Commentary - Mark 8:27-30

Bird's-eye view

This short, sharp passage in Mark's Gospel represents a crucial turning point. Everything in the narrative has been building to this moment, and everything that follows will flow from it. Jesus takes His disciples away from the crowds, to the pagan territory of Caesarea Philippi, a place steeped in idolatry and the worship of Caesar as a god. It is here, far from the religious epicentre of Jerusalem, that He poses the most important question in human history: "Who do you say that I am?" The disciples first report the popular, but inadequate, opinions of the crowds. But then Jesus presses the question home to them personally. It is Peter, speaking for the Twelve, who makes the great confession: "You are the Christ." This is the central affirmation of our faith. Immediately following this high point of revelation, Jesus issues a stern warning for them to remain silent about His identity. This is not because He is ashamed of it, but because the popular conception of "the Christ" was so thoroughly distorted by political and nationalistic fervor. He had to redefine the title through His own suffering and death before it could be proclaimed accurately. This passage, then, is the hinge of Mark's Gospel, where the disciples' understanding begins to crystallize, and where Jesus begins to teach them about the true nature of His messianic mission, a mission that leads not to a throne in Jerusalem, but to a cross.

The entire scene is a divine setup. Jesus isolates His men, poses the question of the age, elicits the correct, Spirit-revealed answer from their spokesman, and then immediately begins to correct their wrongheaded assumptions about what that answer entails. It is a paradigm for all Christian discipleship. We must first answer the identity question correctly, and then we must spend the rest of our lives having our worldly assumptions about that identity corrected by the Lord Himself, primarily through His Word.

Outline

Context In Mark

This event in Caesarea Philippi is the pivot point of Mark's Gospel. The first half of the book (Mark 1:1-8:26) is largely concerned with demonstrating Jesus' identity and authority through His teaching, miracles, and confrontations. He has cleansed lepers, calmed storms, cast out legions of demons, and fed thousands. The question hanging over all this activity is, "Who is this man?" Now, at the geographical and theological midpoint of the gospel, that question is brought to a head and answered directly. The second half of the book (Mark 8:31-16:8) will shift focus dramatically. From this point on, Jesus will begin to speak plainly and repeatedly about His impending suffering, death, and resurrection. The theme changes from demonstrating His power to explaining the necessity of His passion. This confession is the prerequisite for that teaching. The disciples could not begin to understand the meaning of the cross until they first understood who was going to be on it.

Key Issues

The Question of the Ages

Every worldview, every philosophy, every religion, and every individual life is ultimately shaped by its answer to the question Jesus poses here. It is not a trivial matter of historical curiosity. It is the question upon which all of history turns. Jesus does not ask, "What do people say about my teachings?" or "How do people rate my miracles?" He goes right to the heart of the matter: "Who am I?" The answers from the crowd are respectful, but they are all wrong. They place Jesus in a category they can understand: a prophet, perhaps even a great one like Elijah or John the Baptist returned. They see Him as a man of God, but still just a man. They miss the fundamental category shift. They are trying to fit God into their box of "great religious figures."

But Jesus is not one prophet among many. He is the one to whom all the prophets pointed. He is not another link in the chain; He is the end of the chain, the fulfillment of it all. This is why Jesus presses the question on His disciples. It is not enough to know the popular consensus. A secondhand faith, a faith based on polls and public opinion, is no faith at all. Each man must answer for himself. "But who do you say that I am?" Your eternity hangs on your answer to that question.

Verse by Verse Commentary

27 And Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”

The location is significant. Caesarea Philippi was Gentile territory, named for Caesar Augustus and Herod Philip. It was a center for the worship of the pagan god Pan and, more importantly, a hub for the imperial cult that worshiped Caesar as a god. In the shadow of this false worship, this claim of a man to be god, Jesus asks about His own identity. He is taking the battle to the enemy's territory. He doesn't ask this question in the holy city of Jerusalem, but in the heart of pagan darkness. He is about to establish His claim as the true Lord, in direct opposition to the false claim of Caesar. The question is first directed at "the people," the crowds. Jesus is taking a poll, not because He doesn't know the answer, but to draw a sharp contrast with what He is about to ask next.

28 And they told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”

The disciples report the chatter of the crowds. The answers are all complimentary, but they are all evasions of the truth. Some thought He was John the Baptist come back to life, which was Herod's superstitious fear (Mark 6:16). Others thought He was Elijah, whose return was expected to precede the coming of the Messiah (Mal. 4:5). Still others just lumped Him in with the Old Testament prophets. All these answers recognize Jesus as a significant figure sent from God. They see His power and authority. But they fall short. They see Him as a great man, a messenger, but not as the Lord Himself. This is the highest that human wisdom and religious speculation can reach on its own. It is a high ceiling, but it is still infinitely below the truth.

29 And He continued questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

Jesus dismisses the popular opinions and makes it personal. The "But" is emphatic. "Never mind them. What about you?" This is the moment of truth for the disciples. They have been with Him, seen His miracles, heard His teaching. Is their conclusion any different from the crowd's? Peter, as is often the case, steps up as the spokesman for the group. His answer is not an opinion, but a declaration. "You are the Christ." The Christ, or in Hebrew, the Messiah, means "the Anointed One." He is the long-awaited King, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, the one anointed by God to save His people. Matthew's account tells us that this knowledge was not the result of human reasoning but was a direct revelation from the Father in heaven (Matt. 16:17). Peter did not figure this out; it was given to him. This is the foundational confession of the Christian faith.

30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him.

This command seems strange to us. If they have the right answer, why keep it a secret? This is what is often called the "Messianic Secret" in Mark. The reason is straightforward. While the title "Christ" was correct, the disciples' and the public's understanding of that title was dangerously wrong. They were expecting a political Messiah, a military conqueror who would throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel's national glory. If the disciples had gone out proclaiming "Jesus is the Messiah!" it would have been interpreted as a call to political insurrection. Jesus had to first redefine what it meant to be the Christ. It meant not a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns. It meant not conquering Rome, but conquering sin and death. It meant not enthronement, but crucifixion. The proclamation had to wait until after the cross and resurrection had supplied the true definition of His messiahship. The secret was not a denial of His identity, but a necessary strategy to ensure His identity was understood correctly.

Application

This passage forces the central question of life upon every one of us. It is not enough to have a respectful, distant admiration for Jesus. It is not enough to say He was a great moral teacher, a prophet, or a spiritual guide. That is simply to echo the opinions of the crowd. Jesus presses the question past the noise of the public square and into the quiet of your own heart: "But who do you say that I am?"

Your answer to this determines everything. If He is merely a prophet, you can take or leave His teachings. But if He is the Christ, the anointed King, the Son of the living God, then you owe Him everything. Your allegiance, your obedience, your very life belongs to Him. A true confession, like Peter's, is not just an intellectual assent to a fact. It is a bending of the knee. It is the surrender of your personal autonomy to His rightful lordship.

Furthermore, we must be prepared, once we make that confession, to have all our assumptions about it corrected. Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, and in the very next breath, he rebuked Jesus for talking about suffering and death. He had the right title but the wrong job description. We are often the same. We want a Christ who will fulfill our ambitions, solve all our problems on our terms, and conform to our idea of what a king should be. But the Christ of the Bible is the one who leads us by way of the cross. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our own cross, and follow Him. The true confession of faith says not only "You are the Christ," but also, "Not my will, but yours, be done."