Matthew · chapter 16 of 28
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Matthew 16 shows Jesus refusing a request for a sign, warning against the leaven of the Pharisees and receiving at Caesarea Philippi Peter's confession: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. From then on he announces that he must suffer, die and rise, rebukes Peter for rejecting it and teaches that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him.
The Gospel of Matthew reaches a turning point in this chapter. After growing opposition, Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is, and from Peter's confession he begins to speak openly of his path to the cross. Matthew 16 joins the glory of Jesus' identity with the cost of discipleship.
The Pharisees and Sadducees ask Jesus for a sign from heaven to test him. He answers that they can read the look of the sky but not the signs of the times, and that no sign will be given to that generation except the sign of Jonah. Crossing the sea, the disciples forget to bring bread, and Jesus warns them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
In the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks who people say the Son of Man is. They answer that some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Then he asks the disciples who they say he is, and Simon Peter answers: you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus declares him blessed, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to him but the Father in heaven. He tells him he is Peter and that on this rock he will build his church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. He promises him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever he binds or looses on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven.
From then on Jesus begins to explain that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed and be raised on the third day. Peter takes him aside and rebukes him, saying that this will never happen to him. Jesus turns and tells him to get behind him, Satan, because he is a hindrance and is not setting his mind on the things of God but on the things of man. Then he tells the disciples that whoever wants to follow him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him; whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses it for his sake will find it. He announces that the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father and repay each person according to his deeds, and that some standing there will not taste death before they see him coming in his kingdom.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is the center of Matthew's Gospel: the promised Messiah is also the Son of God, and this confession is the foundation of Christian faith.
Jesus says he will build his church on this rock and that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Christians have understood the rock as Peter, as his confession or as Christ himself, but all agree that the church is Jesus' work and will not be overcome.
Jesus says that whoever wants to follow him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow. Discipleship is not an add-on to a comfortable life but a surrender that takes the same road as Jesus.
Jesus asks what it profits to gain the whole world if one forfeits his soul. The question puts ambitions in eternal perspective and forces a decision about what is truly worth having.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The sign of Jonah. — Matthew 16:4
Answer: The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, meaning their teaching. — Matthew 16:6-12
Answer: That he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. — Matthew 16:15-16
Answer: That he would build it and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. — Matthew 16:18
Answer: To get behind him, Satan, because he was not setting his mind on the things of God but on the things of man. — Matthew 16:22-23
Answer: Deny himself, take up his cross and follow him. — Matthew 16:24
The question of Jesus comes to every person: who do you say that I am. In a small group you can give time to answer it in one's own words and not only in those of others. An inherited faith needs to become a personal confession.
The scene also shows that one can confess Jesus correctly and still resist his path, as Peter did. Ask which part of Jesus' call, such as denying yourself or accepting suffering, you would prefer to avoid, and bring it to prayer today.
Matthew 16 sets Jesus as the Christ who must suffer and his disciples as those who follow him on the same road. In chapter 17, six days later, Jesus takes three disciples up a high mountain and is transfigured before them.
Interpreters have proposed three main answers: Peter himself, to whom Jesus has just given that name; Peter's confession, that is, the truth that Jesus is the Christ; or Christ, the true rock. Many see Peter and his confession as joined. All agree that the church belongs to Jesus, who says that he will build it.
The keys symbolize authority to open the door of the kingdom through preaching the gospel, and binding and loosing is understood as declaring what God permits and what he forbids. Later Jesus gives similar authority to the whole community of disciples, so many believe it is exercised through the apostolic message.
There are several readings: the transfiguration that follows in chapter 17, the resurrection and the beginning of the church, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, or the final coming. Many see the transfiguration as an immediate preview of the glory of the kingdom.