Matthew 16
BBCMatthew 16:1
I. The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (16:1-12) 16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees, traditional antagonists in theological matters, represented two doctrinal extremes. But their hostility gave way to cooperation as they united in a common aim to trip up the Savior. To test Him they asked Him to demonstrate a sign from heaven. In some way not clear to us, they were trying to inveigle Him into a compromising position. In asking for a sign from heaven, perhaps they were implying an opposite source for His previous miracles. Or perhaps they wanted some supernatural sign in the sky. All Jesus’ miracles had been performed on the earth. Could He do celestial miracles as well? 16:2, 3 He answered by continuing the theme of the sky. When they saw a red sky in the evening, they forecast fair weather for the next day. They also knew that a red, threatening sky in the morning meant storms for that day. They had expertise in interpreting the appearance of the sky, but they could not interpret the signs of the times. What were these signs? The prophet who heralded the advent of the Messiah had appeared in the person of John the Baptist. The miracles prophesied of the Messiahthings no other man had ever donehad been performed in their presence. Another sign of the times was the obvious rejection of the Messiah by the Jews and the movement of the gospel to the Gentiles, all in fulfillment of prophecy. Yet in spite of this incontrovertible evidence, they had no sense of history being made or of prophecy being fulfilled. 16:4 In seeking for a sign when He Himself stood in their midst, the Pharisees and Sadducees exposed themselves as an evil, spiritually adulterous generation. No sign would now be given to them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. As explained in the notes on Mat_12:39, this would be the resurrection of Christ on the third day. A wicked and adulterous generation would crucify its Messiah, but God would raise Him from the dead. This would be a sign of the doom of all who refuse to bow to Him as rightful Ruler. The paragraph closes with the ominous words, And He left them and departed. The spiritual implications of the words should be obvious to all. 16:5, 6 When His disciples rejoined the Lord on the east side of the lake, they had forgotten to take food with them. Therefore when Jesus greeted them with a warning to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sad ducees, they thought He was saying, Don’t go to those Jewish leaders for food supplies! Their preoccupation with food caused them to look for a literal, natural explanation where a spiritual lesson was intended. 16:7-10 They were still worrying about a food shortage in spite of the fact that He who fed the 5,000 and the 4,000 was with them. So He reviewed the two miraculous feedings with them. The lesson that emerged concerned divine arithmetic and divine resourcefulness, for the less Jesus had to work with, the more He fed, and the more food there was left over. When there were only five loaves and two fish, He fed 5,000 plus and had twelve baskets of food left. With more loaves and fish, He fed only 4,000 plus and had left over only seven basketfuls. If we put our limited resources at His disposal, He can multiply them in inverse proportion to their amount.
Little is much if God is in it.A different word is used for baskets here than in the feeding of the 5,000. The seven baskets in this incident are considered to have been larger than the twelve on the previous occasion. But the underlying lesson remains: Why worry about hunger and want when we are linked with One who has infinite power and resources? 16:11, 12 In speaking of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Lord had not referred to bread but to evil doctrine and conduct. In Luk_12:1 the leaven of the Pharisees is defined as hypocrisy. They professed to adhere to the Word of God in minutest details, yet their obedience was external and shallow. Inwardly they were evil and corrupt. The leaven of the Sadducees was rationalism. The freethinkers of their day, they, like the liberals of today, had built a system of doubts and denials. They denied the existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, and eternal punishment. This leaven of skepticism, if tolerated, will spread and permeate like yeast in meal.
Matthew 16:13
X. THE KING PREPARES HIS DISCIPLES (16:13-17:27) A. Peter’s Great Confession (16:13-20) 16:13, 14 Caesarea Philippi was about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee and five miles east of the Jordan. When Jesus came to the surrounding villages (Mar_8:27), an incident generally recognized as the apex of His teaching ministry occurred. Up to this time He had been leading His disciples to a true apprehension of His Person. Having succeeded in this, He now turns His face resolutely to go to the cross. He began by asking His disciples what men were saying as to His identity. The replies ran the gamut from John the Baptist, to Elijah, to Jeremiah, to one of the other prophets. To the average person He was one among many. Good but not the Best. Great but not the Greatest. A prophet but not the Prophet. This view would never do. It condemned Him with faint praise. If He were only another man He was a fraud because He claimed to be equal with God the Father. 16:15, 16 So He asked the disciples who they believed He was. This brought from Simon Peter the historic confession, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In other words, He was Israel’s Messiah and God the Son. 16:17, 18 Our Lord pronounced a blessing on Simon, son of Jonah. The fisherman had not arrived at this concept of the Lord Jesus through intellect or native wisdom; it had been supernaturally revealed to him by God the Father. But the Son had something important to say to Peter also. So Jesus added, And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. We all know that more controversy has swirled around this verse than almost any other verse in the Gospel. The question is, Who or what is the rock?
Part of the problem arises from the fact that the Greek words for Peter and for rock are similar, but the meanings are different. The first, petros, means a stone or loose rock; the second, petra, means rock, such as a rocky ledge. So what Jesus really said was … you are Peter (stone), and on this rock I will build My church. He did not say He would build His church on a stone but on a rock. If Peter is not the rock, then what is? If we stick to the context, the obvious answer is that the rock is Peter’s confession that Christ is the Son of the living God, the truth on which the church is founded. Eph_2:20 teaches that the church is built on Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. Its statement that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets refers not to them, but to the foundation laid in their teachings concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is spoken of as a Rock in 1Co_10:4. In this connection, Morgan gives a helpful reminder: Remember, He was talking to Jews. If we trace the figurative use of the word rock through Hebrew Scriptures, we find that it is never used symbolically of man, but always of God. So here at Caesarea Philippi, it is not upon Peter that the Church is built. Jesus did not trifle with figures of speech. He took up their old Hebrew illustrationrock, always the symbol of Deityand said, Upon God Himself Christ, the Son of the living GodI will build my church.Peter never spoke of himself as the foundation of the church. Twice he referred to Christ as a Stone (Act_4:11-12; 1Pe_2:4-8), but then the figure is different; the stone is the head of the corner, not the foundation. I will build My church. Here we have the first mention of the church in the Bible. It did not exist in the OT. The church, still future when Jesus spoke these words, was formed on the Day of Pentecost and is composed of all true believers in Christ, both Jew and Gentile. A distinct society known as the body and bride of Christ, it has a unique heavenly calling and destiny. We would scarcely expect the church to be introduced in Matthew’s Gospel where Israel and the kingdom are the prominent themes. However, consequent to Israel’s rejection of Christ, a parenthetical periodthe church agefollows and will continue to the Rapture. Then God will resume His dealings with Israel nationally. So it is fitting that God should introduce the church here as the next step in His dispensational program after Israel’s rejection. The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it may be understood in two ways. First the gates of Hades are pictured in an unsuccessful offensive against the churchthe church will survive all attacks upon it. Or the church itself may be pictured as taking the offensive and coming off the victor. In either case, the powers of death will be defeated by the translation of living believers and by the resurrection of the dead in Christ. 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven does not mean that Peter was given authority to admit men to heaven. This has to do with the kingdom of heaven on earththe sphere containing all who profess allegiance to the King, all who claim to be Christians. Keys speak of access or entrance. The keys which open the door to the sphere of profession are suggested in the Great Commission (Mat_28:19)discipling, baptizing, and teaching. (Baptism is not necessary for salvation but is the initiatory rite by which men publicly profess allegiance to the King.) Peter first used the keys on the Day of Pentecost. They were not given to him exclusively, but as a representative of all the disciples. (See Mat_18:18 where the same promise is given to them all.) Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This and a companion passage in Joh_20:23 are sometimes used to teach that Peter and his supposed successors were given the authority to forgive sins. We know that this cannot be so; only God can forgive sins. There are two ways of understanding the verse. First, it may mean that the apostles had power to bind and to loose that we do not have today. For example, Peter bound their sins on Ananias and Sapphira so that they were punished with instant death (Act_5:1-10), while Paul loosed the disciplined man in Corinth from the consequences of his sin because the man had repented (2Co_2:10). Or the verse may mean that whatever the apostles bound or loosed on earth must have already been bound or loosed in heaven (see NKJV margin). Thus Ryrie says, Heaven, not the apostles, initiates all binding and loosing, while the apostles announce these things.The only way in which the verse is true today is in a declarative sense. When a sinner truly repents of his sins and receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, a Christian can declare that person’s sins to be forgiven. When a sinner rejects the Savior, a Christian worker can declare his sins to be retained. William Kelly writes, Whenever the Church acts in the name of the Lord and really does His will, the stamp of God is upon their deeds.16:20 Again we find the Lord Jesus commanding His disciples to tell no one that He was the Messiah. Because of Israel’s unbelief, no good could come from such a disclosure. And positive harm might come from a popular movement to crown Him King; such an ill-timed move would be ruthlessly crushed by the Romans. Stewart, who calls this section the turning point of Jesus’ ministry, writes: The day at Caesarea Philippi marks the watershed of the Gospels. From this point onward the streams begin to flow in another direction. The current of popularity which seemed likely in the earlier days of Jesus’ ministry to carry him to a throne has now been left behind. The tide sets toward the Cross. … At Caesarea, Jesus stood, as it were on a dividing line. It was like a hilltop from which he could see behind him all the road he had traveled and in front of him the dark, forbidding way awaiting him. One look he cast back to where the afterglow of happy days still lingered and then faced round and marched forward toward the shadows. His course was now set to Calvary.
Matthew 16:21
B. Preparing the Disciples for His Death and Resurrection (16:21-23) 16:21 Now that the disciples had realized that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, they were ready to hear His first direct prediction of His death and resurrection. They now knew that His cause could never fail; that they were on the winning side; that no matter what happened, triumph was assured. So the Lord broke the news to prepared hearts. He must go to Jerusalem, must suffer many things from the religious leaders, must be killed, and be raised the third day. The news was enough to spell the doom of any movementall except that last imperativemust … be raised the third day. That made the difference! 16:22 Peter was indignant at the thought of his Master’s enduring such treatment. Catching hold of Him as if to block His path, he protested, Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!16:23 This drew a rebuke from the Lord Jesus. He had come into the world to die for sinners. Anything or anyone who hindered Him from this purpose was out of tune with God’s will. So He said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.
In calling Peter Satan, Jesus did not imply that the apostle was demon-possessed or Satan-controlled. He simply meant that Peter’s actions and words were what could be expected of Satan (whose name means adversary). By protesting against Calvary, Peter became a hindrance to the Savior. Every Christian is called to take up his cross and follow the Lord Jesus, but when the cross looms in the pathway ahead, a voice within says, Far be it from you! Save yourself. Or perhaps the voices of loved ones seek to deflect us from the path of obedience. At such times, we too must say, Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me.
Matthew 16:24
C. Preparation for True Discipleship (16:24-28) 16:24 Now the Lord Jesus plainly states what is involved in being His disciple: denial of self, cross-bearing, and following Him. To deny self is not the same as self-denial; it means to yield to His control so completely that self has no rights whatever. To take up the cross means the willingness to endure shame, suffering, and perhaps martyrdom for His sake; to die to sin, self, and the world. To follow Him means to live as He lived with all that involves of humility, poverty, compassion, love, grace, and every other godly virtue. 16:25 The Lord anticipates two hindrances to discipleship. The first is the natural temptation to save oneself from discomfort, pain, loneliness, or loss. The other is to become wealthy. As to the first, Jesus warned that those who hug their lives for selfish purposes would never find fulfillment; those who recklessly abandon their lives to Him, not counting the cost, would find the reason for their existence. 16:26 The second temptationthat of getting richis irrational. Suppose, said Jesus, that a man became so successful in business that he owned the whole world. This mad quest would absorb so much of his time and energy that he would miss the central purpose of his life. What good would it do to make all that money, then die, leave it all behind, and spend eternity empty-handed? Man is here for bigger business than to make money. He is called to represent the interests of his King. If he misses that, he misses everything. In verse 24, Jesus told them the worst. That is characteristic of Christianity; you know the worst at the outset. But you never cease discovering the treasures and the blessings. Barnhouse put it well: When one has seen all that is forbidding in the Scriptures, there is nothing left hidden that can come as a surprise. Every new thing which we shall ever learn in this life or the next will come as a delight. 16:27 Now the Lord reminds His own of the glory that follows the suffering. He points forward to His Second Advent when He will return to earth with His angels in the transcendent glory of His Father. Then He will reward those who live for Him. The only way to have a successful life is to project oneself forward to that glorious time, decide what will really be important then, and then go after that with all one’s strength. 16:28 He next made the startling statement that there were some standing there with Him who would not taste death before they saw Him coming in His kingdom. The problem, of course, is that those disciples have all died, yet Christ has not come in power and glory to set up His kingdom. The problem is solved if we disregard the chapter break and consider the first eight verses of the next chapter as an explanation of His enigmatic statement. These verses describe the incident on the Mount of Transfiguration. There Peter, James, and John saw Christ transfigured. They were actually privileged to have a preview of Christ in the glory of His kingdom. We are justified in viewing Christ’s transfiguration as a prepicture of His coming kingdom. Peter describes the event as the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2Pe_1:16). The power and coming of the Lord Jesus refer to His Second Advent. And John speaks of the Mount experience as the time when … we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (Joh_1:14). Christ’s First Coming was in humiliation; it is His Second Coming that will be in glory. Thus, the prediction of verse 28 was fulfilled on the Mount; Peter, James, and John saw the Son of Man, no longer as the humble Nazarene, but as the glorified King.