Matthew 16 explained: Who Do You Say I Am?

A demand for proof (vv. 1-4)

Two rival religious parties, the Pharisees and Sadducees, join together to test Jesus by demanding a dramatic sign from the sky. He says they can read the weather but not the moment they are living in, and he offers only 'the sign of Jonah', which 12:40 links to his coming three days in the earth.

Beware the yeast (vv. 5-12)

Yeast spreads quietly through a whole batch of dough, so Jesus uses it as a picture of how these groups' teaching spreads (v. 12). The disciples think he is scolding them about forgotten bread, so he reminds them that he has twice fed huge crowds from a few loaves (chapters 14 and 15).

Who is Jesus? (vv. 13-17)

Near Caesarea Philippi, in the far north, Jesus asks who people say 'the Son of Man', his usual name for himself, is, and the disciples report guesses that he is a prophet come back, such as John the Baptist or Elijah. Peter calls him the Messiah, the king God had promised, and 'Son of the living God', and Jesus says this insight came from God, not from human reasoning.

The rock and the keys (vv. 18-19)

Peter's name means 'rock'. Catholics read 'this rock' as Peter himself, while many Orthodox and Protestant Christians read it as his confession of faith or as Jesus, though many modern scholars across traditions also see Peter here. Jesus promises that 'the gates of Hades', the realm of the dead, will not overpower this community, and the 'keys' and the power to 'bind' and 'loose' (teachers' words for forbidding and permitting) echo a royal steward's authority in Isaiah 22:22.

A suffering Messiah (vv. 20-23)

Jesus orders silence, perhaps because many hoped for a Messiah who would drive out Rome, and then says plainly that Jerusalem's leaders will have him killed and that he will rise on the third day. When Peter protests, Jesus calls him 'Satan', meaning adversary, the name he used for the tempter in 4:10, because Peter is trying to turn him from that path.

The cost of following (vv. 24-28)

Condemned prisoners carried their own cross to execution, so Jesus warns that following him may cost a person's life. The Greek word behind 'life' can also mean 'soul': both translations say 'life' in v. 25, and in v. 26 the NIV says 'soul' where the ASV keeps 'life'. Verse 28 is puzzling: readers link it to the transfiguration in the next chapter, to the resurrection and the church's spread, or to Jerusalem's fall in AD 70, and some scholars think it expected the end within that generation.

Key verse: Matthew 16:16

Where Christians differ

Catholics see in vv. 18-19 a leading role for Peter that continues in the popes, while Orthodox and Protestant Christians, including those who agree the rock is Peter, reject the popes' claim to authority over the whole church, often noting that 18:18 gives the power to bind and loose to all the disciples.

Something to think about

Is there anything you would refuse to give up, even in exchange for all the success the world could offer?