Certainties – Matthew 16:13-20

Jesus has come to a watershed moment in his ministry. He has traveled about as far as one can from the center of Jewish worship and still be in the greater holy land area. His opposition is steeling itself for a decisive attack and determination to arrest and kill Jesus. His disciples need him to serve them and prepare them and have certainties they can cling to. We may be looking at it from an entirely different vantage point, but we still also need these reassurances and certainties.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20 ESV)

The ESV Study Bible notes on this passage are outstanding and quoted here:

Matt. 16:13 Caesarea Philippi, some 25 miles (40 km) north of the Sea of Galilee, had been a center of the worship of (1) Baal, then of (2) the Greek god Pan, and then of (3) Caesar. At this time it was an important Greco-Roman city, with a primarily pagan Syrian and Greek population. In fact, its name had recently been changed from Paneas to Caesarea Philippi by Philip the Tetrarch (one of Herod the Great’s sons), in honor of himself and Augustus Caesar. Excavations at the site have revealed coins minted to depict the temple built to honor Augustus Caesar, and a pagan cave dedicated to Pan, with shrines and cult niches that are still visible today.

Matt. 16:14 John the Baptist … Elijah … Jeremiah … one of the prophets. The responses are in line with the popular messianic expectations held in Israel, arising from a strand of OT predictions about a great prophet who was to come (cf. Deut. 18:15–18; Mal. 4:5).

Matt. 16:16 Simon Peter replied. Peter acts once again as spokesman for the Twelve (cf. 15:15). Christ means “Messiah” or “Anointed One” (see note on 1:1). Son of the living God. Jesus is the Son of the God who is alive, unlike the pagan gods of Caesarea Philippi (see note on 16:13). Jesus is God’s unique Son (cf. 1:21–23; 2:15; 3:17; 4:4, 5; 7:21; 8:29; 10:32–33; 11:25–27; 12:50; 15:13; 18:35; 20:23; 24:36; 25:34; 26:39, 42, 53; 28:19), the fulfillment of the OT promise of a divine son as anointed king (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 2:7).

Matt. 16:17 Jesus answered him. Although Peter spoke for the group, Jesus’ reply is directed at Peter himself. Blessed (Gk. makarios; see note on 5:3). Jesus is not conferring blessing so much as acknowledging Peter’s condition of being privileged to benefit from God’s personal revelation. Simon Bar-Jonah (Aramaic for “Simon son of Jonah”). Simon has a natural father, Jonah, but his ability to confess Jesus (16:16) came not from any flesh and blood source but from my Father who is in heaven.

Matt. 16:18 you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. This is one of the most controversial and debated passages in all of Scripture. Roman Catholics have appealed to this passage to defend the idea that Peter was the first pope. The key question concerns Peter’s relationship to “this rock.” In Greek, “Peter” is Petros (“stone”), which is related to petra (“rock”). The other NT name of Peter, Cephas (cf. John 1:42; 1 Cor. 1:12), is the Aramaic equivalent: kepha’ means “rock,” and translates in Greek as Kēphas. “This rock” has been variously interpreted as referring to (1) Peter himself; (2) Peter’s confession; or (3) Christ and his teachings. For several reasons, the first option is the strongest. Jesus’ entire pronouncement is directed toward Peter, and the connecting word “and” (Gk. kai) most naturally identifies the rock with Peter himself. But even if “this rock” refers to Peter, the question remains as to what that means. Protestants generally have thought that it refers to Peter in his role of confessing Jesus as the Messiah, and that the other disciples would share in that role as they made a similar confession (see Eph. 2:20, where the church is built on all the apostles; cf. Rev. 21:14). Jesus’ statement did not mean that Peter would have greater authority than the other apostles (indeed, Paul corrects him publicly in Gal. 2:11–14), nor did it mean that he would be infallible in his teaching (Jesus rebukes him in Matt. 16:23), nor did it imply anything about a special office for Peter or successors to such an office. Certainly in the first half of Acts Peter appears as the spokesman and leader of the Jerusalem church, but he is still “sent” by other apostles to Samaria (Acts 8:14), and he has to give an account of his actions to the Jerusalem church (Acts 11:1–18). Peter is presented as having only one voice at the Jerusalem council, and James has the decisive final word (Acts 15:7–21). And, though Peter certainly has a central role in the establishment of the church, he disappears from the Acts narrative after Acts 15.

“Church” (Gk. ekklēsia) is used only here and in Matt. 18:17 in the Gospels. Jesus points ahead to the time when his disciples, his family of faith (12:48–50), will be called “my church.” Jesus will build his church, and though it is founded on the apostles and the prophets, “Christ Jesus himself [is] the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). Some scholars object that Jesus could not have foreseen the later emergence of the “church” at this time, but the use of Greek ekklēsia to refer to God’s “called out” people has substantial background in the Septuagint (e.g., Deut. 9:10; 31:30; 1 Sam. 17:47; 1 Kings 8:14). Jesus is predicting that he will build a community of believers who follow him. This “called out” community would soon become known as “the church,” a separate community of believers, as described in the book of Acts.

gates of hell (Gk. hadēs, “Hades”; cf. “gates of Sheol” [Isa. 38:10]; “gates of death” [Job 38:17; Ps. 9:13; 107:18]). “Gates” were essential for a city’s security and power. Hades, or Sheol, is the realm of the dead. Death will not overpower the church.

Matt. 16:19 keys of the kingdom of heaven. Peter is given the authority to admit entrance into the kingdom through preaching the gospel, an authority that is subsequently granted to all who are called to proclaim the gospel. (Note the contrast with the scribes and Pharisees, who shut the kingdom in people’s faces, neither entering themselves nor allowing others to enter; see 23:13.) In Acts, Peter is the apostle who first preaches the message of the kingdom to the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2), to the Samaritans (Acts 8), and to the Gentiles (Acts 10).

whatever you bind … whatever you loose. Peter also has authority to exercise discipline concerning right and wrong conduct for those in the kingdom, an authority that is not exclusive to Peter but is extended to the church as a whole in Matt. 18:18; cf. John 20:23. Jesus delegates authority to human leaders in the church who are called to govern his church on earth, under his ultimate authority, through the application of his Word.

Matt. 16:20 Jesus warned his disciples against telling anyone that he was the Christ, since the concept of Christ/Messiah was widely misunderstood by the crowds—and often by the disciples themselves. See note on 8:4; cf. 9:30; 12:16; 17:9.