MATTHEW
CHAPTER
16.
VIEW FOOTNOTES
The
Demand for a Sign. Matt. 16, 1-4.
V.
1. The Pharisees also, with the Sadducees, came, and tempting, desired Him that
He would show them a sign from heaven. Here is a combination showing how far
unionistic tendencies may lead if the object is opposition to Christ: the
Pharisees, legalists, with their unceasing harping upon the details of Law and
tradition: and the Sadducees, rationalists, with their denial of large parts of
the Old Testament and all those doctrines that did not suit their reason. At
other times these two Jewish sects were at sword's points, but for the purpose
of resisting Christ they gladly unite their forces. In order to tempt Him, they
come, in a malicious, deceitful manner. In a haughty way they request, demand, a
sign from heaven, In chapter 12, 38 they had not been so arrogant. Their
bitterness toward Christ grew in the same measure as their inability to overcome
Him. "Just as if the wonders which He had done hitherto were nothing at
all, since they had been performed on earth only. As though they would say: Oh,
these earthly miracles are nothing! If He would show that He was powerful in
heaven, then one might believe Him. Not as though they had been willing even
then to believe, but they in the mean time blaspheme these miracles in such a
way, although they are far greater than those which they demanded from heaven.
For to raise the dead, to give sight to the blind: that surpasses all signs
which it is possible to show from heaven by as much as man, who is the likeness
of God, surpasses heaven and all physical creatures, and eternal life the
temporal creatures." 120)
Christ's reply: V. 2.
He answered
and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the
sky is red. V. 3. 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? Christ was deeply grieved over their
duplicity, since they made their request sound reasonable before the people, as
though they wanted to establish His Messiahship, whereas their real reason was
blasphemy. Under no circumstances did they intend to believe on Him, Mark 8, 12.
The Jews
The refusal: V. 4. A wicked and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given
unto it but the sign of the Prophet Jonas. And He
The
Leaven of the Pharisees. Matt. 16, 5-12.
V. 5. And when His disciples
were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. The departure
of Jesus after His encounter with the Pharisees and Sadducees was hurried. From
the neighborhood of Dalmanutha, on the western shore of the sea, He crossed over
to the other side, probably into some section of Gaulanitis. His greatest
concern was for His disciples, how they would behave under the present
circumstances, how their faith would hold out against the schemes of the
Pharisees. So absorbed was He in this problem that He paid no attention to the
minor matters of the body. The fact that His disciples, in the excitement of the
quick embarking, had forgotten, neglected, to take bread with them, did not
enter His consciousness.
The warning and its understanding: V. 6. Then Jesus
said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees. V. 7. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we
have taken no bread. It was on the trip across the lake that Jesus spoke to
them, Mark 8, 14. They were worried on account of their neglect; the single loaf
of bread in the boat was on their mind. The mention of leaven, therefore, was
connected in their minds with bread, and it was bread which they lacked. They
argued therefore that Jesus was reproaching them for not having a sufficient
number of loaves with them in the boat. It was with them as with the Christians
of all times: hard for them to get away from the care of the body! They neither
marked that Jesus purposely used the word "leaven," nor did they
notice the emphasis upon the "Pharisees and Sadducees." Christ's
object had been to warn them, in the form of a parabolic saying, against the
doctrine of both
sects, against the outward work-righteousness of the Pharisees and against the
conventional, worldly bearing of the Sadducees.
The reproof and explanation: V. 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? V. 9. Do ye not yet understand,
neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye
took up? V. 10. Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many
baskets ye took up? V. 11. How is it that ye do not understand that I speak it
not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees? V. 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. Jesus could not help but notice their lack of
understanding. Even if their conversation was carried on in voices too low for
Him to hear, He read what went on in their minds. His reproach is sad, almost
stern: He charges them with little understanding, with hardness of heart. Mark
8, 17. 18, with little faith. That they are concerned about, and gravely
discuss, a question of bodily food, when dangers are confronting their faith! He
challenges their understanding, their memory, in the matter of the feeding of
the five thousand and, shortly after that, of the four thousand. He wants them
to recall how many baskets of fragments they picked up in either case: Are ye
still too dull to draw conclusions? The question of a sufficient supply of bread
had in no way entered into the situation. It was a matter solely of their
imagination and their care for the body that prompted them to think as they had.
"Here we see that Christ deals in a most loving manner with those that do
not tempt Him, but are ready, absolutely and simply to be instructed of Him.
For, behold, how much patience He has with the ignorance of the apostles in the
Word and with their weakness in the faith. He did not go away and leave them, as
He did the Pharisees; but He bears and heals their foolishness in a most kindly
manner and is obliged to explain Himself over against them as against children
with clear words in regard to that which He had said, and accommodate Himself to
their ability. And they also do not cast away the love, the trust, and the
respect toward Him, but they, as true disciples, gladly bear His reproof and
become better through it." 122) Their understanding having thus been
opened, they were no longer at a loss as to the meaning of the word
"leaven." As the yeast, or leaven, which is added to the meal, though
it may be small in amount, yet exerts its power upon the whole mass, so it is
with false doctrine. It may be an apparently small matter, a doubt as to the
validity of a Scripture-passage, a false understanding of a fundamental truth;
and the entire structure of faith is liable to be undermined. The disciples now
understood that He warned them against the false doctrine of the Pharisees,
including their hypocrisy, pride, envy, self-righteousness, and arrogance, and
that of the Sadducees in denying the existence of the spiritual world, the
immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the providence of
God. "He reminded them that they must hold the Word and faith firmly
against the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. As though He would say: Why
are ye worried on account of the bread for the body? Strive to be concerned for
the bread of the spirit, for the Word and faith, against false doctrine and
faith. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that ye may not,
through false teachers, be misled into the kingdom of the devil and error. For
this true bread ye must be concerned." 123)
"Christ
the Son of the Living God." Matt. 16, 13-20.
V.
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? V. 14. And they
said, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias
or one of the prophets. A second time Christ made an excursion northwards, to
the very boundary of Palestine, into the territory of Herod Philip, who had
practically rebuilt this city and made it his residence. It had formerly been
called Paneas, and is probably the ancient Leshem or Laish, Josh. 19, 47; Judg.
18, 7. The reasons for this journey were probably those of the preceding trip to
the North, to get away, for a while, from the distractions of the active
ministry, with its tedious and wearing vexations, and to gain time and
opportunity for uninterrupted intercourse with the disciples. They needed a
great deal of help in their faith, since the days of real temptations were
drawing near. They must grow in Him and through Him in faith and firmness, lest
the last great test find them unable to hold their own. While they were on their
way into this region, Jesus, not so much for His own information as for the sake
of testing the faith of His disciples, asks them the question: Whom do people
take Me for? What do they find in Me? He applies the official title "Son of
Man" to Himself, as distinguishing Him according to His person and His
work. It appears that the bitter slanderings of the Pharisees had at least had
so much effect that the belief in His Messiahship had gradually been suppressed
among the common people. But they still held Him in high esteem. They either
believed that one of the prophets, such as John the Baptist, Elijah, or
Jeremiah, had been raised from the dead, or they held, according to Pharisaical
example, that the soul and spirit of one of these prophets had come to new life
in Jesus. Christ was indeed a prophet, Deut. 18, 15, and He was very properly
called Elijah, Mal. 4, 5; however, in a far higher sense than these ignorant
people thought. But the Lord's inquiry had a deeper purpose, namely, to get an
express declaration of faith from His disciples, and to confirm and strengthen
them in it.
The confession: V. 15. He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? V. 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. V. 17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona; for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in
heaven. V. 18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Here was the time of decision, for a declaration of personal faith. "This
was the decisive moment in which the separation of the New Testament Church from
the Old Testament theocracy was to be made. The hour had come for the utterance
of a distinct Christian confession." 124) The disciples met this test of
their understanding and faith in a splendid manner. Simon Peter, impetuous,
emotional, energetic, outspoken, gave an answer in the name of the apostles, as
their spokesman, voicing, in a short declaration, their opinion and unanimous
agreement: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This was
not the sense which the Jewish traditional idea connected with the word Messiah,
a mere deliverer from earthly bondage, but a concise and still comprehensive
confession of the Christhood, the divinity, the deity of Jesus. It expressed
their faith in Him as the promised Redeemer. It was a reply and correlate to
Christ's "Son of Man" in verse 13. It was a decided, solemn, and deep
declaration, spoken with emotion and a sense of the gravity of the
circumstances. "Therefore the entire Apostolic Creed is included in these
words: 'Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God'; namely, that He is the Son of God,
the almighty Father, the Creator of heaven and earth, and that our Lord Jesus
Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, that He
suffered for us, that He died and was raised from the dead, and sitteth at the
right hand of God the Father, because He is Son, Judge, and Lord over all; that
He distributes forgiveness of sins through the Holy Ghost, unto the resurrection
and to eternal life." 125)
Jesus was highly pleased with this confession which
Peter had made in the name of the apostles. He calls him happy, blessed, in the
sense of possessing happiness as a given glory. Jesus was satisfied as to the
quality of Peter's faith. He addresses him in a solemn manner:
Simon, the son of Jona. But He explains the blessedness by placing the credit
where it properly belongs. For what Peter here had confessed as his faith was no
vain, human illusion which flesh and blood, his own nature and reason, had
revealed to him. It was a revelation of God Himself. The right knowledge of
Jesus Christ, true faith, is God's work and gift. It is not a deceitful, human
imagination, but divine certainty. Happy, blessed, is he that makes this
confession the faith of his heart.
The Lord adds a promise which
concerns the entire Church till the end of time. Solemnly addressing Peter, the
spokesman of the Twelve, He tells him, with a fine play on words, that upon his
rocklike confession He will build His Church. He does not say: On thee, but:
"On this rock." The gist of the passage is: Peter-like faith in Jesus,
expressed in the same bold manner, by open confession of the mouth, admits into
the kingdom of heaven, into the Church of Jesus Christ. Or, as Luther expresses
it: "On this rock, understand, not which thou art; for thy person would be
too weak for such foundation; but upon the confession of faith which makes thee
a rock, I will build my Church. This foundation can hold and is strong enough;
the devil will not be able to throw it over or throw it down." 126) Against
this Church, as it is built, and because it is built upon this rock, the gates
of hell cannot prevail, all the powers of hell cannot conquer it. It is strong,
enduring, so long as the faith in the Father and in Jesus Christ, His Son, our
Redeemer, and in the Spirit, as giving this blessed certainty, reigns in it.
A special distinction: V. 19.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom, of heaven; and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. In recognition of his faith, as
expressed in his confession, Christ confers on Peter and on all that believe the
keys of the kingdom of heaven. The keys are an emblem of the power which admits
into, or prevents any unauthorized person from entering into, a house. Christ,
the Son of God, has the key of David, the power to lock and unlock the house or
kingdom of God, Rev. 3, 7. He has earned for all sinners mercy and salvation.
And this power and authority He gives to His believing disciples. Whosoever
believes, has part in Christ and in all that Christ possesses. Whosoever
believes is in the kingdom of heaven, has forgiveness of sins, life, and
salvation, and may and shall impart also to others the treasures of the kingdom.
"But this is their opinion, that the power of the keys, or the power of the
bishops, according to the Gospel, is a power or commandment of God, to preach
the Gospel, to remit and retain sins, and to administer Sacraments"
(Augsburg Confession, Art. 28).
Christ's First Prophecy Concerning His Passion. Matt. 16, 21-28.
V. 21. From that time forth
began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised again the third day. The disciples had made a splendid
confession of their faith, proving conclusively that they had the right, saving
knowledge concerning Jesus, their Redeemer. Christ therefore thought it the
appropriate time to prepare them gradually for the great climax, the culmination
of His work. They should now be able to bear the news. He began to show them, to
give them explicit and detailed information. A very significant word: He must
go to Jerusalem; a divine obligation was resting upon Him, it was a necessity
which He had taken upon Himself to fulfill the will of His heavenly Father by
His death for all mankind, Ps. 40, 8. The elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, twenty-four of each class of these forming the great Sanhedrin, or
chief council of the Jews. That these enemies of His would succeed in putting
Him to death, but that He would be raised on the third day: that was the sum and
substance that Jesus attempted to make clear to the disciples from the
Scriptures of the Old Testament.
Peter interferes: V. 22. Then Peter took Him, and
began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto
Thee. V. 23. But He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou
art an offense unto Me; for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men. Peter, the impulsive, probably filled with a feeling
of satisfaction on account of the high praise which the Lord had bestowed upon
him, laid his hand upon Jesus, or seized Him from behind, as though he would
shelter Him by main force. At the same time, he began most emphatically to chide
Christ: Far be it from Thee; may God avert it by all means! It was a well-meant,
but altogether meddlesome interference with the business of Christ. He did not
get very far, for Jesus, having turned around, gave him such a sharp rebuke as
no other disciple ever got. A Satan, an adversary, He called him; He accused him
of tempting Him to do wrong. Peter's thoughts were not in a line with God's will
and work, but were solely the product of his own mind and heart. He was still
concerned with his own problems only; he had not acquired the wider vision
necessary in the kingdom of God; his thoughts were yet of the earth, earthly.
"This is the meaning of Christ, in this serious matter, but directed
against a dear apostle: Ah, Peter, thou didst answer correctly when I asked thee
and all disciples, that I am Christ, the Son of the living God; but now, since
thou hearest that I shall be crucified, thou understandest not the wonderful
counsel of God, and art bothered with thy flesh and carnal thoughts,
and speakest without the revelation of the Father only thy own ideas, that is,
foolish and carnal things. Therefore get thee behind Me; far be it from Me that
I should prefer thy carnal wisdom to the will of the Father: much rather would I
lose thee and all than that I, upon thy objection, should not obey My Father.
Here thou art altogether a fool and dost not understand what is carried out
through the Son of the living God, whom thou hast confessed." 127)
Taking the cross: V. 24. Then said Jesus unto His
disciples. If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me. V. 25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and
whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. This is practically
a repetition of Matt. 10, 38. What Christ had stated there He found necessary to
emphasize here once more. Denial of self, of all self-righteousness, of all
selfishness, is natural for a Christian that partakes of the spirit of Christ;
taking up the cross, whatever of burden, whatever of trial and persecution and
trouble and labor and peril and death the heavenly Father may see fit to impose
— that is the cheerful burden of the Christian, because it means following
Him. He who aims to find in this life, in this world, all that his heart
desires, will, by that fact, lose the real life in and with Christ. But he who
will cheerfully give up all that this life, this world, may offer and give him,
for the sake of Jesus, his Savior, will find true, abounding, everlasting life
in the Redeemer. "Therefore one must describe exactly what it means to take
the cross upon one. To take the cross upon one means: for the sake of the Word
and the faith voluntarily to take and to bear the hatred of the devil, of the
world, of the flesh, of sin, and of death. Here it is not necessary to choose a
cross. Just begin the first part of the life and deny thyself, that is, rebuke
the righteousness of works, and confess the righteousness of faith, and
immediately the other part will also be there, namely, the cross which thou then
shalt take upon thyself, just as Christ took His upon Himself." 128)
True gain: V. 26. For what is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul? V. 27. For the
Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He
shall reward every man according to his works. V. 28. Verily I say unto you,
There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son
of Man coming in His kingdom. Christ places the other alternative before His
disciples. Supposing it to be possible that a man, by constant, unceasing labor,
should gain the whole world; but, if in doing so, he forfeit his soul, his soul
be made a forfeit, by the bargain, would it really be a gain? Could he take all
his goods and give them as an exchange for his soul? Could he use them as a
price to buy back the true life which he has lost with his soul? And there is
not merely the negative disagreeable feature of losing the soul for this life,
but there is the prospect of positive punishment. It will be, it is certain: The
Son of Man will come, no longer in poverty and lowliness, as in the days of His
earthly sojourn, but in the full glory of His Godhead, which He will exercise
also according to His human nature. Accompanied by His angels, He will come to
judgment, and He will give, give back, return, to every one according to his
doing, as every person has given proof of the faith in his heart by the works
of his hands. That will be the Judgment, which no one can escape. Matt. 25, 31-46.
In the manner peculiar to prophets, Christ makes no distinction between the
events near at hand and those afar off; for the eternal God, who inspires
prophecy, has no time. Before Him all things are happening in the great now,
in the present. Christ gives His disciples the assurance that some of them will
not die, will not taste of the cup which yields death, until they see Him coming
in His kingdom. This refers either to the glorification of Jesus through His
death and resurrection, which introduced the actual beginning of His Church on
earth, with the festival of Pentecost, or it points to the day when God began
His judgment upon Jerusalem. That was the dawn of the day which will finally
bring Jesus back in all His glory. Some of the disciples of Christ actually
lived until long after the destruction of Jerusalem, thus becoming further
living examples and proofs for the truth of Christ's words.
Summary. Christ
refuses the demand of the Pharisees for a, sign, warns against the leaven of the
Pharisees and Sadducees, hears the confession of His disciples, and rebukes
Peter for interfering with His Messianic ministry.