Commentary - Matthew 16:1-28

Bird's-eye view

This chapter is a continental divide in Matthew's gospel. Everything pivots here. The chapter is arranged as a series of crucial confrontations that strip away all falsehood and force a decision. It begins with the confrontation between Christ and the united front of the religious establishment, who are blind to the signs of the times. This is followed by a gentle, but firm, confrontation with His own disciples, who are slow to understand the nature of spiritual corruption. This all builds to the central moment at Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus confronts His disciples with the ultimate question: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter's magnificent confession becomes the bedrock for Christ's promise to build His victorious Church. But no sooner is this glorious truth established than Jesus confronts them with the shocking nature of His messiahship, a path of suffering and death. Peter, the confessor, immediately becomes the rebuker, revealing how deeply the worldly mindset is ingrained. This leads to the final confrontation, where Jesus turns to all His disciples and lays out the stark, non-negotiable terms of following Him: self-denial, cross-bearing, and the willingness to lose everything for His sake. This chapter defines who Jesus is, what His Church will be, and what it costs to follow Him.

Outline

Matthew 16:1-4

(1) And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. We begin with an unholy alliance. The Pharisees were the hyper-spiritual legalists, and the Sadducees were the liberal, rationalist compromisers. These two groups were at each other's throats on just about everything, but they found common ground in their opposition to Jesus. A shared hatred of Christ will make for the strangest of bedfellows. Their approach was not one of honest inquiry. The text says they came "testing Him." This was a trap, a challenge designed to put Him in a corner. They demand a "sign from heaven," as though the countless healings, exorcisms, and feedings of thousands were insufficient. They want a celestial light show, something they can't dismiss as a parlor trick. But their hearts are hard. No sign would be sufficient for a man who is determined to disbelieve.

(2-3) But He replied to them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? Jesus' response is a masterful exposure of their hypocrisy. He grants that they are competent meteorologists. They can look at the sky and make a reasonable forecast. They are men of science and observation when it comes to the natural world. But when it comes to the spiritual world, they are utterly blind. The great "signs of the times" were all around them. The prophecies were being fulfilled in their very presence. The Messiah, the Son of God, was standing before them, and all they could do was talk about the weather. This is a permanent rebuke to all forms of sophisticated unbelief that can analyze everything under the sun except the Son Himself.

(4) An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away. Jesus gives His diagnosis. The problem is not a lack of evidence, but a corrupt heart. He calls them an "evil and adulterous generation." Adultery here is a covenantal term. They have been unfaithful to the God of Israel. Their sign-seeking is not a mark of piety but of faithlessness. And so, He tells them they will get only one more sign, the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the great fish and then came out to preach judgment and repentance, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth and rise again. The resurrection is God's final, ultimate, take-it-or-leave-it sign. After this pronouncement, He simply "left them." This is a quiet but terrifying act of judgment. He withdraws His presence from those who refuse to see.

Matthew 16:5-12

(5-7) And coming to the other side of the sea, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Now they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "He said that because we did not bring bread." The scene shifts, and we move from the willful blindness of Christ's enemies to the simple dullness of His friends. The disciples are operating on a completely carnal level. They forgot to pack lunch, a mundane and relatable problem. So when Jesus gives them a profound spiritual warning using the metaphor of leaven, their first thought is that He's chiding them for their poor planning. They think the sermon is about their lack of sandwiches. This is a constant danger for us all, to hear the spiritual warnings of Christ and immediately translate them into our worldly anxieties about provision and logistics.

(8-11) But Jesus, aware of this, said, "You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Jesus' response is one of loving exasperation. He identifies their core problem: "little faith." Their anxiety about bread was a failure to remember what He had just done, twice. He had demonstrated His absolute mastery over the material world, feeding multitudes with next to nothing. Their problem was not a lack of bread, but a short memory and a weak faith. He has to walk them through it, reminding them of the miracles, to lift their minds from the physical to the spiritual. The issue is not the leaven that makes bread rise, but the leaven that corrupts souls.

(12) Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Finally, the penny drops. They understand. Leaven is a biblical symbol for a pervasive, corrupting influence. It starts small, it works silently, but it transforms the entire lump of dough. Jesus is warning them about the teaching, the doctrine, of these groups. The leaven of the Pharisees was a hypocritical legalism that puffed men up with pride. The leaven of the Sadducees was a skeptical modernism that denied the supernatural. Both are deadly, and both corrupt the truth of God's Word. Bad doctrine is never a small thing.

Matthew 16:13-20

(13-15) Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" The location is significant. Caesarea Philippi was a hub of pagan worship, a place named for Caesar and filled with idolatry. It is here, in the shadow of worldly power and false religion, that Jesus asks the most important question in the world. First, He takes a poll: "Who do the people say I am?" The answers are all respectable. They see Him as a great prophet, perhaps even one of the old prophets returned. They are good compliments, but they are all tragically wrong. Then Jesus makes it personal. He looks at His disciples and asks, "But who do you say that I am?" This is the question that cuts through all the noise, all the popular opinions, and demands a personal verdict.

(16-17) And Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Peter, as is so often the case, speaks for the group and hits the nail squarely on the head. He makes the great confession. Jesus is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. But more than that, He is the "Son of the living God." In a place full of dead idols and mortal rulers, Peter confesses Jesus as the divine Son of the one true, living God. Jesus immediately pronounces a blessing on Peter and makes it clear where this insight came from. This was not a conclusion Peter reached through his own cleverness. "Flesh and blood," or mere human reason, could not produce this truth. It was a direct revelation from God the Father. True saving faith is always a supernatural gift.

(18-19) And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Upon this confession, Jesus makes one of the most foundational promises in all of Scripture. He plays on Peter's name. "You are Peter (Petros, a stone), and on this rock (petra, a massive bedrock) I will build my church." The bedrock is not Peter himself, but the divinely revealed truth he just confessed: that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The church is built on this immovable reality. And this church will be a conquering, victorious church. The "gates of Hades" are not attacking the church; the church is storming the gates of Hades. Gates are defensive. This is a promise of offensive victory. The kingdom of death will not be able to withstand the advance of the gospel. The "keys of the kingdom" represent the authority given to the church to declare the terms of entrance into the kingdom, through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of church discipline. To bind and loose is to declare authoritatively what God has already decreed in heaven.

(20) Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. This seems strange. After such a momentous confession, why the secrecy? Because the popular conception of "the Christ" was thoroughly political and nationalistic. They were expecting a military conqueror who would throw off the Roman yoke. Before that title could be proclaimed, it had to be radically redefined by the cross and resurrection.

Matthew 16:21-28

(21-22) From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." The pivot is immediate and jarring. Now that they know who He is, Jesus begins to teach them what He came to do. And it is the complete opposite of all their expectations. The path to glory runs directly through suffering, rejection, and a criminal's death. This is too much for Peter. The man who just made the great confession now takes it upon himself to rebuke the Son of the living God. His "God forbid it, Lord!" is the cry of a man who wants a crown without a cross, victory without a battle. It is the essence of all worldly religion.

(23) But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Jesus' response is utterly severe. He identifies the source of Peter's thinking. Peter is speaking the lines of Satan. The temptation in the wilderness was to get the kingdom through illegitimate, non-suffering means, and that is exactly what Peter is proposing here. The man who was just called the rock (petros) has now become a stumbling block (skandalon). The root of the error is identified: Peter is thinking like a man, not like God. Man's interests are self-preservation, comfort, and power. God's interests are redemption, glory, and salvation through the sacrifice of His Son.

(24-26) Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Jesus now broadens the lesson from Himself to all His followers. The path of the disciple is the path of the Master. The terms are not negotiable. To follow Christ requires three things: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow. This is not about minor inconveniences. Self-denial is the abdication of your self as king. Taking up your cross means being willing to be executed by the world for your allegiance to Christ. Then comes the great paradox. If you try to secure and protect your own life on your own terms, you will lose it eternally. But if you surrender your life, losing it for His sake, you will find true, everlasting life. He concludes with the ultimate profit-and-loss statement. A man could gain the whole world and still go bankrupt in his soul. It is the worst bargain imaginable.

(27-28) For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Jesus ends with a promise of a future coming in glory and judgment, where every man's life will be assessed. But then He makes a startling short-term prediction. Some standing right there would see the Son of Man "coming in His kingdom" before they died. This is not a reference to the final Second Coming. This is a prophecy of a historical coming in judgment and power that would happen within their generation. The ultimate fulfillment of this was the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In that event, Christ came in judgment against apostate Israel, destroyed the old temple-based system, and vindicated His claims, fully establishing the New Covenant kingdom to run its course throughout the world.