MATTHEW 16:17 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
And Jesus answered him: blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. The blessing on Peter's confession grounds it in divine revelation: flesh and blood (human reasoning, social observation, cultural transmission) has not produced this confession — it came from the Father in heaven. The revelation that produced the disciples' understanding in Matthew 11:25 (revealed to little children) has produced Peter's confession. The confession is as much gift as achievement.
Church Fathers on Matthew 16:17
As soon as the Lord had taken His disciples out of the teaching of the Pharisees, He then suitably proceeds to lay deep the foundations of the Gospel doctrine; and to give this the greater solemnity, it is introduced by the name of the place, 'When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi.'
He adds 'of Philip,' to distinguish it from the other Caesarea, of Strato. And He asks this question in the former place, leading His disciples far out of the way of the Jews, that being set free from all fear, they might say freely what was in their mind.
This Philip was the brother of Herod, the tetrarch of Ituraea, and the region of Trachonitis, who gave to the city, which is now called Panaeas, the name of Caesarea in honour of Tiberias Caesar.
Read all 49 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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