Matthew 16
1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees went to Jesus, and as they were testing him, they asked him to show them proof from the heavens.a 2 So he responded, “At sunset, you say, ‘Good weather is coming since the heavens are red,’ 3 and at sunrise you say, ‘Today is going to be stormy since the heavens are red and gloomy.’ You know how to discern the weather by how the heavens look, so can’t you discern the signs of the times?b 4 An oppressive and unfaithfulc groupd demands proof, but no proof will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”e Then he left them and went away.
5 When the students crossed to the other shore,f they forgot to bring bread. 6 Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 So they began to deliberate with each other, wondering if it was because they had brought no bread. 8 When Jesus heard, he said, “You hardly trust at all! Why are you talking about having no bread? 9 You’re still not thinking. Don’t you remember the five loaves of bread with the 5,000 meng and how many baskets of leftovers you took away? 10 Or the seven loaves of bread with the 4,000 menh and how many baskets of leftovers you took away? 11 How did you not understand that I wasn’t talking about bread? Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” 12 Then they put it togetheri that he did not tell them to be on guard against the yeast in the bread but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 Jesus was arriving in the region of Caesarea Philippi when he asked his students, “Who do people say the Son of Humanity is?”
14 “Some say John the Immerser,” they said, “Others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But who do you say I am?” he asked.
16 Then Simeon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the God who is alive.”j
17 Jesus responded to him, “You have reason for gratitude, Simeon Son of Jonah, because flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to you but, rather, my Father who is in the heavens. 18 And I’m naming you Peter,k and on this rock I will construct my assembly,l and the entrance to the place of the deadm will not overwhelm it. 19 I will give you the keys of the Heavenly Reign, and whatever boundaries you setn in the land will be set in the heavens, and whatever barriers you removeo in the land will be removed in the heavens.” 20 Then he made it clear to the students that they were not to tell anyone he was the Messiah.
21 From then on, Jesus began to help his students see that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem to endure many things from the elders, lead priests, and Bible scholars and to be killed and then woken up on the third day. 22 Peter took him aside and began to scold him fiercely, “God have mercy on you,p Lord! That must not happen to you!”
23 So he turned and told Peter, “Get out of my sight,q Adversary!r You’re an obstacle for mes because you’re not focusing on God’s intentions but rather on human ones.” 24 Then Jesus told his students, “If any of you is determined to follow me, renounce your insistence on security,t pick up your cross, and join me. 25 You see, whoever secures their lifeu will surrenderv it, and whoever surrenders their life for my cause will secure it.w 26 You see, how does it benefit someone to gain the whole worldx only to be stripped of their very being? Or what could someone offer to be able to keep their very being? 27 The Son of Humanity is about to make his appearance with his messengers with the praise of his Father, and then he will repay each person appropriately for what he has done.y 28 Honestly, some of the people standing right here are ones who will not experience death before they see the Son of Humanity being established in his Reign.”
FOOTNOTES:
a This word is the same in Greek whether about the sky, tiers of social power, or a symbol of where God is present. The Greek can be singular (ouranos) or plural (ouranoi) and the two forms are used interchangeably. It was used in place of referring to God directly, as a cultural practice to demonstrate reverence for God.
b The phrase "signs of the times" refers to events, behaviors, or cultural shifts that signal significant spiritual or societal changes. Jesus challenges his listeners, particularly religious leaders, to interpret the deeper meaning of current events just as they interpret weather patterns.
c Or ‘treacherous’ or ‘disloyal’ or ‘faithless’
d Or ‘generation’ or ‘lineage’ or any ‘group of people’ that has a shared characteristic or origin, including gender.
e The wording of this sentence is identical to Matthew 12:39. These two passages help develop each other.
f It seems the students had stayed in Magadan for a time, long enough for Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees to happen before they arrived where he was.
g Plus women and children.
h Plus women and children.
i Traditionally, ‘understood’
j “Messiah” is an indicator of the rightful king of Judah and/or Israel, which would have put him in direct conlict with Herod. “The Son of God” was a nickname for the emperor, a title taken on originally by Augustus Caesar, the son of Julius Caesar who was worshiped as divine, and was then used by each subsequent Caesar. This was a seditious and dangerous thing to say. Not only is Peter saying that Jesus is the Son of God, a term that would put him in direct competition with Caesar, Peter also one-upped Caesar by emphasizing that the God of whom Jesus is the son is alive while (Tiberius) Caesar’s stepfather (Augustus) was dead.
k Which means ‘rock’ in Greek
l Traditionally, ‘church.’ Ekklesia literally means ‘those assembled together,’ for example, for a town council meeting.
m Greek, Hades: the Underworld where all who died were thought to go, regardless of their actions or character in life. Hades in Greek translates the Hebrew Sheol, which held a similar meaning in the Hebrew Bible as a place for the dead. Sometimes translated as “the grave” or “the pit,” it reflects an ancient view of a shared destination after death.
n Traditionally, ‘whatever you bind’
o Traditionally, ‘whatever you loose’
p Literally, ‘merciful to you.’ It’s idiomatic to mean Peter strongly hopes Jesus will be protected from the terrible fate he keeps talking about.
q Literally, ‘get behind me.’
r This is a parallel to Matthew 4:10 and only the third mention (out of three) of the Adversary (satana) in Matthew. The first was Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4), and the second is the second was in Matthew 12:26 about the household divided against itself. Temptation and division are present in this story as well. Peter’s pleading is a real temptation to Jesus. Jesus reacts fiercely because of how difficult and essential it is to turn Peter down. The wording between 4:10 and 16:23 is nearly—but not quite—identical: hupage, satana which is ‘Get away, Adversary!’ in 4:10 and hupage opiso mou, satana, which is ‘Get away behind me, Adversary!’ (or as I translated it with a more accessible idiom, ‘Get out of my sight, Adversary!’).
s This is traditionally ‘stumbling block’ and was used figuratively for something that made someone falter and leave the path of God.
t The Greek phrase aparnēsasthō heauton, often translated as 'deny oneself,' can imply renouncing one’s self-interest, attachments, or personal securities. This translation as 'renounce their insistence on security' emphasizes Jesus’ call to let go of self-preservation in favor of wholehearted trust. Importantly, this isn’t a universal command for all circumstances; it’s specific to Jesus’ journey toward the cross and directed to his students who planned to follow him to glory, which they thought meant conquering the powerful. Instead, Jesus anticipates his crucifixion, and here he invites his students into that radical path, challenging them to abandon personal security to follow him in the way of sacrificial love.
u The Greek word here is psuche, the root of the English ‘psyche’ and ‘psychology,’ and traditionally translated as ‘soul.’ A better single word might be ‘being.’ Like the Hebrew nephesh, it refers to the ‘living being’—a unity of body, breath, and life-force. Depending on context, other appropriate translations include ‘life’ and ‘self.’ In this case, it’s about preserving one’s life, or continuing to have a self or being. This is the same word translated as ‘self’ in verse 28. These paragraphs seem to be contrasting different uses, with this use referring more to physical existence as a living being and the earlier being more about the quality of inner life, the character of being rather than the fact of it.
v Traditionally, ‘lose.’ More literally, it means ‘destroy’ or ‘ruin’ or ‘kill.’ The voluntariness of ‘surrender’ isn’t in the word itself, but the context here clearly communicates a voluntary loss.
w This is a clear repetition of what Jesus says in Matthew 10:37-39. This parallel is relevant to another shared element between the two sections. Matthew 10:37 reads, “Whoever is attached to their father or mother above me is not appropriate for me. Whoever is attached to a son or daughter above me is not appropriate for me.” Jesus and Peter’s commitment to their calling is tested by their attachment to each other. Peter’s plea is not simply to get Jesus to agree to beat the enemies instead of surrendering; he’s afraid for Jesus’ safety. He loves Jesus and wants to protect him. Jesus is also scared, so Peter’s plea strongly tests Jesus’ commitment, but he’s resolute in his mission and corrects Peter.
x Compare with Matthew 4:10-12
y Reference to Proverbs 24:12.