13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi He questioned His disciples saying, “Who do people say that I, the Son of the Man, am?”[c] 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptizer, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He says to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” 16 So in answer Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” 17 And in answer Jesus said to him: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in the heavens. 18 And I further say to you that you are a stone, but on this bedrock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not withstand her.[d] 19 And I will give you (sg) the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in the heavens.”[e] 20 Then He ordered His disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah.[f] 21 From then on Jesus began to show to His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. 22 So taking Him aside Peter began to rebuke Him saying: “Mercy to you, Lord! This shall not happen to you!” 23 But turning He said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not mindful of God's values, but of men's values.”[g]
- a Pharisees and Sadducees were theological enemies, but they join forces against Jesus.
- b He left by boat—He did not want to waste time with them. Jesus calls them “malignant”—they are aggressively evil.
- c Instead of “I, the Son of the Man, am”, perhaps 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, have ‘the Son of the Man is’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). The change is significant.
- d There is a play on words here, πετρος VS πετρα—the bedrock was obviously not Peter. The bedrock presumably has to do with the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. ‘Gates’ do not attack, but are the last line of defense—it is the Church that is attacking Hades. Hades is not hell. Hell is the Lake of fire, the second death; Hades is the halfway ‘house’ where departed spirits await the judgment.
- e Please see the note at Matthew 18:18.
- f As is clear from Luke 9:20-22, verses 21-23 here form part of the same conversation. At this point Jesus changes the game plan—He declares that He is going to die and orders the disciples to stop presenting Him as the Messiah. Some 65% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘Jesus, the Messiah’ (as in AV and NKJV); I follow the best line of transmission.
- g Satan put those words in Peter's mouth, but he agreed with them. Note that within 3-5 minutes Peter spoke twice, under inspiration; the first time inspired by God (verses 16-17) and the second by Satan (verses 22-23). It is God the Son who tells us what really happened. Since Sovereign Jesus said it was Satan, it was Satan, and if he could do it to Peter, he can do it to us. The almost total ignorance on the subject of biblical spiritual warfare that prevails in North America is having serious consequences.
- h What is in view here is the potential your life represents.
- i We will be judged on the basis of what we did with our potential.
- j Presumably this was fulfilled at the transfiguration—a manifestation, in miniature, of the Kingdom (Jesus the King, Moses and Elijah representing glorified saints [who will participate in the administration] and the three disciples representing the normal inhabitants of the earth at that time).