarea Philippi: Caesarea Philippi sat at the foot of Mount Hermon around a spring long sacred to the cult of Pan, and Herod Philip had recently added a temple there to Caesar's own divinity, so the question whom do men say that I the Son of man am is asked in the shadow of rival claims to godhood. The popular guesses, John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets, all place Jesus within Israel's prophetic tradition without reaching its center, a courteous but insufficient answer. Jesus then narrows the question from the crowd's opinion to the Twelve's own conviction, but whom say ye that I am, moving the chapter from survey to confession.
Matthew 16:13
“This Philip was the brother of Herod, the tetrarch of Ituræa, and the region of Trachonitis, who gave to the city, which is now called Panæas, the name of Cæsarea in honour of Tiberius Cæsar. Beautifully is the question put, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? For they who speak of the Son of Man, are men: but they who understood His divine nature are called not men but Gods.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:13
“See also Mar 8:27-29, and Luk 9:18-20. Cesarea Philippi - There were two cities in Judea called Caesarea. One was situated on the borders of the Mediterranean (See the notes at Act 8:40), and the other was the one mentioned here. This city was greatly enlarged and ornamented by Philip the tetrarch, son of Herod, and called Caesarea in honor of the Roman emperor, Tiberius Caesar. To distinguish it from the other Caesarea the name of Philip was added to it, and it was called Caesarea Philippi, or Caesarea of Philippi.”
Matthew 16:13
THIS is one of the earliest places in the New Testament in which we find any mention of the Church. Jesus says, in verse eighteen, "I will build My Church." It is very significant that our Lord should connect with the Church the right idea of Himself. In our text we have the test question which must be put to everyone who is to be admitted into the assembly of the Lord—"Whom do you say that I am?" The first question to be put to one who would join the Church is, "What do you think of Jesus?"
Matthew 16:13
There are words in this passage which have led to painful differences and divisions among Christians. Men have striven and contended about their meaning till they have lost sight of all charity, and yet have failed to carry conviction to one another’s minds. Let it suffice us to glance briefly at the controverted words, and then pass on to more practical lessons. What then are we to understand, when we read that remarkable saying of our Lord’s, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church?”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
Matthew 16:14
“And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist,.... It was the opinion of some of the Jews, that he was John the Baptist risen from the dead. This notion was spread, and prevailed in Herod's court, and he himself, at last, gave into it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:14
“Jeremiah, or one of the prophets - There was at that time a current tradition among the Jews, that either Jeremiah, or some other of the ancient prophets would rise again before the Messiah came.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:15
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:15
“The disciples had themselves been better taught than others; had, by their intimacy with Christ, greater advantages of getting knowledge than others had. Note, It is justly expected that those who enjoy greater plenty of the means of knowledge and grace than others, should have a more clear and distinct knowledge of the things of God than others.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (v. 16)
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God: Peter's answer joins the two highest titles the Gospel has to offer, the Christ, Israel's promised anointed king, and the Son of the living God, a confession of deity rather than office alone. Henry calls this the fullest and clearest confession any disciple had yet made, surpassing even the worship offered after the storm in 14:33, and Spurgeon treats it as the rock-bottom conviction on which everything else in discipleship must be built. The living God set against every dead idol at Caesar's own shrine down the hillside gives the confession its full force in this particular setting.
Matthew 16:16
“Peter's answer is short, but it is full, and true, and to the purpose; Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Here is a confession of the Christian faith, addressed to Christ, and so made an act of devotion.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:16
“Peter did not say "you are a Christ" or "a son of God" but "the Christ, the Son of God." For there are many christs by grace, who have attained the rank of adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature the Son of God. Thus, using the definite article, he said, the Christ, the Son of God. And in calling him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ himself is life and that death has no authority over him.”
Cyril of Alexandria· written before 444· FRAGMENT 190patristic
Matthew 16:16
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God - Every word here is emphatic - a most concise, and yet comprehensive, confession of faith. The Christ, or Messiah, points out his divinity, and shows his office; the Son - designates his person: on this account it is that both are joined together so frequently in the new covenant. Of the living God Του Θεου, του ζωντος, literally, of God the Living One. The C. Bezae has for Του ζωντος the Living One, Του σωζοντος, the Savior, and the Cant. Dei Salvatoris, of God the Savior.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:16
“And Simon Peter answered and said,.... Either of his own accord, and for himself, being a warm, zealous, and forward man; one that dearly loved Christ, truly believed in him, and was ready to make a confession of him; or, as the mouth of the rest, in their name, and with their consent; or, at least, as full well knowing the sentiments of their minds.”
3. (v. 17)
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: Jesus pronounces Peter blessed and immediately says why, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, crediting the confession to revelation rather than to reasoning or report. Gill reads this as placing true recognition of Christ's person permanently outside the reach of unaided human deduction, a gift given rather than a conclusion argued to. The naming of the Father here answers back to verse 16's Son of the living God, the two persons of the confession met by the Father's own witness to it.
Matthew 16:17
“And Jesus answered and said unto him,.... Not waiting for any other declaration from them; but taking this to be the sense of them all, he said, blessed art thou Simon Bar Jona, or son of Jona, or Jonas, as in Joh 1:42. His father's name was Jonah, whence he was so called: so we read (i) of R. Bo bar Jonah, and of a Rabbi of this very name (k), ר שמעון בר יונא, Rabbi Simeon bar Jona; for Simon and Simeon are one, and the same name.”
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:17
“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona - Or Simon, son of Jonah; so Bar-jonah should be translated, and so it is rendered by our Lord, Joh 1:42. Flesh and blood - i.e. Man; - no human being hath revealed this; and though the text is literal enough, yet every body should know that this is a Hebrew periphrasis for man; and the literal translation of it here, and in Gal 1:16, has misled thousands, who suppose that flesh and blood signify carnal reason, as it is termed, or the unregenerate principle in man.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:17
“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 Bar-jona--or, "son of Jona" (Joh 1:42), or "Jonas" (Joh 21:15).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Matthew 16:17
“Note, The revealing of Christ to us and in us is a distinguishing token of God's good will, and a firm foundation of true happiness; and blessed are they that are thus highly favoured. Perhaps Christ discerned something of pride and vain-glory in Peter's confession; a subtle sin, and which is apt to mingle itself even with our good duties.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
4. (v. 18)
upon this rock I will build my church: The wordplay stands in the Greek text itself, Peter is petros, a stone, and the rock is petra, and the church's oldest readers have divided honestly over what petra names: Peter himself in his office as first among the apostles, held widely in the Roman Catholic tradition and by some of the fathers; Peter's confession of verse 16 as the foundation, the majority Protestant reading from Chrysostom onward in various forms; or Christ himself as the rock, read from 1 Corinthians 10:4 and Peter's own later word in 1 Peter 2:4-8. Ekklesia, church, appears here for the first time in the Gospels from Jesus' own lips, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it pictures either the church on the attack against death's own stronghold or death's gates unable to hold back what Christ is building, with the exposition naming the readings and holding none as settled.
Matthew 16:18
“As much as to say, You have said to me, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, therefore I say unto thee, not in a mere speech, and that goes not on into operation; but I say unto thee, and for Me to speak is to make it sor, that thou art Peter.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
4 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:18
“On this rock - Alluding to his name, which signifies a rock, namely, the faith which thou hast now professed; I will build my Church - But perhaps when our Lord uttered these words, he pointed to himself, in like manner as when he said, Destroy this temple, John ii, 19; meaning the temple of his body.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:18
“These “gates” are not physical gates, but rather the governmental plans or decisions of hell.”
Matthew 16:18
“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 Bar-jona; but on him as the heavenly-taught confessor of a faith.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Matthew 16:18
"Now," saith Christ, "this is that great truth upon which I will build my church. " 1. Take away this truth itself, and the universal church falls to the ground. If Christ be not the Son of God, Christianity is a cheat, and the church is a mere chimera; our preaching is vain, your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins, 1 Cor. xv.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
5. (v. 19)
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: Keys pictured stewardship and authority in Israel's own literature, most directly Isaiah 22:22's key of the house of David laid on Eliakim's shoulder, and binding and loosing were standing rabbinic terms for declaring an act forbidden or permitted under the law. The Roman Catholic tradition reads this as Peter's own primacy handed forward through his successors; the Protestant traditions generally read it as declarative authority given to Peter as representative of the apostolic band, since the identical binding and loosing language returns to all the disciples together at 18:18. The exposition names both readings under the gracious rule and stops there, since the founder's charge is to present the positions and their holders rather than to adjudicate between them.
Matthew 16:19
“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,.... By the kingdom of heaven is meant the Gospel, which comes from heaven, declares the king Messiah to be come, speaks of things concerning his kingdom, is the means of setting it up, and enlarging it, displays the riches of his grace, and gives an account of the kingdom of heaven, and of persons' right unto it, and meetness for it.”
4 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:19
“The keys of the kingdom - By the kingdom of heaven, we may consider the true Church, that house of God, to be meant; and by the keys, the power of admitting into that house, or of preventing any improper person from coming in. In other words, the doctrine of salvation, and the full declaration of the way in which God will save sinners; and who they are that shall be finally excluded from heaven; and on what account.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:19
“Christ was declaring His church would have spiritual keys (authority) to lock the gates (government) of hell and open the gates (government) of heaven.”
Matthew 16:19
“I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven - Indeed not to him alone, (for they were equally given to all the apostles at the same time, John xx, 21, 22, 23;) but to him were first given the keys both of doctrine and discipline. He first, after our Lord's resurrection, exercised the apostleship, Acts i, 15.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:19
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
6. (v. 20)
tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ: Jesus charges the Twelve to silence about the very confession he has just praised, a pattern the older commentators call the messianic secret, since a premature announcement of a political Christ would have collided with the crowd's expectation of a conquering king rather than a suffering one. Wesley reads the timing carefully, the charge comes only after the confession is secure among the Twelve, not before it, so the truth is guarded rather than suppressed. The next verse explains why the silence could not last forever.
Matthew 16:20
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:20
“Then charged he his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Jesus himself had not said it expressly even to his apostles, but left them to infer it from his doctrine and miracles. Neither was it proper the apostles should say this openly, before that grand proof of it, his resurrection.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:20
“When then above He sends His disciples to preach, and commands them to proclaim His advent, this seems contrary to His command here, that they should not say that He is Jesus the Christ. To me it seems that it is one thing to preach Christ, and another to preach Jesus the Christ. Christ is a common title of dignity, Jesus the proper name of the Saviour.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 16:20
“Then charged he his disciples - ΔιεϚειλατο, he strictly charged them. Some very good MSS. have επετιμησεν, he severely charged - comminatus est, - he threatened. These are the readings of the Cod. Bezae, both in the Greek and Latin. The Christ - The common text has Jesus the Christ; but the word Jesus is omitted by fifty-four MSS., some of which are not only of the greatest authority, but also of the greatest antiquity. It is omitted also by the Syriac, later Persic, later Arabic, Slavonic, six copies of the Itala, and several of the fathers.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
C. The Cross Foretold; Take Up Your Own
1. (v. 21)
began Jesus to shew unto his disciples: From that time forth marks a hinge in the Gospel, the first of three plain predictions of the passion, and the word must, dei in the Greek, states the suffering, death and resurrection as necessity rather than misfortune. Jerusalem, the elders, chief priests and scribes, killed, and raised again the third day, sets out the whole shape of the passion narrative before it happens, and the third day answers back to the sign of Jonas given in 12:40. Barnes notes this is the first time the disciples hear the cross named directly rather than hinted at through parable or riddle.
Matthew 16:21
“From that time Jesus began to tell his disciples, that he must suffer many things - Perhaps this expression, began, always implied his entering on a set and solemn discourse. Hitherto he had mainly taught them only one point, That he was the Christ. From this time he taught them another, That Christ must through sufferings and death enter into his glory.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:21
“In the beginning of these verses we find our Lord revealing to his disciples a great and startling truth. That truth was his approaching death upon the cross. For the first time he places before their minds the astounding announcement that “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer ˆ and ˆ be killed”. He had not come on earth to take a kingdom, but to die. He had not come to reign and be ministered to; but to shed his blood as a sacrifice, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
Matthew 16:21
“See also Mar 7:31-33; Luk 9:22. “From that time forth.” This was the first intimation that he gave that he was to die in this cruel manner. He had taken much pains to convince them that he was the Messiah; he saw by the confession of Peter that they were convinced, and he then began to prepare their minds for the awful event which was before him. Had he declared this when he first called them they would never have followed him. Their minds Were not prepared for it. They expected a temporal, triumphant prince as the Messiah.”
2. (vv. 22-23)
Peter took him, and began to rebuke him: The disciple just blessed for a Father-given confession now takes Jesus aside to correct him, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee, and the answer he receives reverses the blessing entirely, get thee behind me, Satan. Henry reads the rebuke as aimed less at Peter's person than at the temptation speaking through him, the same offer of a crown without a cross that Satan had already made once in the wilderness of chapter 4. Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men names the whole problem in one line, a mind fixed on human comfort mistaking itself for spiritual concern.
Matthew 16:22
“Then Peter took him - Προσλαβομενος - took him up - suddenly interrupted him, as it were calling him to order - see Wakefield. Some versions give προσλαβομενος the sense of calling him aside. The word signifies also to receive in a friendly manner - to embrace; but Mr. Wakefield’s translation agrees better with the scope of the place. A man like Peter, who is of an impetuous spirit, and decides without consideration upon every subject, must of necessity be often in the wrong. Be it far from thee Lord - Ιλεως σοι Κυριε. Be merciful to thyself Lord.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:22
“Yea, so far is this advice, favour thyself, from being fit for a Christian either to give or take, that if any man will come after Christ, his very first step is to deny, or renounce himself: in the room of his own will, to substitute the will of God, as his one principle of action.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:23
“And if even then a Prodicus or Valentinus stood by, suggesting that one must not confess on the earth before men, and must do so the less in truth, that God may not (seem to) thirst for blood, and Christ for a repayment of suffering, as though He besought it with the view of obtaining salvation by it for Himself also, he would have immediately heard from the servant of God what the devil had from the Lord: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me.”
Tertullian· written before 220· Scorpiacepatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:23
“Get thee behind me, Satan - Υπαγε οπισω μου σατανα. Get behind me, thou adversary. This is the proper translation of the Hebrew word שטן Satan, from which the Greek word is taken. Our blessed Lord certainly never designed that men should believe he called Peter, Devil, because he, through erring affection, had wished him to avoid that death which he predicted to himself. This translation, which is literal, takes away that harshness which before appeared in our Lord’s words.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3. (v. 24)
take up his cross: would have struck first century hearers with a literal weight the modern idiom has lost, since a condemned man carried the crossbeam of his own execution through public streets on the way to the place of death. Clarke reads the saying as demanding exactly that level of surrender, deny himself going further than mere self-denial of comfort, a renunciation of the self's own claim to direct its life. Follow me completes the call, and the cross is named as the ordinary condition of that following, not an exceptional burden reserved for a few.
Matthew 16:24
“Whose sense what is written in the Gospel of Matthew: If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself (Matth. 16. 24). What is self-denial? or how does one who follows the Savior deny himself? On this matter I have spoken briefly in the third book of his commentary on Matthew: He who lays down the old man with his works denies himself, saying: And yet I live, but not me, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20) and takes up his cross and is crucified to the world.”
Jerome· written before 420· Letter 121, Chapter 3patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:24
“Will come after me - i.e. to be my disciple. This discourse was intended to show Peter and the rest of the disciples the nature of his kingdom; and that the honor that cometh from the world was not to be expected by those who followed Christ. The principles of the Christian life are: First. To have a sincere desire to belong to Christ - If any man be Willing to be my disciple, etc. Secondly. To renounce self-dependence, and selfish pursuits - Let him deny Himself. Thirdly.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:24
“Should we not consider all crosses, all things grievous to flesh and blood, as what they really are, as opportunities of embracing God's will at the expense of our own? And consequently as so many steps by which we may advance toward perfection? We should make a swift progress in the spiritual life, if we were faithful in this practice.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 16:24
In order to see the connection of these verses we must remember the mistaken impressions of our Lord’s disciples as to the purpose of his coming into the world. Like Peter they could not bear the idea of the crucifixion. They thought that Jesus had come to set up an earthly kingdom; they did not see that he must needs suffer and die. They dreamed of worldly honors and temporal rewards in their Master’s service; they did not understand that true Christians, like Christ, must be made “perfect through suffering.”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
4. (vv. 25-26)
whosoever will save his life shall lose it: The paradox trades on the double sense of psyche, translated life and later soul in the same short passage, so that clinging to the one is shown to cost the other. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul poses the exchange in terms of a bargain no one would knowingly strike, and Henry reads it as the whole logic of discipleship compressed into a single arithmetic. The final question, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul, leaves no answer within the man's own power to supply, since nothing in his possession could buy it back once lost.
Matthew 16:25
“For whosoever will save his life - That is, shall wish to save his life - at the expense of his conscience, and casting aside the cross, he shall lose it - the very evil he wishes to avoid shall overtake him; and he shall lose his soul into the bargain. See then how necessary it is to renounce one’s self! But whatsoever a man loses in this world, for his steady attachment to Christ and his cause, he shall have amply made up to him in the eternal world.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:25
“This may be understood in two ways. First thus; if any lover of this present life spares his life, fearing to die, and supposing that his life is ended with this death; he seeking in this way to save his life, shall lose it, estranging it from life eternal. But if any, despising the present life, shall contend for the truth unto death, he shall lose his life as far as this present life is concerned, but forasmuch as he loses it for Christ, he shall the more save it for life eternal.”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 16:26
“For what is a man profited,.... Such persons, though they are only seeking their own profit, will find themselves most sadly mistaken; for of what advantage will it be to such a man, if he shall gain the whole world; all that is precious and valuable in it; all the power, pleasures, and riches of it; if with Alexander, he had the government of the whole world, and with Solomon, all the delights of it; and was possessed with the wealth of Croesus, and Crassus, and lose his own soul?”
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 16:26
“Lose his own soul - Or, lose his life, την ψυχην αυτου. On what authority many have translated the word ψυχη, in the 25th verse, life, and in this verse, soul, I know not, but am certain it means life in both places. If a man should gain the whole world, its riches, honors, and pleasures, and lose his life, what would all these profit him, seeing they can only be enjoyed during life? But if the words be applied to the soul, they show the difficulty - the necessity - and importance of salvation.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:26
“But what exchange will a man give for his soul? For Israel, Egypt and Ethiopia are given in exchange, and Syene (Isaiah XLIII, 3, 4): for the human soul, that alone is the retribution, which the Psalmist sings: What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to me? I will take the cup of salvation, and will invoke the name of the Lord (Psalm CXV (Psalm 116 in this reader's Bible), 3).”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Matthewpatristic
Matthew 16:26
"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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
5. (vv. 27-28)
Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father: Jesus now sets the cross beside the coming glory, the Son of man returning with his angels to reward every man according to his works, a picture drawing on Daniel 7:13-14's exalted figure given dominion and judgment. Verse 28's promise that some standing here shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom has three long-held readings among the commentators, fulfillment at the transfiguration six days later in the next chapter, fulfillment in the resurrection and Pentecost, or fulfillment in the fall of Jerusalem within that generation. The exposition names all three and lets the transfiguration scene that immediately follows stand as the nearest answer the text itself supplies, without ruling the other readings out.
Matthew 16:27
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father - This seems to refer to Dan 7:13, Dan 7:14. “Behold, one like the Son of man came - to the ancient of Days - and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages should serve him.” This was the glorious Mediatorial kingdom which Jesus Christ was now about to set up, by the destruction of the Jewish nation and polity, and the diffusion of his Gospel through the whole world.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 16:28
“And as an emblem of this, there are some here who shall live to see the Messiah coming to set up his mediatorial kingdom, with great power and glory, by the increase of his Church, and the destruction of the temple, city, and polity of the Jews.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 16:28
“I must confess that I have frequently read this verse with but a vague sense of its profound impressiveness and I have passed it over rapidly because I did not understand it clearly. Though well acquainted with the usual interpretations, none of them had ever satisfied my mind. It seemed to me as if the text had awakened surprise without suggesting a simple obvious meaning, and therefore the good commentators had invented explanations and offered suggestions widely different one from another, but all equally obscure and improbable.”
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Augustine of Hippo, Harmony of the Gospels; Charles Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae on Matthew; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.