Teks -- Matthew 16:1-17 (NET)

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 16:2 He said, said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

16:5 When the disciples went to the other side, they forgot to take bread. 16:6 “Watch out,” Jesus said to them, “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 16:7 So they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “It is because we brought no bread.” 16:8 When Jesus learned of this, he said, “You who have such little faith! Why are you arguing among yourselves about having no bread? 16:9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 16:10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you took up? 16:11 How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” 16:12 Then they understood that he had not told them to be on guard against the yeast in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter’s Confession

16:13 When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 16:14 They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Mat 16:1 - The Pharisees and Sadducees

The Pharisees and Sadducees ( hoi Pharisaioi kai Saddoukaioi ).

The first time that we have this combination of the two parties who disliked each other exceedingly. Hate makes strange bedfellows. They hated Jesus more than they did each other. Their hostility has not decreased during the absence of Jesus, but rather increased.

Robertson: Mat 16:1 - Tempting him

Tempting him ( peirazontes ).

Their motive was bad.

Robertson: Mat 16:1 - A sign from heaven

A sign from heaven ( sēmeion ek tou ouranou ).

The scribes and Pharisees had already asked for a sign (Mat 12:38). Now this new combination adds "from heaven."What did they have in mind? They may not have had any definite idea to embarrass Jesus. The Jewish apocalypses did speak of spectacular displays of power by the Son of Man (the Messiah). The devil had suggested that Jesus let the people see him drop down from the pinnacle of the temple and the people expected the Messiah to come from an unknown source (Joh 7:27) who would do great signs (Joh 7:31). Chrysostom ( Hom. liii.) suggests stopping the course of the sun, bridling the moon, a clap of thunder.

Robertson: Mat 16:2 - Fair weather

Fair weather ( eudia ).

An old poetic word from eu and Zeus as the ruler of the air and giver of fair weather. So men today say "when the sky is red at sunset."It occurs on the Rosetta Stone and in a fourth century a.d. Oxyr. papyrus for "calm weather"that made it impossible to sail the boat. Aleph and B and some other MSS. omit Mat 16:2 and Mat 16:3. W omits part of Mat 16:2. These verses are similar to Luk 12:54-56. McNeile rejects them here. Westcott and Hort place in brackets. Jesus often repeated his sayings. Zahn suggests that Papias added these words to Matthew.

Robertson: Mat 16:3 - Lowring

Lowring ( stugnazōn ).

A sky covered with clouds. Used also of a gloomy countenance as of the rich young ruler in Mar 10:22. Nowhere else in the New Testament. This very sign of a rainy day we use today. The word for "foul weather"(cheimōn ) is the common one for winter and a storm.

Robertson: Mat 16:3 - The signs of the times

The signs of the times ( ta sēmeia tōn kairōn ).

How little the Pharisees and Sadducees understood the situation. Soon Jerusalem would be destroyed and the Jewish state overturned. It is not always easy to discern (diakrinein , discriminate) the signs of our own time. Men are numerous with patent keys to it all. But we ought not to be blind when others are gullible.

Robertson: Mat 16:4

@@Same words in Mat 12:39 except tou prophētou , a real doublet.

Robertson: Mat 16:5 - Came

Came ( elthontes ).

Probably= "went"as in Luk 15:20 (ire , not venire ). So in Mar 8:13 apēlthen .

Robertson: Mat 16:5 - Forgot

Forgot ( epelathonto ).

Perhaps in the hurry to leave Galilee, probably in the same boat by which they came across from Decapolis.

Robertson: Mat 16:7 - They reasoned

They reasoned ( dielogizonto ).

It was pathetic, the almost jejune inability of the disciples to understand the parabolic warning against "the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees"(Mat 16:6) after the collision of Christ just before with both parties in Magadan. They kept it up, imperfect tense. It is "loaves"(artous ) rather than "bread."

Robertson: Mat 16:8

@@Jesus asks four pungent questions about the intellectual dulness, refers to the feeding of the five thousand and uses the word kophinous (Mat 14:20) for it and sphuridas for the four thousand (Mat 15:37), and repeats his warning (Mat 16:11). Every teacher understands this strain upon the patience of this Teacher of teachers.

Robertson: Mat 16:12 - Then understood they

Then understood they ( tote sunēkan ).

First aorist active indicative of suniēmi , to grasp, to comprehend. They saw the point after this elaborate rebuke and explanation that by "leaven"Jesus meant "teaching."

Robertson: Mat 16:13 - Caesarea Philippi

Caesarea Philippi ( Kaisarias tēs Philippou ).

Up on a spur of Matthew Hermon under the rule of Herod Philip.

Robertson: Mat 16:13 - He asked

He asked ( ērōtā ).

Began to question, inchoative imperfect tense. He was giving them a test or examination. The first was for the opinion of men about the Son of Man.

Robertson: Mat 16:14 - And they said

And they said ( hoi de eipan ).

They were ready to respond for they knew that popular opinion was divided on that point (Mat 14:1.). They give four different opinions. It is always a risky thing for a pastor to ask for people’ s opinions of him. But Jesus was not much concerned by their answers to this question. He knew by now that the Pharisees and Sadducees were bitterly hostile to him. The masses were only superficially following him and they looked for a political Messiah and had vague ideas about him. How much did the disciples understand and how far have they come in their development of faith? Are they still loyal?

Robertson: Mat 16:15 - But who say ye that I am?

But who say ye that I am? ( hūmeis de tina me legete einai̇ ).

This is what matters and what Jesus wanted to hear. Note emphatic position of hūmeis , "But you , who say ye that I am?"

Robertson: Mat 16:16

@@Peter is the spokesman now: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"(Su ei ho Christos ho huios tou theou tou zōntos ). It was a noble confession, but not a new claim by Jesus. Peter had made it before (Joh 6:69) when the multitude deserted Jesus in Capernaum. Since the early ministry (John 4) Jesus had avoided the word Messiah because of its political meaning to the people. But now Peter plainly calls Jesus the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the God the living one (note the four Greek articles). This great confession of Peter means that he and the other disciples believe in Jesus as the Messiah and are still true to him in spite of the defection of the Galilean populace (John 6).

Robertson: Mat 16:17 - Blessed art thou

Blessed art thou ( makarios ei ).

A beatitude for Peter. Jesus accepts the confession as true. Thereby Jesus on this solemn occasion solemnly claims to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God, his deity in other words. The disciples express positive conviction in the Messiahship or Christhood of Jesus as opposed to the divided opinions of the populace. "The terms in which Jesus speaks of Peter are characteristic - warm, generous, unstinted. The style is not that of an ecclesiastical editor laying the foundation for church power, and prelatic pretentions, but of a noble-minded Master eulogizing in impassioned terms a loyal disciple"(Bruce). The Father had helped Peter get this spiritual insight into the Master’ s Person and Work.

Vincent: Mat 16:2 - Fair weather

Fair weather ( εὐδία )

Colloquial. Looking at the evening sky, a man says to his neighbor, " Fine weather:" and in the morning (Mat 16:3), " Storm to-day" (σήμερον χειμών ) .

Vincent: Mat 16:3 - Lowering

Lowering ( στυγνάζων )

The verb means to have a gloomy look. Dr. Morison compares the Scotch gloaming or glooming. Cranmer, the sky is glooming red. The word is used only here and at Mar 10:22, of the young ruler, turning from Christ with his face overshadowed with gloom. A.V., he was sad. Rev., his countenance fell.

Vincent: Mat 16:9

, Mat 16:10

Note the accurate employment of the two words for basket . See on Mat 14:20.

Vincent: Mat 16:15 - Thou art the Christ

Thou art the Christ

Compare on Mat 1:1. Note the emphatic and definite force of the article in Peter's confession, and also the emphatic position of the pronoun (οὺ , thou ): " Thou art the anointed, the Son of the God, the living."

Vincent: Mat 16:17 - Blessed

Blessed ( μακάριος )

See on Mat 5:3.

Wesley: Mat 16:1 - A sign from heaven

Such they imagined Satan could not counterfeit. Mar 8:11; Mat 12:38.

Wesley: Mat 16:2

Luk 12:54.

Wesley: Mat 16:3 - The signs of the times

The signs which evidently show, that this is the time of the Messiah.

Wesley: Mat 16:4 - A wicked and adulterous generation

Ye would seek no farther sign, did not your wickedness, your love of the world, which is spiritual adultery, blind your understanding.

Wesley: Mat 16:5

Mar 8:14.

Wesley: Mat 16:6 - Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees

That is, of their false doctrine: this is elegantly so called; for it spreads in the soul, or the Church, as leaven does in meal. Luk 12:1.

Wesley: Mat 16:7 - They reasoned among themselves

What must we do then for bread, since we have taken no bread with us?

Wesley: Mat 16:8 - Why reason ye

Why are you troubled about this? Am I not able, if need so require, to supply you by a word?

Wesley: Mat 16:11 - How do ye not understand

Beside, do you not understand, that I did not mean bread, by the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Wesley: Mat 16:13 - And Jesus coming

There was a large interval of time between what has been related, and what follows. The passages that follow were but a short time before our Lord suffered. Mar 8:27; Luk 9:18.

Wesley: Mat 16:14 - Jeremiah, or one of the prophets

There was at that time a current tradition among the Jews, that either Jeremiah, or some other of the ancient prophets would rise again before the Messiah came.

Wesley: Mat 16:16 - Peter

Who was generally the most forward to speak.

Wesley: Mat 16:17 - Flesh and blood

That is, thy own reason, or any natural power whatsoever.

JFB: Mat 16:13 - When Jesus came into the coasts

"the parts," that is, the territory or region. In Mark (Mar 8:27) it is "the towns" or "villages."

JFB: Mat 16:13 - of Cæsarea Philippi

It lay at the foot of Mount Lebanon, near the sources of the Jordan, in the territory of Dan, and at the northeast extremity of Palestine. It was originally called Panium (from a cavern in its neighborhood dedicated to the god Pan) and Paneas. Philip, the tetrarch, the only good son of Herod the Great, in whose dominions Paneas lay, having beautified and enlarged it, changed its name to Cæsarea, in honor of the Roman emperor, and added Philippi after his own name, to distinguish it from the other Cæsarea (Act 10:1) on the northeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea. [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 15.10,3; 18.2,1]. This quiet and distant retreat Jesus appears to have sought with the view of talking over with the Twelve the fruit of His past labors, and breaking to them for the first time the sad intelligence of His approaching death.

JFB: Mat 16:13 - he asked his disciples

"by the way," says Mark (Mar 8:27), and "as He was alone praying," says Luke (Luk 9:18).

JFB: Mat 16:13 - saying, Whom

Or more grammatically, "Who"

JFB: Mat 16:13 - do men say that I the Son of man am?

(or, "that the Son of man is"--the recent editors omitting here the me of Mark and Luke [Mar 8:27; Luk 9:18]; though the evidence seems pretty nearly balanced)--that is, "What are the views generally entertained of Me, the Son of man, after going up and down among them so long?" He had now closed the first great stage of His ministry, and was just entering on the last dark one. His spirit, burdened, sought relief in retirement, not only from the multitude, but even for a season from the Twelve. He retreated into "the secret place of the Most High," pouring out His soul "in supplications and prayers, with strong crying and tears" (Heb 5:7). On rejoining His disciples, and as they were pursuing their quiet journey, He asked them this question.

JFB: Mat 16:14 - And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist

Risen from the dead. So that Herod Antipas was not singular in his surmise (Mat 14:1-2).

JFB: Mat 16:14 - some, Elias

(Compare Mar 6:15).

JFB: Mat 16:14 - and others, Jeremias

Was this theory suggested by a supposed resemblance between the "Man of Sorrows" and "the weeping prophet?"

JFB: Mat 16:14 - or one of the prophets

Or, as Luke (Luk 9:8) expresses it, "that one of the old prophets is risen again." In another report of the popular opinions which Mark (Mar 6:15) gives us, it is thus expressed, "That it is a prophet [or], as one of the prophets": in other words, That He was a prophetical person, resembling those of old.

JFB: Mat 16:15 - He saith unto them, But whom

Rather, "who."

JFB: Mat 16:15 - say ye that I am?

He had never put this question before, but the crisis He was reaching made it fitting that He should now have it from them. We may suppose this to be one of those moments of which the prophet says, in His name, "Then I said, I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain" (Isa 49:4): Lo, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree; and what is it? As the result of all, I am taken for John the Baptist, for Elias, for Jeremias, for one of the prophets. Yet some there are that have beheld My glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, and I shall hear their voice, for it is sweet.

JFB: Mat 16:16 - And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God

He does not say, "Scribes and Pharisees, rulers and people, are all perplexed; and shall we, unlettered fishermen, presume to decide?" But feeling the light of his Master's glory shining in his soul, he breaks forth--not in a tame, prosaic acknowledgment, "I believe that Thou art," &c.--but in the language of adoration--such as one uses in worship, "THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!" He first owns Him the promised Messiah (see on Mat 1:16); then he rises higher, echoing the voice from heaven--"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"; and in the important addition--"Son of the LIVING GOD"--he recognizes the essential and eternal life of God as in this His Son--though doubtless without that distinct perception afterwards vouchsafed.

JFB: Mat 16:17 - And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou

Though it is not to be doubted that Peter, in this noble testimony to Christ, only expressed the conviction of all the Twelve, yet since he alone seems to have had clear enough apprehensions to put that conviction in proper and suitable words, and courage enough to speak them out, and readiness enough to do this at the right time--so he only, of all the Twelve, seems to have met the present want, and communicated to the saddened soul of the Redeemer at the critical moment that balm which was needed to cheer and refresh it. Nor is Jesus above giving indication of the deep satisfaction which this speech yielded Him, and hastening to respond to it by a signal acknowledgment of Peter in return.

JFB: Mat 16:17 - Simon-Barjona

Or, "son of Jona" (Joh 1:42), or "Jonas" (Joh 21:15). This name, denoting his humble fleshly extraction, seems to have been purposely here mentioned, to contrast the more vividly with the spiritual elevation to which divine illumination had raised him.

JFB: Mat 16:17 - for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee

"This is not the fruit of human teaching."

JFB: Mat 16:17 - but my Father which is in heaven

In speaking of God, Jesus, it is to be observed, never calls Him, "our Father" (see on Joh 20:17), but either "your Father"--when He would encourage His timid believing ones with the assurance that He was theirs, and teach themselves to call Him so--or, as here, "My Father," to signify some peculiar action or aspect of Him as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Clarke: Mat 16:1 - The Pharisees also with the Sadducees

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees - Though a short account of these has been already given in a note on Mat 3:7, yet, as one more detailed may be judged necessary, I think it proper to introduce it in this place

The Pharisees were the most considerable sect among the Jews, for they had not only the scribes, and all the learned men of the law of their party, but they also drew after them the bulk of the people. When this sect arose is uncertain. Josephus, Antiq. lib. v. c. xiii. s. 9, speaks of them as existing about 144 years before the Christian era. They had their appellation of Pharisees, from פרש parash , to separate, and were probably, in their rise, the most holy people among the Jews, having separated themselves from the national corruption, with a design to restore and practice the pure worship of the most High. That they were greatly degenerated in our Lord’ s time is sufficiently evident; but still we may learn, from their external purity and exactness, that their principles in the beginning were holy. Our Lord testifies that they had cleansed the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they were full of abomination. They still kept up the outward regulations of the institution, but they had utterly lost its spirit; and hypocrisy was the only substitute now in their power for that spirit of piety which I suppose, and not unreasonably, characterized the origin of this sect

As to their religious opinions, they still continued to credit the being of a God; they received the five books of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the hagiographa. The hagiographa or holy writings, from αγιος holy, and γραφω I write, included the twelve following books - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. These, among the Jews, occupied a middle place between the law and the prophets, as divinely inspired. The Pharisees believed, in a confused way, in the resurrection, though they received the Pythagorean doctrine of the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. Those, however, who were notoriously wicked, they consigned, on their death, immediately to hell, without the benefit of transmigration, or the hope of future redemption. They held also the predestinarian doctrine of necessity, and the government of the world by fate; and yet, inconsistently, allowed some degree of liberty to the human will. See Prideaux

The Sadducees had their origin and name from one Sadoc, a disciple of Antigonus of Socho, president of the Sanhedrin, and teacher of the law in one of the great divinity schools in Jerusalem, about 264 years before the incarnation

This Antigonus having often in his lectures informed his scholars, that they should not serve God through expectation of a reward, but through love and filial reverence only, Sadoc inferred from this teaching that there were neither rewards nor punishments after this life, and, by consequence, that there was no resurrection of the dead, nor angel, nor spirit, in the invisible world; and that man is to be rewarded or punished here for the good or evil he does

They received only the five books of Moses, and rejected all unwritten traditions. From every account we have of this sect, it plainly appears they were a kind of mongrel deists, and professed materialists. See Prideaux, and the authors he quotes, Connex. vol. iii. p. 95, and 471, etc., and see the note on Mat 3:7

In Mat 22:16, we shall meet with a third sect, called Herodians, of whom a few words may be spoken here, It is allowed on all hands that these did not exist before the time of Herod the Great, who died only three years after the incarnation of our Lord. What the opinions of these were is not agreed among the learned. Many of the primitive fathers believed that their distinguishing doctrine was, that they held Herod to be the Messiah; but it is not likely that such an opinion could prevail in our Savior’ s time, thirty years after Herod’ s death, when not one characteristic of Messiahship had appeared in him during his life. Others suppose that they were Herod’ s courtiers, who flattered the passions of their master, and, being endowed with a convenient conscience, changed with the times; but, as Herod was now dead upwards of thirty years, such a sect could not exist in reference to him; and yet all allow that they derived their origin from Herod the Great

Our Lord says, Mar 8:15, that they had the leaven of Herod, i.e. a bad doctrine, which they received from him. What this was may be easily discovered

1.    Herod subjected himself and his people to the dominion of the Romans, in opposition to that law, Deu 17:15, Thou shalt not set a king over thee - which is not thy brother, i.e. one out of the twelve tribes

2.    He built temples, sat up images, and joined in heathenish worship, though he professed the Jewish religion; and this was in opposition to all the law and the prophets

From this we may learn that the Herodians were such as, first, held it lawful to transfer the Divine government to a heathen ruler; and, secondly, to conform occasionally to heathenish rites in their religious worship. In short, they appear to have been persons who trimmed between God and the world - who endeavored to reconcile his service with that of mammon - and who were religious just as far as it tended to secure their secular interests. It is probable that this sect was at last so blended with, that it became lost in, the sect of the Sadducees; for the persons who art called Herodians, Mar 8:15, are styled Sadducees in Mat 16:6. See Prideaux, Con. vol. iii. p. 516, etc., and Josephus, Antiq. b. xv. c. viii. s. i. and x. s. iii. But it is very likely that the Herodians, mentioned c. xxii. 10, were courtiers or servants of Herod king of Galilee. See the note there

Clarke: Mat 16:1 - Show them a sign

Show them a sign - These sects, however opposed among themselves, most cordially unite in their opposition to Christ and his truth. That the kingdom of Satan may not fall, all his subjects must fight against the doctrine and maxims of the kingdom of Christ

Clarke: Mat 16:1 - Tempting - him

Tempting - him - Feigning a desire to have his doctrine fully proved to them, that they might credit it, and become his disciples; but having no other design than to betray and ruin him.

Clarke: Mat 16:2 - When it is evening

When it is evening - There are certain signs of fair and foul weather, which ye are in the constant habit of observing, and which do not fail. - The signs of the times: the doctrine which I preach, and the miracles which I work among you, are as sure signs that the day-spring from on high has visited you for your salvation; but if ye refute to hear, and continue in darkness, the red and gloomy cloud of vindictive justice shall pour out such a storm of wrath upon you as shalt sweep you from the face of the earth.

Clarke: Mat 16:3 - The sky is red and lowering

The sky is red and lowering - The signs of fair and foul weather were observed in a similar manner among the Romans, and indeed among most other people. Many treatises have been written on the subject: thus a poet: -

Caeruleus pluviam denunciant, Igneus euro

Sin Maculae incipient Rutilo immiscerier Igni

Omnia tunc pariter Vento Nimbisque videbis

Fervere Virg. Geor. i. l. 45

"If fiery red his glowing globe descends

High winds and furious tempests he portends

But if his cheeks are swoll’ n with livid blue

He bodes wet weather, by his watery hu

If dusky spots are varied on his brow

And streak’ d with red a troubled color show

That sullen mixture shall at once declare

Wind, rain, and storms, and elemental wa

Dryden.

||&&$

Clarke: Mat 16:4 - Wicked and adulterous generation

Wicked and adulterous generation - The Jewish people are represented in the Sacred Writings as married to the Most High; but, like a disloyal wife, forsaking their true husband, and uniting themselves to Satan and sin. Seeketh after a sign, σημειον επιζητει, seeketh sign upon sign, or, still another sign. Our blessed Lord had already wrought miracles sufficient to demonstrate both his Divine mission and his divinity; only one was farther necessary to take away the scandal of his cross and death, to fulfill the Scriptures, and to establish the Christian religion; and that was, his resurrection from the dead, which, he here states, was typified in the case of Jonah.

Clarke: Mat 16:5 - Come to the other side

Come to the other side - Viz. the coast of Bethsaida, by which our Lord passed, going to Caesarea, for he was now on his journey thither. See Mat 16:13, and Mar 8:22, Mar 8:27.

Clarke: Mat 16:6 - Beware of the leaven

Beware of the leaven - What the leaven of Pharisees and Sadducees was has been already explained, see Mat 16:1. Bad doctrines act in the soul as leaven does in meal; they assimulate the whole Spirit to their own nature. A man’ s particular creed has a greater influence on his tempers and conduct than most are aware of. Pride, hypocrisy, and worldly-mindedness, which constituted the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, ruin the major part of the world.

Clarke: Mat 16:7 - They reasoned

They reasoned - For, as Lightfoot observes, the term leaven was very rarely used among the Jews to signify doctrine, and therefore the disciples did not immediately apprehend his meaning. In what a lamentable state of blindness is the human mind? Bodily wants are perceived with the utmost readiness, and a supply is sought with all speed. But the necessities of the soul are rarely discovered, though they are more pressing than those of the body, and the supply of them of infinitely more importance.

Clarke: Mat 16:8 - When Jesus perceived, he said

When Jesus perceived, he said - Αυτοις, unto them, is wanting in BDKLMS, and twenty others; one of the Syriac, the Armenian, Ethiopia, Vulgate, and most of the Itala; also in Origen, Theophylact, and Lucifer Calaritanus. Mill approves of the omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text

Clarke: Mat 16:8 - O ye of little faith

O ye of little faith - There are degrees in faith, as well as in the other graces of the Spirit. Little faith may be the seed of great faith, and therefore is not to be despised. But many who should be strong in faith have but a small measure of it, because they either give way to sin, or are not careful to improve what God has already given.

Clarke: Mat 16:9-10 - Do ye not yet understand - the five loaves - neither the seven

Do ye not yet understand - the five loaves - neither the seven - See the notes on Mat 14:14, etc. How astonishing is it that these men should have any fear of lacking bread, after having seen the two miracles which our blessed Lord alludes to above! Though men quickly perceive their bodily wants, and are querulous enough till they get them supplied, yet they as quickly forget the mercy which they had received; and thus God gets few returns of gratitude for his kindnesses. To make men, therefore, deeply sensible of his favors, he is induced to suffer them often to be in want, and then to supply them in such a way as to prove that their supply has come immediately from the hand of their bountiful Father.

Clarke: Mat 16:11 - How is it that ye do not understand

How is it that ye do not understand - We are not deficient in spiritual knowledge, because we have not had sufficient opportunities of acquainting ourselves with God; but because we did not improve the advantages we had. How deep and ruinous must our ignorance be, if God did not give line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little! They now perceived that he warned them against the superstition of the Pharisees, which produced hypocrisy, pride, envy, etc., and the false doctrine of the Sadducees, which denied the existence of a spiritual world, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the providence of God.

Clarke: Mat 16:13 - Caesarea Philippi

Caesarea Philippi - A city, in the tribe of Naphtali, near to Mount Libanus, in the province of Iturea. Its ancient name was Dan, Gen 14:14; afterwards it was called Lais, Jdg 18:7. But Philip the tetrarch, having rebuilt and beautified it, gave it the name of Caesarea, in honor of Tiberius Caesar, the reigning emperor: but to distinguish it from another Caesarea, which was on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and to perpetuate the fame of him who rebuilt it, it was called Caesarea Philippi, or Caesarea of Philip

Clarke: Mat 16:13 - When Jesus came

When Jesus came - Ελθων δε ο Ιησους - when Jesus was coming. Not, when Jesus came, or was come, for Mark expressly mentions that it happened εν τη οδω, in the way to Caesarea Philippi, Mar 8:27, and he is Matthew’ s best interpreter. - Wakefield

Clarke: Mat 16:13 - Whom do men say

Whom do men say - He asked his disciples this question, not because he was ignorant what the people thought and spoke of him; but to have the opportunity, in getting an express declaration of their faith from themselves, to confirm and strengthen them in it: but see on Luk 9:20 (note). Some, John the Baptist, etc. By this and other passages we learn, that the Pharisaic doctrine of the Metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, was pretty general; for it was upon this ground that they believed that the soul of the Baptist, or of Elijah, Jeremiah, or some of the prophets, had come to a new life in the body of Jesus.

Clarke: Mat 16:16 - Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God - Every word here is emphatic - a most concise, and yet comprehensive, confession of faith

The Christ, or Messiah, points out his divinity, and shows his office; the Son - designates his person: on this account it is that both are joined together so frequently in the new covenant. Of the living God Του Θεου, του ζωντος, literally, of God the Living One. The C. Bezae has for Του ζωντος the Living One, Του σωζοντος, the Savior, and the Cant. Dei Salvatoris, of God the Savior

Clarke: Mat 16:16 - Living

Living - a character applied to the Supreme Being, not only to distinguish him from the dead idols of paganism, but also to point him out as the source of life, present, spiritual, and eternal. Probably there is an allusion here to the great name יהוה Yeve , or Yehovah , which properly signifies being or existence.

Clarke: Mat 16:17 - Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona

Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona - Or Simon, son of Jonah; so Bar-jonah should be translated, and so it is rendered by our Lord, Joh 1:42. Flesh and blood - i.e. Man; - no human being hath revealed this; and though the text is literal enough, yet every body should know that this is a Hebrew periphrasis for man; and the literal translation of it here, and in Gal 1:16, has misled thousands, who suppose that flesh and blood signify carnal reason, as it is termed, or the unregenerate principle in man. Is it not evident, from our Lord’ s observation, that it requires an express revelation of God in a man’ s soul, to give him a saving acquaintance with Jesus Christ; and that not even the miracles of our Lord, wrought before the eyes, will effect this? The darkness must be removed from the heart by the Holy Spirit, before a man can become wise unto salvation.

Calvin: Mat 16:1 - And the Pharisees came // The Pharisees, together with the Sadducees // Tempting

Mat 16:1.And the Pharisees came Mark says that they began to dispute, from which we may conjecture that, when they had been vanquished in argument, this was their last resource; as obstinate men, whenever they are reduced to extremities, to avoid being compelled to yield to the truth, are accustomed to introduce something which is foreign to the subject. Though the nature of the dispute is not expressed, yet I think it probable that they debated about the calling of Christ, why he ventured to make any innovation, and why he made such lofty pretensions, as if by his coming he had fully restored the kingdom of God. Having nothing farther to object against his doctrine, they demand that he shall give them a sign from heaven. But it is certain that a hundred signs would have no greater effect than the testimonies of Scripture. Besides, many miracles already performed had placed before their eyes the power of Christ, and had almost enabled them to touch it with their hands. Signs, by which Christ made himself familiarly known, are despised by them; and how much less will they derive advantage from a distant and obscure sign? Thus the Papists of our own day, as if the doctrine of the Gospel had not yet been proved, demand that it be ascertained by means of new miracles.

The Pharisees, together with the Sadducees It deserves our attention that, though the Sadducees and the Pharisees looked upon each other as enemies, and not only cherished bitter hatred, but were continually engaged in hostilities, yet they enter into a mutual league against Christ. In like manner, though ungodly men quarrel among themselves, their internal broils never prevent them from conspiring against God, and entering into a compact for joining their hands in persecuting the truth.

Tempting By this word the Evangelists mean that it was not with honest intentions, nor from a desire of instruction, but by cunning and deceit, that they demanded what they thought that Christ would refuse, or at least what they imagined was not in his power. Regarding him as utterly mean and despicable, they had no other design than to expose his weakness, and to destroy all the applause which he had hitherto obtained among the people. In this manner unbelievers are said to tempt God, when they murmur at being denied what their fancy prompted them to ask, and charge God with want of power.

Calvin: Mat 16:2 - About the commencement of the evening

2.About the commencement of the evening By these words Christ reminds them that his power had been sufficiently manifested, so that they must have recognised the time of their visitation, (Luk 19:44,) had they not of their own accord shut their eyes, and refused to admit the clearest light. The comparison which he employs is beautiful and highly appropriate; for, though the aspect of the sky is changeable, so that sometimes a storm unexpectedly arises, and sometimes fair weather springs up when it was not expected, yet the instructions of nature are sufficient to enable men to predict from signs whether the day will be fair or cloudy. Christ therefore asks why they do not recognize the kingdom of God, when it is made known by signs not less manifest; for this proved clearly that they were excessively occupied with earthly and transitory advantages, and cared little about any thing that related to the heavenly and spiritual life, and were blinded not so much by mistake as by voluntary malice.

Calvin: Mat 16:3 - Hypocrites, you can judge

3.Hypocrites, you can judge He calls them hypocrites, because they pretend to ask that which, if it were exhibited to them, they are resolved not to observe. The same reproof applies nearly to the whole world; for men direct their ingenuity, and apply their senses, to immediate advantage; and therefore there is scarcely any man who is not sufficiently well qualified in this respect, or at least who is not tolerably acquainted with the means of gaining his object. How comes it then that we feel no concern about the signs by which God invites us to himself? Is it not because every man gives himself up to willing indifference, and extinguishes the light which is offered to him? The calling of Christ, and the immediate exhibition of eternal salvation, were exhibited to the scribes both by the Law and the Prophets, and by his own doctrine, to which miracles were added.

There are many persons of the same description in the present day, who plead that on intricate subjects they have a good right to suspend their judgment, because they must wait till the matter is fully ascertained. They go farther, and believe that it is a mark of prudence purposely to avoid all inquiry into the truth; as if it were not an instance of shameful sloth that, while they are so eagerly solicitous about the objects of the flesh and of the earth, they neglect the eternal salvation of their souls, and at the same time contrive vain excuses for gross and stupid ignorance.

A very absurd inference is drawn by some ignorant persons from this passage, that we are not at liberty to predict from the aspect of the sky whether we shall have fair or stormy weather. It is rather an argument which Christ founds on the regular course of nature, that those men deserve to perish for their ingratitude, who, while they are sufficiently acute in matters of the present life, yet knowingly and willfully quench the heavenly light by their stupidity.

Calvin: Mat 16:4 - A wicked and adulterous nation

Mat 16:4.A wicked and adulterous nation This passage was explained ⁴²⁶ under Mat 12:38. The general meaning is, that the Jews are never satisfied with any signs, but are continually tickled by a wicked desire to tempt God. He does not call them an adulterous nation merely because they demand some kind of sign, (for the Lord sometimes permitted his people to do this,) but because they deliberately provoke God; and therefore he threatens that, after he has risen from the dead, he will be a prophet like Jonah. So Matthew at least says — for Mark does not mention Jonah — but the meaning is the same; for, strictly speaking, this was intended to serve as a sign to them, that Christ, when he had risen from the dead, would in every place cause the voice of his Gospel to be distinctly heard.

Calvin: Mat 16:5 - And when his disciples came // Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees

Mat 16:5.And when his disciples came Here Christ takes occasion from the circumstance that had just occurred ⁴³² to exhort his disciples to beware of every abuse that makes an inroad on sincere piety. The Pharisees had come a little before; the Sadducees joined them; and apart from them stood Herod, a very wicked man, and an opponent and corrupter of sound doctrine. In the midst of these dangers it was very necessary to warn his disciples to be on their guard; for, since the human mind has a natural inclination towards vanity and errors, when we are surrounded by wicked inventions, spurious doctrines, and other plagues of the same sort, nothing is more easy than to depart from the true and simple purity of the word of God; and if we once become entangled in these things, it will never be possible for the true religion to hold an entire sway over us. But to make the matter more clear, let us examine closely the words of Christ.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees Along with the Pharisees Matthew mentions the Sadducees Instead of the latter, Mark speaks of Herod Luke takes no notice of any but the Pharisees, (though it is not absolutely certain that it is the same discourse of Christ which Luke relates,) and explains the leaven to be hypocrisy In short, he glances briefly at this sentence, as if there were no ambiguity in the words. Now the metaphor of leaven, which is here applied to false doctrine, might have been employed, at another time, to denote the hypocrisy of life and conduct, or the same words might even have been repeated a second time. But there is no absurdity in saying, that those circumstances which are more copiously detailed by the other two Evangelists, in the order in which they took place, are slightly noticed by Luke in a manner somewhat different, and out of their proper place or order, but without any real contradiction. If we choose to adopt this conjecture, hypocrisy will denote here something different from a pretended and false appearance of wisdom. It will denote the very source and occasion of empty display, which, though it holds out an imposing aspect to the eyes of men, is of no estimation in the sight of God. For, as Jeremiah (Jer 5:3) tells us that the eyes of the Lord behold the truth, so they that believe in his word are instructed to maintain true godliness in such a manner as to cleave to righteousness with an honest and perfect heart; as in these words,

An now, O Israel, what doth the Lord require from thee, but that thou shouldst cleave to him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul? (Deu 10:12.)

On the other hand, the traditions of men, while they set aside spiritual worship, wear a temporary disguise, as if God could be imposed upon by such deceptions; for to whatever extent outward ceremonies may be carried, they are, in the sight of God, nothing more than childish trifles, unless so far as they assist us in the exercise of true piety.

We now perceive the reason why hypocrisy was viewed by Luke as equivalent to doctrines invented by men, and why he included under this name the leavens of men, which only puff up, and in the sight of God contain nothing solid, and which even draw aside the minds of men from the right study of piety to empty and insignificant ceremonies. But it will be better to abide by the narrative of Matthew, which is more copious. The disciples, after having been reproved by our Lord, came at length to understand that he had charged them to be on their guard against certain doctrine. It was plainly, therefore, the intention of Christ to fortify them against prevailing abuses, by which they were attacked on all sides. The Pharisees and Sadducees were expressly named, because those two sects maintained at that time a tyrannical sway in the Church, and held opinions so utterly subversive of the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets, that almost nothing remained pure and entire.

But Herod did not in any way profess to teach; and a question arises, why does Mark class him with false teachers? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and Of The Leaven Of Herod. I reply: he was half a Jew, was mean and treacherous, and availed himself of every contrivance that was within his reach to draw the people to his side; for it is customary with all apostates to contrive some mixture, for the purpose of establishing a new religion by which the former may be abolished. It was because he was laboring craftily to subvert the principles of true and ancient piety, and thus to give currency to a religion that would be exceedingly adapted to his tyranny, or rather because he was endeavoring to introduce some new form of Judaism, that our Lord most properly charged them to beware of his leaven. From the temple of God the scribes disseminated their errors, and the court of Herod was another workshop of Satan, in which errors of a different kind were manufactured.

Thus in our own day we find that not only from Popish temples, and from the dens of sophists and monks, does Antichrist vomit out her impostures, but that there is a Theology of the Court, which lends its aid to prop up the throne of Antichrist, so that no stratagem is left untried. But as Christ opposed the evils which then prevailed, and as he aroused the minds of his followers to guard against those which were the most dangerous, let us learn from his example to make a prudent inquiry what are the abuses that may now do us injury. Sooner shall water mix with fire than any man shall succeed in reconciling the inventions of the Pope with the Gospel. Whoever desires to become honestly a disciple of Christ, must be careful to keep his mind pure from those leavens; and if he has already imbibed them, he must labor to purify himself till none of their polluting effects remain. There are restless men, on the other hand, who have endeavored in various ways to corrupt sound doctrine, and, in guarding also against such impostures, believers must maintain a strict watch, that they may keep a perpetual Passover

with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,
(1Co 5:8.)

And as on every hand there now rages an impiety like that of Lucian, ⁴³³ a most pernicious leaven, or rather a worse than deadly poison, let them exercise this very needful caution, and apply to it all their senses.

Calvin: Mat 16:8 - Why do you think within yourselves, etc.?

8.Why do you think within yourselves, etc.? The disciples again show how little they had profited by the instructions of their Master, and by his wonderful works. What he had said about being on their guard against the leaven is rashly interpreted by them as if Christ intended only to withdraw them from outward intercourse. As it was customary among the Jews not to take food in company with irreligious men, the disciples imagine that the Pharisees were classed with such persons. This ignorance might perhaps have been endured; but they are forgetful of a favor which they lately received, and do not consider that Christ has the remedy his power to hinder them from being compelled to pollute themselves by meat and drink, and therefore he reproves them sharply, as they deserved. And certainly it was shameful ingratitude that, after having seen bread created out of nothing, and in such abundance as to satisfy many thousands of men, and after having seen this done twice, they are now anxious about bread, as if their Master did not always possess the same power. From these words we infer that all who have once or twice experienced the power of God, and distrust it for the future are convicted of unbelief; for it is faith that cherishes in our hearts the remembrance of the gifts of God, and faith must have been laid asleep, if we allow them to be forgotten.

Calvin: Mat 16:12 - Then they understood

12.Then they understood The word leaven is very evidently used by Christ as contrasted with the pure and uncorrupted word of God. In a former passage, (Mat 13:33,) Christ had used the word in a good sense, when he said that the Gospel resembled leaven; ⁴³⁴ but for the most part this word is employed in Scripture to denote some foreign substance, by which the native purity of any thing is impaired. In this passage, the naked truth of God, and the inventions which men contrive out of their own brain, are unquestionably the two things that are contrasted. The sophist must not hope to escape by saying that this ought not to be understood as applicable to every kind of doctrine; for it will be impossible to find any doctrine but what has come from God that deserves the name of pure and unleavened Hence it follows that leaven is the name given to every foreign admixture; as Paul also tells us that faith is rendered spurious, as soon as we are

drawn aside from the simplicity of Christ,
(2Co 11:3.)

It must now be apparent who are the persons of whose doctrine our Lord charges us to beware. The ordinary government of the Church was at that time in the hands of the scribes and priests, among whom the Pharisees held the highest rank. As Christ expressly charges his followers to beware of their doctrine, it follows that all who mingle their own inventions with the word of God, or who advance any thing that does not belong to it, must be rejected, how honorable soever may be their rank, or whatever proud titles they may wear. Accursed and rebellious, therefore, is the obedience of those who voluntarily submit to the inventions and laws of the Pope.

Calvin: Mat 16:13 - And when Jesus came to the coasts of Cesarea Philippi // Who do men say that I am?

Mat 16:13.And when Jesus came to the coasts of Cesarea Philippi Mark says that this conversation took place during the journey. Luke says that it took place while he was praying, and while there were none in company with him but his disciples. Matthew is not so exact in mentioning the time. All the three unquestionably relate the same narrative; and it is possible that Christ may have stopped at a certain place during that journey to pray, and that afterwards he may have put the question to his disciples. There were two towns called Cesarea, of which the former was more celebrated, and had been anciently called The Tower of Strato; while the latter, which is mentioned here, was situated at the foot of Mount Lebanon, not far from the river Jordan. It is for the sake of distinguishing between these two towns that Philippi is added to the name; for though it is conjectured by some to have been built on the same spot where the town of Dan formerly stood, yet, as it had lately been rebuilt by Philip the Tetrarch, it was called Philippi ⁴³⁷

Who do men say that I am? This might be supposed to mean, What was the current rumor about the Redeemer, who became the Son of man? But the question is quite different, What do men think about Jesus the Son of Mary? He calls himself, according to custom, the Son of man, as much as to say, Now that clothed in flesh I inhabit the earth like other men, what is the opinion entertained respecting me? The design of Christ was, to confirm his disciples fully in the true faith, that they might not be tossed about amidst various reports, as we shall presently see.

Calvin: Mat 16:14 - Some [say,] John the Baptist

14.Some [say,] John the Baptist This inquiry does not relate to the open enemies of Christ, nor to ungodly scoffers, but to the sounder and better part of the people, who might be called the choice and flower of the Church. Those only are mentioned by the disciples who spoke of Christ with respect; and yet, though they aimed at the truth, not one of them reaches that point, but all go astray in their vain fancies. Hence we perceive how great is the weakness of the human mind; for not only is it unable of itself to understand what is right or true, but even out of true principles it coins errors. Besides, though Christ is the only standard of harmony and peace, by which God gathers the whole world to himself, the greater part of men seize on this subject as the occasion of prolonged strife. Among the Jews, certainly, the unity of faith related solely to Christ; and yet they who formerly appeared to have some sort of agreement among themselves now split into a variety of sects.

We see too how one error quickly produces another; for a preconceived opinion, which had taken a firm hold of the minds of the common people, that souls passed from one body to another, made them more ready to adopt this groundless fancy. But though, at the time of Christ’s coming, the Jews were divided in this manner, such a diversity of opinions ought not to have hindered the godly from desiring to attain the pure knowledge of him. For if any man, under such a pretense, had given himself up to sloth, and neglected to seek Christ, we would have been forced to declare that there was no excuse for him. Much less then will any man escape the judgment of God who is led by the variety of sects to entertain a dislike of Christ, or who, disgusted by the false opinions of men, does not deign to attach himself to Christ.

Calvin: Mat 16:15 - But who do you say that I am?

15.But who do you say that I am? Here Christ distinguishes his disciples from the rest of the crowd, to make it more fully evident that, whatever differences may exist among others, we at least ought not to be led aside from the unity of faith. They who shall honestly submit to Christ, and shall not attempt to mix with the Gospel any inventions of their own brain, will never want the true light. But here the greatest vigilance is necessary, that, though the whole world may be carried away by its own inventions, believers may continually adhere to Christ. As Satan could not rob the Jews of the conviction which they derived from the Law and the Prophets, that Christ would come, he changed him into various shapes, and, as it were, cut him in pieces. His next scheme was, to bring forward many pretended Christs, that they might lose sight of the true Redeemer. By similar contrivances, he continued ever afterwards either to tear Christ in pieces, or to exhibit him under a false character. Among the confused and discordant voices of the world, let this voice of Christ perpetually sound in our ears, which calls us away from unsettled and wavering men, that we may not follow the multitude, and that our faith may not be tossed about amongst the billows of contending opinions.

Calvin: Mat 16:16 - Thou art the Christ

16.Thou art the Christ The confession is short, but it embraces all that is contained in our salvation; for the designation Christ, or Anointed, includes both an everlasting Kingdom and an everlasting Priesthood, to reconcile us to God, and, by expiating our sins through his sacrifice, to obtain for us a perfect righteousness, and, having received us under his protection, to uphold and supply and enrich us with every description of blessings. Mark says only, Thou art the Christ. Luke says, Thou art the Christ of God But the meaning is the same; for the Christs ( χριστοί) of God was the appellation anciently bestowed on kings, who had been anointed by the divine command. ⁴³⁸ And this phrase had been previously employed by Luke, ( Luk 2:26,) when he said that Simeon had been informed by a revelation from heaven that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ For the redemption, which God manifested by the hand of his Son, was clearly divine; and therefore it was necessary that he who was to be the Redeemer should come from heaven, bearing the impress of the anointing of God. Matthew expresses it still more clearly, Thou art the Son of the living God; for, though Peter did not yet understand distinctly in what way Christ was the begotten of God, he was so fully persuaded of the dignity of Christ, that he believed him to come from God, not like other men, but by the inhabitation of the true and living Godhead in his flesh. When the attribute living is ascribed to God, it is for the purpose of distinguishing between Him and dead idols, who are nothing, ( 1Co 8:4.)

Calvin: Mat 16:17 - Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona // Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee

17.Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona As

this is life eternal, to know the only true God,
and him whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ, (Joh 17:3,)

Christ justly pronounces him to be blessed who has honestly made such a confession. This was not spoken in a peculiar manner to Peter alone, but our Lord’s purpose was, to show in what the only happiness of the whole world consists. That every one may approach him with greater courage, we must first learn that all are by nature miserable and accursed, till they find a remedy in Christ. Next, we must add, that whoever has obtained Christ wants nothing that is necessary to perfect happiness, since we have no right to desire any thing better than the eternal glory of God, of which Christ puts us in possession.

Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee In the person of one man Christ reminds all that we must ask faith from the Father, and acknowledge it to the praise of his grace; for the special illumination of God is here contrasted with flesh and blood. Hence we infer, that the minds of men are destitute of that sagacity which is necessary for perceiving the mysteries of heavenly wisdom which are hidden in Christ; and even that all the senses of men are deficient in this respect, till God opens our eyes to perceive his glory in Christ. Let no man, therefore, in proud reliance on his own abilities, attempt to reach it, but let us humbly suffer ourselves to be inwardly taught by the Father of Lights, (Jas 1:17,) that his Spirit alone may enlighten our darkness. And let those who have received faith, acknowledging the blindness which was natural to them, learn to render to God the glory that is due to Him.

Defender: Mat 16:12 - doctrine

As indicated before, leaven is a substance which instigates a decay process and thus symbolizes false doctrine (see note on Mat 13:32, Mat 13:33)."

Defender: Mat 16:16 - Thou art the Christ

Peter's great confession apparently was given as spokesman for all the disciples since Jesus had asked them the question (Mat 16:15). They understood that Jesus was both the promised Messiah ("the Christ") and also the only begotten Son of God. They had learned this first from John the Baptist (see John's testimony as recorded in Joh 1:15-18), but this had been further confirmed by their personal knowledge of Christ and by the inward witness of the Holy Spirit."

TSK: Mat 16:1 - Pharisees // Sadducees // tempting // a sign

Pharisees : Mat 5:20, Mat 9:11, Mat 12:14, Mat 15:1, Mat 22:15, Mat 22:34, Mat 23:2, Mat 27:62

Sadducees : Mat 16:6, Mat 16:11, Mat 3:7, Mat 3:8, Mat 22:23; Mar 12:18; Luk 20:27; Act 4:1, Act 5:17, Act 23:6-8

tempting : Mat 19:3, Mat 22:18, Mat 22:35; Mar 10:2, Mar 12:15; Luk 10:25, Luk 11:16, Luk 11:53, Luk 11:54, Luk 20:23; Joh 8:6

a sign : Mat 12:38, Mat 12:39; Mar 8:11-13; Luk 11:16, Luk 11:29, Luk 11:30, Luk 12:54-56; Joh 6:30,Joh 6:31; 1Co 1:22

TSK: Mat 16:2 - When

When : Luk 12:54-56

TSK: Mat 16:3 - O ye // the signs

O ye : Mat 7:5, Mat 15:7, Mat 22:18, Mat 23:13; Luk 11:44, Luk 13:15

the signs : Mat 4:23, Mat 11:5; 1Ch 12:32

TSK: Mat 16:4 - wicked // but // And he

wicked : Mat 12:39, Mat 12:40; Mar 8:12, Mar 8:38; Act 2:40

but : Jon 1:17; Luk 11:29, Luk 11:30

And he : Mat 15:14; Gen 6:3; Hos 4:17, Hos 9:12; Mar 5:17, Mar 5:18; Act 18:6

TSK: Mat 16:5

Mat 15:39; Mar 8:13, Mar 8:14

TSK: Mat 16:6 - Take // the leaven // the Pharisees

Take : Luk 12:15

the leaven : Mat 16:12; Exo 12:15-19; Lev 2:11; Mar 8:15; Luk 12:1; 1Co 5:6-8; Gal 5:9; 2Ti 2:16, 2Ti 2:17

the Pharisees : Mat 16:1

TSK: Mat 16:7 - they // It is

they : Mar 8:16-18, Mar 9:10; Luk 9:46

It is : Mat 15:16-18; Act 10:14

TSK: Mat 16:8 - when // O ye

when : Joh 2:24, Joh 2:25, Joh 16:30; Heb 4:13; Rev 2:23

O ye : Mat 6:30, Mat 8:26, Mat 14:31; Mar 16:14

TSK: Mat 16:9 - ye not // the five loaves

ye not : Mat 15:16, Mat 15:17; Mar 7:18; Luk 24:25-27; Rev 3:19

the five loaves : Mat 14:17-21; Mar 6:38-44; Luk 9:13-17; Joh 6:9-13

TSK: Mat 16:10

Mat 15:34, Mat 15:38; Mar 8:5-9, Mar 8:17-21

TSK: Mat 16:11

Mar 4:40, Mar 8:21; Luk 12:56; Joh 8:43

TSK: Mat 16:12 - but

but : Mat 15:4-9, 23:13-28; Act 23:8

TSK: Mat 16:13 - came // Caesarea Philippi // Whom // I the

came : Mat 15:21; Act 10:38

Caesarea Philippi : Cesarea Philippi was anciently called Paneas, from the mountain of Panium, or Hermon, at the foot of which it was situated, near the springs of Jordan; but Philip the tetrarch, the son of Herod the Great, having rebuilt it, gave it the name of Cesarea in honour of Tiberius, the reigning emperor, and he added his own name to it, to distinguish it from another Cesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean. It was afterwards named Neronias by the young Agrippa, in honour of Nero; and in the time of William of Tyre, it was called Belinas. It was, according to Josephus, a day’ s journey from Sidon, and 120 stadia from the lake of Phiala; and, according to Abulfeda, a journey of a day and a half from Damascus. Many have confounded it with Dan, or Leshem; but Eusebius and Jerome expressly affirm that Dan was four miles from Paneas, on the road to Tyre. It is now called Banias, and is described, by Seetzen, as a hamlet of about twenty miserable huts, inhabited by Mohammedans; but Burckhardt says it contains about 150 houses, inhabited by Turks, Greeks, etc. Mar 8:27

Whom : Luk 9:18-20

I the : Mat 8:20, Mat 9:6, Mat 12:8, Mat 12:32, Mat 12:40, Mat 13:37, Mat 13:41, Mat 25:31; Dan 7:13; Mar 8:38, Mar 10:45; Joh 1:51, Joh 3:14, Joh 5:27, Joh 12:34; Act 7:56; Heb 2:14-18

TSK: Mat 16:14 - John // Elias

John : Mat 14:2; Mar 8:28

Elias : Mal 4:5; Mar 6:15; Luk 9:18, Luk 9:19; Joh 7:12, Joh 7:40,Joh 7:41, Joh 9:17

TSK: Mat 16:15 - But

But : Mat 13:11; Mar 8:29; Luk 9:20

TSK: Mat 16:16 - Thou // the living

Thou : Mat 14:33, Mat 26:63, Mat 27:54; Psa 2:7; Mar 14:61; Joh 1:49, Joh 6:69, Joh 11:27, Joh 20:31; Act 8:37, Act 9:20; Rom 1:4; Heb 1:2-5; 1Jo 4:15, 1Jo 5:5, 1Jo 5:20

the living : Deu 5:26; Psa 42:2; Dan 6:26; Act 14:15; 1Th 1:9

TSK: Mat 16:17 - Blessed // Simon // for // but

Blessed : Mat 5:3-11, Mat 13:16, Mat 13:17; Luk 10:23, Luk 10:24, Luk 22:32; 1Pe 1:3-5, 1Pe 5:1

Simon : Joh 1:42, Joh 21:15-17

for : Gal 1:11, Gal 1:12, Gal 1:16

but : Mat 11:25-27; Isa 54:13; Luk 10:21, Luk 10:22; Joh 6:45, Joh 17:6-8; 1Co 2:9-12; Gal 1:16; Eph 1:17, Eph 1:18, Eph 2:8, Eph 3:5, Eph 3:18, Eph 3:19; Col 1:26, Col 1:27; 1Jo 4:15, 1Jo 5:20

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Mat 16:1 - tempting // that he would show them a sign from heaven

Mat 16:1-4 The Pharisees require a sign.

Mat 16:5-12 Jesus warns his disciples against the leaven of the

Pharisees and Sadducees, and explains his meaning.

Mat 16:13-20 The people’ s opinion, and Peter’ s confession, of Christ.

Mat 16:21-23 Jesus foreshows his own death, and rebuketh Peter for

dissuading him from it.

Mat 16:24-28 He showeth that his followers must deny themselves in

prospect of a future reward.

What these Pharisees and Sadducees were we have had an occasion to show before in our annotations on Mat 3:7 , See Poole on "Mat 3:7" . There was a great opposition between them, as we may learn from Act 23:7,8 . The Pharisees and scribes were great zealots for their traditions; the Sadducees valued them not. The Pharisees held the resurrection, angels, and spirits; the Sadducees denied all. But they were both enemies to Christ, and combine in their designs against him. They came to him

tempting that is, desirous to make a trial of him; they desire

that he would show them a sign from heaven such a one as Moses showed them, Joh 6:30,31 bringing down bread from heaven. They had seen our Saviour showing many signs, but they had taught the people that these things might be done by the power of the devil, or by the art of man; therefore they challenge our Saviour to show them another kind of sign, a sign from heaven, that they might know he was sent of God. See Mar 8:11 .

Poole: Mat 16:2-3 - discern the signs of the times

Ver. 2,3. You can, saith our Saviour, make observations upon the works of God in nature and common providence, and from such observations you can make conclusions; if you see the sky red in the evening, you can conclude from thence that the morrow will be fair, because you think that the redness of the sky at night speaks the clouds thin and the air pure; and on the other side, the redness of it in the morning speaks the clouds thick, so as the sun cannot disperse them; or because you observe that generally it so proveth, though nothing be more mutable than the air. But you cannot

discern the signs of the times: you are only dull at making observations upon the Scriptures, and the will of God revealed in them concerning me. You might observe that all the signs of the Messias are fulfilled in me: I was born of a virgin, as was prophesied by Isaiah, Isa 7:14 ; in Bethlehem Judah, as was prophesied by Micah, Mic 5:2 ; at a time when the sceptre was departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from his feet, as was prophesied by Jacob, Gen 49:10 : that John the Baptist is come in the power and spirit of Elias, to prepare my way before me, as was prophesied by Malachi, Mal 4:5 ; that there is one come, who openeth the eyes of the blind, and unstops the ears of the deaf, and maketh the lame to leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing, according to the prophecy, Isa 35:5,6 . All these are the signs of the time when the Messiah was to come; but these things you cannot discern, but, like a company of hypocrites, who pretend one thing and do another, you come and ask a sign, that you might believe in me, when you have so many, and yet will not believe.

Poole: Mat 16:4

We meet with the same answer given to the Pharisees, Mat 12:39 . You pretend yourselves to be the children of Abraham, but you are bastards rather than his children; he saw my day afar off and rejoiced, you will not believe though you see me amongst you, and at your doors; he believed without any sign, you will not believe though I have showed you many signs. You shall have no such sign as you would have; the sign of the prophet Jonah is enough. But in our Lord’ s former reference of them to the prophet Jonah, he instanced in one particular, viz. his being three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; here he seemeth more generally to refer to Jonah as a type of him in more respects, which indeed he was. Chemnitius reckons them up thus:

1. Jonah was thrown into the sea by the mariners, to whom he had entrusted himself: Christ was delivered to death by the Jews, to whom he was specially promised.

2. Jonah was willingly thrown into the sea: Christ laid down his life, and man took it not from him.

3. Jonah by being cast into the sea saved those in the ship: Christ by his death saved the children of men.

4. Jonah after he had been in the whale’ s belly three days was cast up on dry land: Christ after three days rose again from the dead.

5. The Ninevites, though upon the preaching of Jonah they made a show of repentance, yet returning to their former sins were soon after destroyed; so were the Jews within forty years after Christ’ s ascension.

So as Jonah was many ways an eminent sign and type of Christ. Our Lord having referred them to study this sign, would entertain no more discourse with them, but leaves, and departeth from them. Mark saith, Mar 8:13 , that he entering into the ship again, departed to the other side, (the ship which brought him to Dalmanutha, or Magdala), and went into the coasts of Galilee again.

Poole: Mat 16:5-7

Ver. 5-7. Mark saith, Mar 8:14-16 , Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. The disciples went into the ship without taking a due care for provision for their bodies, which they were sensible of when they came on shore on the other side. Christ happened in the mean time to give them a caution against the doctrine of the Pharisees, and Sadducees, and Herodians, which he properly expressed (though metaphorically) under the notion of leaven: this they understood not, but fancied that he had spoken this to them with reference to their want of bread, as if he had only given them warning, that for the making of bread to supply their necessity, they should not go to the Pharisees, or Sadducees, or Herodians, for leaven; or that they should not go to buy any bread of the Pharisees or of the Sadducees. So dull are we to understand spiritual things, and so soon had they forgot the doctrine which our Saviour had so lately taught them, Mat 15:17,18 , that those things which are foreign to a man, and come not out of his heart, do not defile a man, but those things only which proceed out of his heart.

Poole: Mat 16:8-12 - Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees

Ver. 8-12. Mark, giving us an account of this passage, Mar 8:17-19 , useth some harsher expressions: And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your eyes yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand? Our Saviour here charges them with three things, ignorance, unbelief, forgetfulness.

1. Ignorance, in that they did not understand that his usual way was to discourse spiritual things to them under earthly similitudes, and so by leaven he must understand something else than leaven with which men use to leaven their bread.

2. Unbelief, that they having seen the power and goodness of the Lord and Master, to feed four thousand with seven loaves, and five thousand with five loaves, leaving a great remainder, and that he did this for a mixed multitude, out of a mere compassion to the wants and cravings of human nature, should not judge that he was able to provide for them, although they had brought no bread; or doubt whether he would do it or no for them, who were much dearer to him.

3. Forgetfulness, which is often in Scripture made the mother of unbelief and disobedience. Deu 4:9,23 25:19 Psa 78:11 .

There is nothing of difficulty in the terms, only from this history we may learn these things:

1. That God expects that we should not only hear and see, but understand.

2. That he looks we should not only hear for the present time, but for the time to come. Christ expected that his disciples should have learned from his doctrine about washing of hands, that he could not mean the leaven of bread, but something else, which might defile them.

3. That he is much displeased with his own people, when he discerns blindness and ignorance in them, after their more than ordinary means of knowledge.

4. That former experiences of God’ s power and goodness manifested for us, or to us, ought to strengthen our faith in him when we come under the like circumstances; and a disputing or doubting after such experiences argues but a little and very weak faith, and a hardness of heart, that the mercies of God have not made a just impression on our souls.

Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees Mark, instead of and of the Sadducees, hath, and of the leaven of Herod, which hath made some think that Herod was a Sadducee. The doctrine of the Pharisees is reducible to two heads:

1. Justification by the works of the law, and those works too according to that imperfect sense of the law they gave.

2. The obligation of the tradition of the elders; whose traditions were also (as we have heard) some of them of that nature, that they made the law of God of no effect.

The doctrine of the Sadducees we are in part told, Act 23:8 . They said there was no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit: these were principles excellently suited to men of atheistical hearts and lives, and it is more than probable that Herod and his courtiers, and some of his lords and great captains, had sucked in some of these principles, and these were the Herodians mentioned, Mat 22:16 Mar 3:6 .

These doctrines are by our Saviour compared to leaven, not only because of the sour nature of it, but also because heretics’ words (as the apostle saith) eat as doth a canker, and are of a contagious nature; as leaven doth diffuse its quality into the whole mass of meat. Our Saviour had upon this account compared the gospel to leaven, Mat 13:33 , because by his blessing upon it it should influence the world, as we heard, in Mat 13:1-58 .

Poole: Mat 16:13-14 - He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men // And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist // Some, Elias // Others, Jeremias // or one of the prophets

Ver. 13,14. This, and the following part of this discourse, is related both by Mark and Luke. Mark hath it, Mar 8:27 , And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. Luke saith, Luk 9:18,19 , And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. Matthew and Mark name the place whither our Saviour was going, viz. Caesarea Philippi: it is so called partly to distinguish it from another Caesarea, and partly because it was built to the honour of Tiberius Caesar, by Philip the tetrarch. It was a city at the bottom of Lebanon, and upon the river of Jordan. Mark saith this discourse was in the way. Luke saith, as he was alone praying; but as must there signify after, for we cannot think that our Saviour would interrupt himself in prayer by this discourse, nor could he be alone praying if his disciples were with him, both which Luke saith; so that en tw einai autan proseucomenon katamonav were certainly translated better, after he had been praying alone, his disciples were with him: so that this discourse might be (as Mark saith) in the way, before they came to Caesarea Philippi, whither he was going.

He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men (or the people, as Luke hath it)

say that I am? Not that our Saviour, who knew the hearts of all, did not know, but to draw out Peter’ s following confession.

And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: we heard before that Herod said so.

Some, Elias: this respected the prophecy, Mal 4:5 . The Jews had a tradition, that before the coming of the Messias Elias should come, Joh 1:21 .

Others, Jeremias ( this is only in Matthew),

or one of the prophets The Jews seeing Christ do such wonderful works, could not resolve themselves who he was. Herod and his court party said that he was John the Baptist risen from the dead. They had, it seems, an opinion of some extraordinary virtues, or powers, in such as were risen from the dead. Many interpreters agree that the Jews had an opinion, that good men’ s souls, when they died, went into other bodies; this made them guess that our Saviour was one of the old prophets.

Poole: Mat 16:15-16 - And Simon Peter answered // Thou art Christ // The Son // Of the living God // art the Christ, the Son of the living God

Ver. 15,16. Mark saith, Mar 8:29 , Thou art the Christ. Luke saith, Luk 9:20 , Peter answering said, The Christ of God, that is, the Messiah. You that are my disciples and apostles, what is your opinion of me? Our Lord expects not only faith in our hearts, but the confession of our lips, Rom 10:10 .

And Simon Peter answered not because he had any priority amongst the apostles, but he was of a more quick and fervid temper than the rest, and so speaketh first; they silently agreed to what he said. What he saith is but little, but of that nature that it is the very foundation of the gospel.

Thou art Christ the Anointed, the person of old promised to the world under the name of the Messiah, Dan 9:25,26 .

The Son not by adoption, but by nature for they believed John the Baptist, Elias, and the old prophets the sons of God by grace. It is plain Peter means more than that.

Of the living God Our Lord had asked, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And in the same sense he speaks to the disciples, Whom do ye say that I the Son of man am? Lord, saith Peter, we believe that thou the Son of man

art the Christ, the Son of the living God God is often in Scripture called the living God, in opposition to idols, which had eyes and saw not, ears and heard not, nor had any life in them, Gen 16:13 Heb 3:12 9:14 &c. So as here we have a full and plain confession of that doctrine, which is the foundation of the gospel.

Poole: Mat 16:17 - blessed // Simon bar-jona // For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven

Our Lord appeareth here to be mightily pleased with this confession of Peter and the rest of his disciples, (for we shall observe in the Gospel, that Peter was usually the first in speaking, Joh 6:68 ), he pronounces him

blessed and giveth the reason of it afterward.

Simon bar-jona that is, Simon son of Jona, or, as some would have it, son of John (they think Jona is a contraction of Johanna). Our Lord gives him the same name, Joh 21:15 .

For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven By flesh and blood our Saviour meaneth man, and the reason and wisdom of man. Thus it is often used in Scripture, Isa 40:5 Gal 1:16 Eph 6:12 . Some note it always signifieth so when it is in Scripture opposed to God. Thou hast not learned this by tradition, or any dictates from man, nor yet by any human ratiocination, but from my Father which is in heaven. This confirmeth what we have Eph 2:8 , that faith is the gift of God. No man cometh to the Son, but he whom the Father draweth, Joh 6:44 . Men may assent to things from the reports of men, or from the evidence of reason, but neither of these is faith. Faith must be an assent to a proposition upon the authority of God revealing it. Nor doth any man truly and savingly believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, but he in whom God hath wrought such a persuasion; yet is not the ministry of the word needless in the case, because, as the apostle saith, faith comes by hearing, and ministers are God’ s instruments by whom men believe. No faith makes a soul blessed but that which is of the operation of God.

Lightfoot: Mat 16:3 - Can ye not discern the signs of the times

And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?   

[Can ye not discern the signs of the times?] the Jews were very curious in observing the seasons of the heavens, and the temper of the air.   

"In the going out of the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, all observed the rising of the smoke. If the smoke bended northward, the poor rejoiced, but the rich were troubled; because there would be much rain the following year, and the fruits would be corrupted: if it bended southward, the poor grieved, and the rich rejoiced; for then there would be fewer rains that year, and the fruit would be sound: if eastward, all rejoiced: if westward, all were troubled." The Gloss is, "They observed this the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, because the day before, the decree of their judgment concerning the rains of that year was signed, as the tradition is, In the feast of Tabernacles they judged concerning the rains."   

"R. Acha said, If any wise man had been at Zippor when the first rain fell, he might foretell the moistness of the year by the very smell of the dust," etc.   

But they were dim-sighted at the signs of times; that is, at those eminent signs, which plainly pointed, as with the finger and by a visible mark, that now those times that were so much foretold and expected, even the days of the Messias, were at hand. As if he had said, "Can ye not distinguish that the times of the Messias are come, by those signs which plainly declare it? Do ye not observe Daniel's weeks now expiring? Are ye not under a yoke, the shaking off of which ye have neither any hope at all nor expectation to do? Do ye not see how the nation is sunk into all manner of wickedness? Are not miracles done by me, such as were neither seen nor heard before? Do ye not consider an infinite multitude flowing in, even to a miracle, to the profession of the gospel? and that the minds of all men are raised into a present expectation of the Messias? Strange blindness, voluntary, and yet sent upon you from heaven: your sin and your punishment too! They see all things which may demonstrate and declare a Messias, but they will not see."

Lightfoot: Mat 16:6 - Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, etc.

Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.   

[Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, etc.] there were two things, especially, which seem to have driven the disciples into a mistaken interpretation of these words, so that they understood them of leaven properly so called.   

I. That they had more seldom heard leaven used for doctrine. The metaphorical use of it, indeed, was frequent among them in an ill sense, namely, for evil affections, and the naughtiness of the heart; but the use of it was more rare, if any at all, for evil doctrine.   

Thus one prays: "Lord of ages, it is revealed and known before thy face that we would do thy will; but do thou subdue that which hinders: namely, the leaven which is in the lump, and the tyranny of [heathen] kingdoms." Where the Gloss is thus; "The ' leaven which is in the lump,' are evil affections, which leavens us in our hearts."   

Cyrus was leavened; that is, grew worse. Sometimes it is used in a better sense; "The Rabbins say, Blessed is that judge who leaveneth his judgment." But this is not to be understood concerning doctrine, but concerning deliberation in judgment.   

II. Because very exact care was taken by the Pharisaical canons, what leaven was to be used and what not; disputations occur here and there, whether heathen leaven is to be used, and whether Cuthite leaven, etc. With which caution the disciples thought that Christ armed them, when he spake concerning the leaven of the Pharisees: but withal they suspected some silent reproof for not bringing bread along with them.

Lightfoot: Mat 16:13 - Whom do men say that I the Son of man am

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?   

[Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?] I. That phrase or title, the Son of man; which Christ very often gives himself, denotes not only his humanity, nor his humility (for see that passage, Joh 5:27; "He hath given him authority of executing judgment, because he is the Son of man "); but it bespeaks the 'seed promised to Adam, the second Adam': and it carried with it a silent confutation of a double ignorance and error among the Jews: 1. They knew not what to resolve upon concerning the original of the Messias; and how he should rise, whether he should be of the living, as we noted before, the manner of his rise being unknown to them; or whether of the dead. This phrase unties this knot and teaches openly, that he, being a seed promised to the first man, should arise and be born from the seed of the women. 2. They dreamed of the earthly victories of the Messias, and of nations to be subdued by him; but this title, The Son of man; recalls their minds to the first promise, where the victory of the promised seed is the bruising of the serpent's head, not the subduing of kingdoms by some warlike and earthly triumph.   

II. When, therefore, the opinion of the Jews concerning the person of the Messias, what he should be, was uncertain and wavering, Christ asketh, not so much whether they acknowledged him the Messias, as acknowledging the Messias, what kind of person they conceived him to be. The apostles and the other disciples whom he had gathered, and were very many, acknowledged him the Messias: yea, those blind men, Mat 9:27, had confessed this also: therefore that question had been needless as to them, "Do they think me to be the Messias?" but that was needful, "What do they conceive of me, the Messias?" and to this the answer of Peter has regard, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God": as if he should say, "We knew well enough a good while ago that thou art the Messias: but as to the question, 'What kind of person thou art,' I say, 'Thou art the Son of the living God.' " See what we note at Mat 17:24.   

Therefore the word whom asks not so much concerning the person, as concerning the quality of the person. In which sense also is the word who; in those words, 1Sa 17:55; not "The son of whom;" but the son "of what kind of man;" is this youth?

Lightfoot: Mat 16:14 - But others, Jeremias

And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.   

[But others, Jeremias.] The reason why they name Jeremiah only of all the prophets, we give at Mat 27:9. You observe that recourse is here made to the memory of the dead, from whom the Messias should spring, rather than from the living: among other things, perhaps, this reason might persuade them so to do, that that piety could not in those days be expected in any one living, as had shined out in those deceased persons. (One of the Babylonian Gemarists suspects that Daniel, raised from the dead, should be the Messias.) And this perhaps persuaded them further, because they thought that the kingdom of the Messias should arise after the resurrection: and they that were of this opinion might be led to think that the Messias himself was some eminent person among the saints departed, and that he rising again should bring others with him.

Lightfoot: Mat 16:17 - Flesh and blood

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.   

[Flesh and blood.] The Jewish writers use this form of speech infinite times, and by it oppose men to God.   

"If they were about to lead me before a king of flesh and blood; etc.; but they are leading me before the King of kings."   

"A king of flesh and blood forms his picture in a table, etc.; the Holy Blessed One, his, etc." This phrase occurs five times in that one column: "the Holy Blessed God doth not, as flesh and blood doth, etc. Flesh and blood wound with one thing and heal with another: but the Holy Blessed One wounds and heals with one and the same thing. Joseph was sold for his dreams, and he was promoted by dreams."

Haydock: Mat 16:1 - The Pharisees and Sadducees

The Pharisees and Sadducees. These were widely opposite in their religious sentiments to each other, but closely united in their design of persecuting Jesus Christ, and they come and ask of him a sign or prodigy from heaven, to convince them that he was the Christ, the Messias. (Bible de Vence) ---

The Sadducees deny the immortality of the soul, and affirm that our only obligation is the observance of the law; insomuch, that they prided themselves on their right of disputing the most important points with their teachers. This sect is not numerous, and chiefly composed of men of condition, who, when properly qualified for offices of state, are compelled to conform, at least in appearance, to the principles of the Pharisees; otherwise, they would incur the resentment of the Pharisees. (Josephus, Book xviii. chap. ii.) See also note on ver. 7, chap. iii, above. ---

St. John Chrysostom is of opinion he would have granted them any sign they wished, had they been willing to believe; but as their object was curiosity and censure, he refused to comply. They mistrusted, it would seem, his other miracles as the effect of some occult quality inherent in him, and wished to see a miracle performed upon distant objects in the heavens or clouds, which would be to them less suspicious and objectionable. (Haydock)

Haydock: Mat 16:4 - You know then how to discern the face of the sky

You know then how to discern the face of the sky, &c. Jesus Christ does not condemn every observation made upon the weather, from external appearances in the heavens. He only upbraids the Jews for so closely examining these signs, and neglecting at the same time to notice the many signs and predictions which so plainly manifested him to be the promised Messias. (Denis the Carthusian) ---

The reasoning of Jesus Christ is this: you know how to judge of the weather from observation, and cannot you then know the certain signs so often promised, and now completed in my coming? The signs of this event were, the taking away the sceptre from the tribe of Juda. (Genesis xxxix. 10.) The completion of the 70 weeks of years of Daniel ix. 25, amounting to 490 years, which were now on the eve of being completed. The miracles of Jesus Christ, as the curing of the blind, the lame, the deaf and dumb, foretold by Isaias xxxv. 5. and lxi. 1. To which may be added the apparition of angels to the shepherds at Bethlehem, the miraculous star which appeared to the magi, the testimony of his heavenly Father, the descent of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove. Besides, the testimony of the Baptist, and so many miracles of every kind wrought to establish this truth, most certainly, clearly, and infallibly demonstrate, that the long expected Messias had already come, and that this Jesus was the Messias. (Tirinus)

Haydock: Mat 16:5 - Forgotten to take bread

Forgotten to take bread. The disciples had just filled seven baskets with fragments, but had forgotten to take any with them into the ship; or, according to others, had distributed all among the poor. (Barrardius) ---

They were so taken with the company of Christ, that they even forgot the necessities of life. (St. Anselm) ---

The disciples, ever constant attendants on our Redeemer, were retained so strongly by the love of his company, that they would not be absent from him for one moment. We may also remark how far they were from an eager search after delicacies, when they even forgot the daily pittance requisite for their support. (St. Remigius) ---

It was the custom of those times, and that country, for persons on a journey to carry their own bread. (Bible de Vence)

Haydock: Mat 16:6-7 - Beware of the leaven

Beware of the leaven, &c. The disciples, not understanding the meaning of Christ's words, supposed he was instructing them not to touch the bread of the Scribes and Pharisees. (Bible de Vence)

Haydock: Mat 16:8 - Why do you think?

Why do you think? That we might know what effect this discourse of our Saviour had upon his disciples, the evangelist immediately subjoins, then they understood, &c. This exposition of Christ freed them from the accusation of the Jews; it made them who were negligent and inattentive, both diligent and attentive, and confirmed them in their faith. (St. John Chrysostom)

Haydock: Mat 16:13 - Cæarea Philippi

Cæarea Philippi, was first called Paneades, and was afterwards embellished and greatly enlarged by Philip the tetrarch, son of Herod the great, and dedicated in honour of Augustus, hence its name. There was moreover another Cæsarea, called Straton, situated on the Mediterranean: and not in this, but in the former, did Christ interrogate his disciples. He first withdrew them from the Jews, that they might with more boldness and freedom deliver their sentiments. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lv.) ---

The Cæsarea here mentioned continued to be called by heathen writers Panea, from the adjoining spring Paneum, or Panium, which is usually taken for the source of the Jordan.

Haydock: Mat 16:14 - Some say

Some say, &c. Herod thought that Christ was the Baptist, on account of his prodigies. (St. Matthew xiv. 2.) Others that he was Elias: 1st. because they expected he was about to return to them, according to the prophecy of Malachias; behold I will send you Elias; 2d. on account of the greatness of his miracles; 3d. on account of his invincible zeal and courage in the cause of truth and justice. Others again said he was Jeremias, either on account of his great sanctity, for he was sanctified in his mother's womb; or, on account of his great charity and love for his brethren, as it was written of Jeremias: he is a lover of his brethren. Or, again, one of the prophets, viz. Isaias, or some other noted for eloquence; for it was the opinion of many of the Jews, as we read in St. Luke, that one of the ancient prophets had arisen again. (Denis the Carthusian)

Haydock: Mat 16:15 - Whom do you say that I am?

Whom do you say that I am? You, who have been continually with me; you, who have seen me perform so many more miracles; you, who have yourselves worked miracles in my name? From this pointed interrogation, Jesus Christ intimates, that the opinion men had formed of him was very inadequate to the exalted dignity of his person, and that he expects they will have a juster conception of him. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lv.)

Haydock: Mat 16:16 - Simon Peter answering // Thou art

Simon Peter answering. As Simon Peter had been constituted the first in the college of apostles, (Matthew x. 2.) and therefore surpasseth the others in dignity as much as in zeal, without hesitation, and in the name of all, he answers: thou art the Christ, the Redeemer promised to the world, not a mere man, not a mere prophet like other prophets, but the true and natural Son of the living God. Thus Sts. Chrysostom, Cyril, Ambrose, Augustine, and Tirinus. When our Saviour inquired the opinion of him, Peter, as the mouth of the rest, and head of the whole college, steps forth, and prevents the others. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lv.) ---

Tu es Christus, filius Dei vivi; or, as it is in the Greek, o christos, o vios; The Christ, the Son, the Christ formerly promised by the law and the prophets, expected and desired by all the saints, the anointed and consecrated to God: Greek: o vios, the Son, not by grace only, or an adoptive filiation like prophets, to whom Christ is here opposed, but by natural filiation, and in a manner that distinguishes him from all created beings. ---

Thou art [1] Christ, the Son of the living God, not by grace only, or by adoption, as saints are the sons of God, but by nature, and from all eternity, the true Son of the living God. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi. Greek: o christos o vios tou theou. Where the Greek articles seem significant.

Haydock: Mat 16:17 - Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona

Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona. Greek: Simon is undoubtedly Greek: Sumeon, as written 2 Peter i. 1. Greek: Bariona is son of Jona, or John, an abridgment for Greek: Barioanna. Bar, in Chaldaic, is son; hence St. Peter is called, in John xi, 16. and 17, Simon, son of John. It was customary with the Jews to add to a rather common name, for the sake of discrimination, a Greek: patronumikon, or patronymic, as appears from Matthew x. 3. and xxiii. 35. Mark ii. 14. John vi. 42. (Pastorini)

Gill: Mat 16:1 - The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came // And tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, &c. Not from Jerusalem, as in Mat 15:1 but from the neighbouring places: these were Galilean Sadducees and Pharisees, of whom mention is made in the Misna ^w;

"says צדוקי גלילי, "a Galilean Sadducee", (i.e. one that was of the land of Galilee, as Bartenora on the place observes,) I complain of you Pharisees, because ye write the name of a ruler with the name of Moses, in a divorce; say the Pharisees, we complain of you Galilean Sadducees, that you write the name of a ruler with the name of God, in the same leaf:''

but though these two sects could not agree in this, and in many other things, yet they could unite against Christ, to whom they bore an implacable hatred.

And tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven: they came with no sincere view to be taught by him, or learn anything from him; but if they could, to ensnare him, and get an opportunity of exposing him to the people; and therefore pretending dissatisfaction with the miracles he wrought on the earth, they ask of him to produce a sign from heaven, of his coming from thence, of his being the Son of God, and the true Messiah. They wanted some such sign, as the standing still of the sun and moon, in the times of Joshua; and as raining manna, in the times of Moses; or some such appearances of thunder and lightning, as at the giving of the law. The appearance of the rainbow, in a very extraordinary manner, is looked upon by the Jews as a sign of the Messiah's coming ^x.

"Says a certain Jew, when my father departed out of the world, he said thus to me; do not look for the Messiah until thou seest the bow in the world, adorned with light colours, and the world enlightened by it; then look for the Messiah, as it is written, Gen 9:16.''

Some very unusual and uncommon sight in the heavens, was what these men asked of Christ in proof of his mission from God.

Gill: Mat 16:2 - He answered and said unto them // when it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red

He answered and said unto them,.... Knowing full well their views, and having wrought sufficient miracles to confirm his Messiahship, he thought fit to give them no other answer than this:

when it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red; when the sun is setting, it is a common thing for you to say, looking up to the heavens, and observing the face and colour of them, that it is like to be fair weather; no rain, that night, nor perhaps the next day, for the sky is red like fire, through the rays of the sun; which show the clouds to be very thin, and so will soon waste away, and consequently fine weather must follow.

Gill: Mat 16:3 - And in the morning, it will be foul weather today // for the sky is red and lowring // O ye hypocrites // Ye can discern the face of the sky // but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

And in the morning, it will be foul weather today,.... When you rise in the morning, and take a survey of the heavens, it is a very usual thing with you to say, it is like to be windy or rainy weather today,

for the sky is red and lowring; which shows, that the clouds are so thick that the sun cannot pierce through them, and its face is not seen; so that it may be reasonably concluded they will issue in rain, or wind, or both.

O ye hypocrites. The Vulgate Latin, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel, leave out this appellation; but all other versions, as well as copies, have it: and it is an usual epithet, bestowed very justly by Christ, on these men; who pretended to be the guides of the people, took upon them to teach and instruct them in divine things, and set up themselves as men of great holiness, piety and knowledge; and yet, instead of searching the Scriptures, and comparing the characters of the times of the Messiah therein fixed, with the present ones, spent their time in making such low and useless observations, and which fall within the compass of everyone's knowledge and reach.

Ye can discern the face of the sky; very distinctly, and make some very probable guesses, if not certain conclusions, what will follow, good weather or bad:

but can ye not discern the signs of the times? or, as the Syriac reads it, "the time", the present time: if they had not been blind, they might easily have discerned, that the signs of the time of the Messiah's coming were upon them, and that Jesus was the Messiah; as the departure of the sceptre from Judah, the ending of Daniel's weeks, the various miracles wrought by Christ, the wickedness of the age in which they lived, the ministry of John the Baptist, and of Christ, the great flockings of the people, both to one and to the other, with divers other things which were easy to be observed by them: but they pretend this to be a very great secret.

"The secret of the day of death, they say ^y, and the secret of the day when the king Messiah comes, who by his wisdom can find out?''

Gill: Mat 16:4 - A wicked and adulterous generation // And he left them // and departed

A wicked and adulterous generation,.... He says the same things here, as he did to the Pharisees on a like occasion, in Mat 12:39.

And he left them; as persons hardened, perverse, and incurable, and as unworthy to be conversed with:

and departed: to the ship which brought him thither, and went in it to the other side of the sea of Galilee; see Mar 8:13.

Gill: Mat 16:5 - When his disciples were come to the other side // that they had forgotten to take bread

When his disciples were come to the other side,.... Of the sea, as Munster's Hebrew Gospel adds, to Bethsaida, Mar 8:22 as they were either in the ship, or going from the shore to the said place, they recollected themselves,

that they had forgotten to take bread: having but one loaf, as Mark says, in the ship; the seven baskets of fragments being either expended, or given away to the poor, of their own accord, or by Christ's orders. It seems, it was usual with the disciples to buy food at places most proper, and carry with them; since Christ often went into deserts and mountainous places, where provisions could not be had. This their forgetfulness to act according to their wonted method, might arise either from their being intent upon Christ's conversation with the Pharisees, and Sadducees, or from the suddenness of Christ's departure.

Gill: Mat 16:6 - Then Jesus said unto them // take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees

Then Jesus said unto them,.... Either taking occasion from the disciples observing that they had forgot to take bread with them, or on account of what passed between him and the Pharisees and Sadducees, he gave the following advice to his disciples;

take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Mark, instead "of the leaven of the Sadducees", says, "the leaven of Herod"; either because Christ might caution against all three; or because the Sadducees were generally Herodians, taking Herod to be the Messiah; or were on his party, or for his government, which the Pharisees disliked; and the Herodians were generally Sadducees. By "the leaven" of these is meant their doctrine, as appears from Mat 16:12. The doctrines the Pharisees taught were the commandments and inventions of men, the traditions of the elders, free will, and justification by the works of the law: the doctrine of the Sadducees was, that there was no resurrection of the dead, nor angels, nor spirits: now because they sought secretly and artfully to infuse their notions into the minds of men; and which, when imbibed, spread their infection, and made men sour, morose, rigid, and ill natured, and swelled and puffed them up with pride and vanity, Christ compares them to leaven; and advises his disciples to look about them, to watch, and be on their guard, lest they should be infected with them.

Gill: Mat 16:7 - saying, because we have taken no bread

Either what should be the meaning of this caution of Christ's, and upon what account he should say this to them; or they were anxiously concerned what they should do for provision:

saying, because we have taken no bread; for the phrase, "it is", is a supplement, and is not in the original text, which confines the sense to the first way of interpretation; the words may be read without it, and confirms the other sense, and which receives strength from what follows.

Gill: Mat 16:8 - Which when Jesus perceived // he said unto them, O ye of little faith // why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

Which when Jesus perceived,.... Without hearing any of their debates, but by his omniscience; for he knew the doubts and unbelief, and anxious solicitude of their minds, as well as their private reasonings one with another:

he said unto them, O ye of little faith; a phrase used upon a like occasion, when he would dissuade his disciples from an anxious distressing care about a livelihood, Mat 6:30; see Gill on Mat 6:30,

why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? blaming one another for your negligence and forgetfulness in this matter; distressing your minds, as if you should be famished and starved, because ye have not brought a quantity of bread, as you used to do with you.

Gill: Mat 16:9 - Do ye not understand // neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

Do ye not understand,.... Meaning either the sense of the advice he had now given; or rather his almighty power displayed in the two miracles of feeding five thousand at one time, and four thousand at another, with a very small quantity of provision; for to this the word "understand" refers, as well as the following:

neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Have you forgot what was so lately done, namely, the feeding five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes, when ye took up, after all were filled and satisfied, no less than twelve baskets of fragments? And can you, after this, distrust my power in the care of you? Have I fed so many with so small a quantity of food? and am I not able to feed twelve of you, though you have but one loaf? Why all these anxious thoughts and carnal reasonings?

Gill: Mat 16:10 - Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand // and how many baskets ye took up

Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand,.... Have you forgot the other miracle done but a very little while ago, when I fed four thousand men, beside women and children, with seven loaves and a few small fishes;

and how many baskets ye took up? no less than seven large baskets; and am I not able to provide for you? distress not yourselves about this matter; give not way to unbelief, which must argue great stupidity and insensibility.

Gill: Mat 16:11 - How is it that ye do not understand // that I spake it not to you concerning bread // that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducees

How is it that ye do not understand,.... That you should be so senseless and void of thought, after such instances, as to imagine, that I concerned myself about what bread you brought with you; one would think you could not but know,

that I spake it not to you concerning bread, taken in a literal sense; but must be thought to speak figuratively and mystically, and to have an higher sense and meaning, when I said to you,

that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducees; how could you think that I had any regard to the leaven taken in a literal sense, the Pharisees and Sadducees approve or disapprove of?

Gill: Mat 16:12 - Then understood they // how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread

Then understood they,.... Without any further explication of his sense and meaning,

how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread: which sense they first took him in; imagining, because the Pharisees were very particular and precise what sort of leaven they made use of ^z, that Christ forbad them buying bread that was made with leaven according to their directions: and since their rules in everything prevailed much in all places, they were concerned what bread they must, or could buy; but now they perceived that he did not speak of this, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. It was very common with the Jews ^a to call the corruption and vitiosity of nature by the name of שאור שבעיסה, "leaven in the lump": hence our Lord calls their doctrine so, because it proceeded from thence, and was agreeable thereunto; and uses the phrase on purpose to expose it, and bring it into neglect and contempt.

Gill: Mat 16:13 - When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi // he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi,.... The towns that were in the neighbourhood of this city; which city went by several names before, as Leshem, Jos 19:47 which being taken by the Danites, they called it Dan; hence we read of דקיסריון דן, "Dan, which is Caesarea" ^b. It was also called Paneas, from the name of the fountain of Jordan, by which it was situated; and which Pliny says ^c gave the surname to Caesarea; and hence it is called by Ptolomy ^d Caesarea Paniae; and by the name of Paneas it went, when Philip the ^e tetrarch rebuilt it, and called it Caesarea, in honour of Tiberius Caesar; and from his own name, Philippi, to distinguish it from another Caesarea, of which mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles, built by his father Herod, and so called in honour of Augustus Caesar; which before bore the name of Strato's tower. The Misnic doctors speak of two Caesareas ^f, the one they call the eastern, the other the western Caesarea. Now, as Mark says, whilst Christ and his disciples were in the way to these parts; and, as Luke, when he had been praying alone with them,

he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I the Son of man am? He calls himself "the son of man", because he was truly and really man; and because of his low estate, and the infirmities of human nature, with which he was encompassed: he may have some respect to the first intimation of him, as the seed of woman, and the rather make use of this phrase, because the Messiah was sometimes designed by it in the Old Testament, Psa 80:17 or Christ speaks here of himself, according to his outward appearance, and the prevailing opinion of men concerning him; that he looked to be only a mere man, born as other men were; was properly a son of man, and no more: and therefore the question is, not what sort of man he was, whether a holy, good man, or not, or whether the Messiah, or not; but the question is, what men in general, whether high or low, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, under the notion they had of him as a mere man, said of him; or since they took him to be but a man, what man they thought he was; and to this the answer is very appropriate. This question Christ put to his disciples, they being more conversant with the people than he, and heard the different opinions men had of him, and who were more free to speak their minds of him to them, than to himself; not that he was ignorant of what passed among men, and the different sentiments they had of him, but he was willing to hear the account from his disciples; and his view in putting this question to them, was to make way for another, in order to bring them to an ingenuous confession of their faith in him.

Gill: Mat 16:14 - And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist // Some Elias // and others Jeremias // Or one of the prophets

And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist,.... It was the opinion of some of the Jews, that he was John the Baptist risen from the dead. This notion was spread, and prevailed in Herod's court, and he himself, at last, gave into it.

Some Elias; the Tishbite, because an extraordinary person was prophesied of by Malachi, under the name of Elias; and who was to come in his power and spirit before the great day of the Lord; and it being a prevailing notion with the Jews, that Elias was to come before the Messiah; See Gill on Mat 11:14 they concluded that he was now come:

and others Jeremias; this is omitted both by Mark and Luke; the reason why he is mentioned, is not because of what is said of him, in Jer 1:5 but because the Jews thought he was that prophet spoken of, in Deu 18:15 that should be raised up from among them, like unto Moses: and this is the sense of some of their writers ^g: and in their very ancient writings a parallel is run between Moses and Jeremy ^h.

"R. Judah, the son of R. Simon, opened Deu 18:18 thus: "as thee", this is Jeremiah, who was, as he, in reproofs; you will find all that is written of the one, is written of the other; one prophesied forty years, and the other prophesied forty years; the one prophesied concerning Judah and Israel, and the other prophesied concerning Judah and Israel; against the one those of his own tribe stood up, and against the other those of his own tribe stood up; the one was cast into a river, and the other into a dungeon; the one was delivered by means of an handmaid, and the other by the means of a servant; the one came with words of reproof, and the other came with words of reproof.''

Now they fancied, either that the soul of Jeremy was transmigrated into another body, or that he was risen from the dead.

Or one of the prophets; one of the ancient ones, as Hosea, or Isaiah, or some other: they could not fix upon the particular person who they thought was risen from the dead, and did these wondrous works among them. From the whole it appears, that these persons, whose different sentiments of Christ are here delivered, were not his sworn enemies, as the Scribes and Pharisees, who could never speak respectfully of him; saying, that he was a gluttonous man, a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, a very wicked man, and far from being one, or like one of the prophets: they sometimes represent him as beside himself, and mad, yea, as being a Samaritan, and having a devil, as familiar with the devil, and doing his miracles by his assistance; but these were the common people, the multitude that followed Christ from place to place, and had a great opinion of him on account of his ministry, and miracles: wherefore, though they could not agree in their notions concerning him, yet each of them fix upon some person of note and worth, whom they took him for; they all looked upon him as a great and good man, and as a prophet, as John the Baptist was accounted by all the people, and as one of the chief of the prophets, as Elias and Jeremiah; and they that could not fix on any particular person, yet put him into the class of the prophets: but still they came short of the true knowledge of him; they did not know him to be a divine person, which his works and miracles proved him to be: nor to be that prophet Moses had spoken of, who was alone to be hearkened unto, though his ministry was a demonstration of it: nor that he was the Messiah, so much spoken of in prophecy, and so long expected by the Jewish nation, though he had all the characters of the Messiah meeting in him. The chief reason why they could not entertain such a thought of him, seems to be the mean figure he made in the world, being of a low extract, in strait circumstances of life, regarded only by the poorer sort; and there appearing nothing in him promising, that he should deliver them from the Roman yoke, and set up a temporal kingdom, which should be prosperous and flourishing, which was the notion of the Messiah that then generally obtained: and since they could not, by any means, allow of this character as belonging to Jesus, though otherwise they had an high opinion of him; hence they could not agree about him, but formed different sentiments of him; which is usually the case in everything, where the truth is not hit upon and received.

Gill: Mat 16:15 - He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am?

He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Without taking any further notice, or making any reflections on the different sentiments of men concerning him, he put this question to his disciples, and which is what he had chiefly in view, that he might have their sense of him; and which he puts in a different form, and leaves out the phrase, the son of man, because they knew he was more than a man: nor was his mean appearance an offence to them; they had believed in him, became his disciples, and were followers of him: but it was not enough to believe in him, they must confess him; both are necessary: therefore he does not say, whom believe ye, but whom say ye that I am? You who have been with me so long from the beginning; you who have heard so many discourses from me, and have seen so many miracles wrought by me; and who are to be the teachers of others, to preach my Gospel, and publish my salvation to Jews and Gentiles, what have you to say of me? Whom do you say I am? as for those men, it is no great matter who they say I am; but of great moment and consequence are your sense and confession of me. Such who have long sat under a Gospel ministry, or who have been long in the church and school of Christ, it is expected of them, that they should know more of Christ than others; and should be come to a point about his person and office, and be ready to make a confession of their faith, and give a reason of their hope in him; and especially such who are, or are to be preachers of Christ to others: these ought to be well acquainted with him, who, and what he is; they should have no doubt, nor hesitation in their minds, about him, but be fully satisfied concerning him; and be free, and open, and ready to declare what they know and believe of him.

Gill: Mat 16:16 - And Simon Peter answered and said

And Simon Peter answered and said,.... Either of his own accord, and for himself, being a warm, zealous, and forward man; one that dearly loved Christ, truly believed in him, and was ready to make a confession of him; or, as the mouth of the rest, in their name, and with their consent; or, at least, as full well knowing the sentiments of their minds. Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God: a short, but a very full confession of faith, containing the following articles: as that there is a God, that there is but one God; that he is the living God, has life in himself, is the fountain of life to others, and by this is distinguishable from the idols of the Gentiles: that Jesus is the Christ, the Christ of God, the true Messiah, that was promised by God, prophesied of by all the prophets, from the beginning of the world, and expected by the people of God: a character that includes all his offices, of prophet, priest, and king, to which he is anointed by God; and that this Messiah was not a mere man, but a divine person, the Son of God; not by creation, as angels and men are, nor by adoption, as saints, nor by office, as magistrates, but by nature, being his own Son, his proper Son, the only begotten of the Father, of the same nature with him, being one with him, and equal to him. This confession, as it is uniform, and all of a piece, and consistent with itself, and is what all the disciples of Christ agreed in, so it greatly exceeds the most that can be made of the different sentiments of the people put together. They took him, one and all, to be but a mere man; their most exalted thoughts of him rose no higher: but in this he is acknowledged to be the Son of God, a phrase expressive of his divine nature, and distinct personality: they thought him to be a dead man brought to life; but here he is called the Son of the living God, as having the same life in him the Father has: they indeed judged him to be a prophet, but not that prophet that was to come, superior to all prophets; but here he is owned to be the Christ, which not only takes in his prophetic office in a higher sense than they understood it, but all his other offices, and declares him to be the promised Messiah; which they who thought, and spoke the most honourably of him, could not allow of.

Gill: Mat 16:17 - And Jesus answered and said unto him // blessed art thou Simon Bar Jona // For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee // but my Father which is in heaven

And Jesus answered and said unto him,.... Not waiting for any other declaration from them; but taking this to be the sense of them all, he said,

blessed art thou Simon Bar Jona, or son of Jona, or Jonas, as in Joh 1:42. His father's name was Jonah, whence he was so called: so we read ⁱ of R. Bo bar Jonah, and of a Rabbi of this very name ^k, ר שמעון בר יונא, Rabbi Simeon bar Jona; for Simon and Simeon are one, and the same name. Some read it Bar Joanna, the same with John; but the common reading is best; Bar Jona signifies "the son of a dove", and Bar Joanna signifies "the son of one that is gracious". Our Lord, by this appellation, puts Peter in mind of his birth and parentage, but does not pronounce him blessed on that account: no true blessedness comes by natural descent; men are by nature children of wrath, being conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity: though he was Bar Jona, the son of a dove, and his father might be a good man, and answer to his name, and be of a dove like spirit; yet such a spirit was not conveyed from him to Peter by natural generation: and though he might be, according to the other reading, Bar Joanna, or the son of a gracious man, yet grace was not communicated to him thereby; for he was not "born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God", Joh 1:13. He was a blessed man, not by his first, but by his second birth; and the reason why our Lord makes mention of his father, is to observe to him, that he was the son of a mean man, and had had, but a mean education, and therefore his blessedness in general was not of nature, but of grace, and this branch of it in particular; the knowledge he had of the Messiah, was not owing to his earthly father, or to the advantage of an education, but to the revelation he had from Christ's Father which is in heaven, as is hereafter affirmed. He is pronounced "blessed", as having a true knowledge of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal; and all such as he are so, appear to be the favourites of God, to have an interest in Christ and in all the blessings of his grace; are justified by his righteousness, pardoned through his blood, are accepted in him, have communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, and shall live eternally with them hereafter.

For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee: nothing is more frequent to be met with in Jewish writings, than the phrase of "flesh and blood", as designing men in distinction from God: so the first man is said ^l to be

"the workmanship of the blessed God, and not the workmanship דבשר ודם, "of flesh and blood".''

Again ^m, בשר ודם, "flesh and blood", who knows not the times and seasons, &c. but the holy, blessed God, who knows the times and seasons, &c. Instances of this way of speaking are almost without number: accordingly, the sense here is, that this excellent confession of faith, which Peter had delivered, was not revealed unto him, nor taught him by any mere man; he had not it from his immediate parents, nor from any of his relations, or countrymen; nor did he attain to the knowledge of what is expressed in it, by the dint of nature, by the strength of carnal reason, or the force of his own capacity and abilities:

but my Father which is in heaven; from whom both the external and internal revelation of such truths come; though not to the exclusion of the Son, by whose revelation the Gospel is taught, and received; nor of the Holy Ghost, who is a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, but in opposition to, and distinction from any mere creature whatever. Neither the Gospel, nor any part of it, is an human device or discovery; it is not after man, nor according to the carnal reason of man; it is above the most exalted and refined reason of men; it has in it what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of: its truths are the deep things of God, which the Spirit of God searches and reveals: and which men, left to the light of nature, and force of reason, must have been for ever ignorant of, and could never have discovered. The Gospel is a revelation, it consists of revealed truths; and which are to be received and believed upon the testimony and credit of the revealer, without entering into carnal reasonings, and disputes about them; and it is the highest reason, and the most noble use of reason, to embrace it at once, as coming from God; for this revelation is from heaven, and from Christ's Father; particularly the deity, sonship, and Messiahship of Christ, are doctrines of pure revelation: that there is a God, is discoverable by the light of nature; and that he is the living God, and gives being, and life, and breath, and all things, to his creatures; but that he has a Son of the same nature with him, and equal to him, who is the Messiah, and the Saviour of lost sinners, this could never have been found out by flesh and blood: no man knows the Son, but the Father, and he to whom he reveals him; he bears witness of him, and declares him to be his Son, in whom he is well pleased; and happy are those who are blessed with the outward revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, but more especially such to whom the Father reveals Christ in them the hope of glory!