Matthew 16:13-18 “Who Do You Say That I Am?”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson[1] for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 28 Oct 2012

Translation

16:13 After Jesus came into the limits of Caesarea Philippi, He started quizzing His disciples, saying, “Who am I that the people are saying to be the Son of Man?”

16:14 So they said, “Some [say] John the Baptizer, and others Elijah, and various ones Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

16:15 He says to them, “Now [how about] y’all? Who do y’all say me to be?”

16:16 And, in answer, Rock Simon said, “You are The Anointed One, The Son of the Living God.”

16:17 Then in answer, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not make a revelation to you, but rather my Father in the heavens did!

16:18 And I also say to you that you are Rock and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not be as strong as she!

Exposition

16:13 After Jesus came into the limits of Caesarea Philippi, He started quizzing His disciples, saying, “Who am I4 that the people are saying to be the Son of Man?”

Ελθων δε ‘ο Ιησους εις τα μερη[2] Καισαρειας της Φιλιππου ηρωτα[3] τους μαθητας αυτου λεγων Τίνα με[4] λεγουσιν ‘οι ανθρωποι ειναι τον ‘υιον του ανθρωπου;

1.      In some places in the Bible this phrase is a synonym for “human being

·         Numbers 23:19a  "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent…

·         Isaiah 51:12b  "…you are afraid of man who dies And of the son of man who is made like grass”

·         Jeremiah 49:18b "…no one will live there, nor will a son of man reside in it.

2.      In other places, it singles out one person as representing the whole human race:

·         The prophets were God’s representatives on earth, and about half of the instances of this phrase “Son of Man” are found in the prophecies of Ezekiel, such as 2:1  "Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!"

·         20:18  “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death”

·         20:28  “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

3.      The Son of Man is also the “Heavenly Man,” God in human form who exists in heaven and is coming down to earth to judge mankind:

·         Daniel 7:13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days...”

·         16:27  “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

·         24:30  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

 

16:14 So they said, “Some [say] John the Baptizer, and others Elijah, and various ones Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

‘Οι δε ειπον ‘Οι μεν[5] Ιωαννην τον βαπτιστην, αλλοι δε ‘Ηλιαν, ‘ετεροι δε Ιερεμιαν ἢ ‘ενα των προφητων

 

16:15 He says to them, “Now [how about] y’all? Who do y’all say me to be?”

Λεγει αυτοις Υμεις δε τίνα με λεγετε ειναι

 

16:16 And, in answer, Rock Simon said, “You are The Anointed One, The Son of the Living God.”

Αποκριθεις δε Σιμων Πετρος ειπεν Συ εἶ ‘ο χριστος ‘ο ‘υιος του θεου του ζωντος

 

16:17 Then in answer, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not make a revelation to you, but rather my Father in the heavens did!

Αποκριθεις δε[8] ‘ο Ιησους ειπεν αυτω Μακαριος εἶ Σιμων βαρ Ιωνα ‘οτι σαρξ και ‘αιμα ουκ απεκαλυψεν σοι αλλ’ ‘ο πατηρ μου ‘ο εν τοις ουρανοις

 

16:18 And I also say to you that you are Rock and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not be as strong as she!

καγω δε σοι λεγω ‘οτι συ εἶ Πετρος και επι ταυτη τη πετρα οικοδομησω μου την εκκλησιαν και πυλαι ‘αδου ου κατισχυσουσιν αυτης

1.      Some say “This rock” is Christ – in other words Jesus pointed to Peter and said, “Your name means ‘rock,’” then Jesus pointed to Himself and said, “But, just as you confessed, I am the rock upon which the church is built.”

2.      A slight majority of commentators I read[14] said that “This rock” is Peter’s confession of faith

3.      The third interpretation I ran across is that “This rock” actually means “Peter” in some sense.

1. The majority saw this as describing the forces of evil attacking the church, but the church standing firm.

2. A couple of the more recent commentators suggest that this is actually speaking of the church assaulting Satan’s kingdom:

3. A third camp brings the interpretation full circle to its context by saying that Death will not be strong enough to beat the church.

Conclusion

A. Do you know who Jesus is and what it means that He is the Son of Man?

B. Who do your family, friends and co-workers say Jesus is? Have you adequately informed them?

 



[1] Thanks to Timothy Zachary, who helped edit commentary material and compiled the material for the word studies!

[2] See footnote on Matt. 15:21 for fuller discussion of this word.

[3] “’Began to question,’ inchoative imperfect tense.” ~ATR

[4] “Me” is in C, D, L, W, Θ, f1, f13, and the Majority, Byzantine, and Textus Receptus editions of Matt. 16:1, but since it’s not in א or B, and early church fathers as well as editions of the Vulgate are divided on whether or not to include “me,” the Critical editions don’t include it. Since it’s in all the Greek manuscripts of the parallel passages in Mark 8:27 and Luke 9:18, it is obviously authentic and worth including.

[5] D & W omit, but in all editions

[6]2 Maccabees 2:4-8, Brenton

[7]See, for instance, the blasphemous statements of a skeptic at http://www.livescience.com/3482-jesus-man.html.

[8] The Majority, Byz, and T.R. follow C.L. and W by rendering και “and” instead of δε “but.” In Greek these two conjunctions are closer in meaning than “and” and “but” are in English, so the difference is not significant.

[9] His dad’s name is mentioned also in John 1:42, John 21:15-17. In both of those passages, ancient Greek uncials are split between ιωαννου and ιωνα. The majority of Greek manuscripts favor the latter and modern critical editions follow the former spelling.

[10] As spiritual is opposite “flesh & blood” in 1 Corinthians 15:42-50, Heb. 2:14, and Eph. 6:12.

[11] …it has been commonly supposed that Jesus meant to say that man had not revealed it, but he seems rather to have referred to himself. ‘This truth you have not learned from my lowly appearance, from my human nature, from my apparent rank and standing in the world. You, Jews, were expecting to know the Messiah by his external splendor; his pomp and power as a man; but you have not learned me in this manner. I have shown no such indication of my Messiahship. Flesh and blood have not shown it. In spite of my appearance, my lowly state - my lack of resemblance to what you have expected, you have learned it as from God.’ They had been taught this by Jesus’ miracles, his instructions, and by the direct teachings of God upon their minds.” ~Adam Clarke

[12] Classical Greek authority, Marvin Vincent had this to say, “In classical Greek the word means a piece of rock, as in Homer, of Ajax throwing a stone at Hector (“Iliad, vii., 270), or of Patroclus grasping and hiding in his hand a jagged stone (“Iliad, xvi., 784). [In the phrase,] ‘On this rock (ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέρᾳ)’ The word is feminine, and means a rock, as distinguished from a stone or a fragment of rock (πέτρος, above). Used of a ledge of rocks or a rocky peak. In Homer (“Odyssey,” ix., 243), the rock (πέτρην) which Polyphemus places at the door of his cavern, is a mass which two-and-twenty wagons could not remove; and the rock which he hurled at the retreating ships of Ulysses, created by its fall a wave in the sea which drove the ships back toward the land (“Odyssey,” ix., 484).”

[13] “[H]e was rightly called Peter… because of his firmness and solidity, and because he was laid upon the sure foundation, and built on the rock Christ, and was a very fit stone to be laid in the spiritual building. The aptness of this name to him is easy to be seen in his full assurance of faith, as to the person of Christ, and his free, open, and undaunted confession of him.” ~John Gill

[14] Robertson, Gill, Henry, Calvin (Hendriksen cites R.C. Lenski and L. Boettner in favor of this position as well.)

[15] “Equally untenable is the explanation which refers πέτρα to Simon's confession. Both the play upon the words and the natural reading of the passage are against it, and besides, it does not conform to the fact, since the church is built, not on confessions, but on confessors - living men.” (Vincent)

[16] “not on the man Simon Bar-jona; but on him as the heavenly-taught confessor of a faith” ~JFB

[17] “Hades was originally the name of the god who presided over the realm of the dead... derived from ἀ, not, and ; ἰδεῖν, to see; and signifies, therefore, the invisible land, the realm of shadow. It is the place to which all who depart this life descend, without reference to their moral character. By this word the Septuagint translated the Hebrew Sheol, which has a similar general meaning… [ATR also points out that Paul uses “thanate/death” instead of “Sheol” in 1 Cor 15:55 when he quotes Hos. 13:14]. Hades is indeed coupled with Death (Rev. 1:18; 6:8;20:13-14)… It is the condition following death, which is blessed or the contrary, according to the moral character of the dead, and is therefore divided into different realms, represented by Paradise or Abraham's bosom, and Gehenna.” ~Vincent

[18] Wis. 16:13 “For thou hast power of life and death: thou leadest to the gates of hell, and bringest up again.”
3 Mac. 5:51 “…have mercy upon those who now lay at the gates of hades.”