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Matthew 16

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The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

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He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

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And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

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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 left them, and departed.

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And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

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Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

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And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

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Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

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Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

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Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

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How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

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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.

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When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

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And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

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He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

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And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

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From that time forth began Jesus to shew 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.

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Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

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But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

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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.

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For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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Matthew 16

The Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from heaven; Jesus refuses, offering only the sign of Jonah, and warns the disciples to beware of their leaven — the corrupting teaching that can spread invisibly. At Caesarea Philippi, the northernmost boundary of the ministry, Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is, then who they say he is. Peter's confession — you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God — receives the response that flesh and blood did not reveal this but the Father in heaven, and the promise that on this rock Jesus will build his church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Immediately following the church-founding declaration, Jesus begins teaching that the Son of Man must suffer, be killed, and rise on the third day — the first of the three passion predictions. Peter rebukes Jesus and receives the sharpest response in the Gospel: get behind me, Satan. The chapter closes with the discipleship paradox: those who want to save their life will lose it; those who lose their life for Jesus' sake will find it.

Matthew 16:2

He answered them: when it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. Jesus' response uses the weather-reading capacity of the sign-seekers against them: they can read the sky's signs but not the signs of the times. The irony is sharp: the people who are demanding a sign from heaven already know how to read signs from heaven when the stakes are merely meteorological.

Matthew 16:1

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. The joint approach of Pharisees and Sadducees — normally opponents — communicates the unified nature of the religious establishment's opposition to Jesus. The sign from heaven request parallels the sign request of Matthew 12:38, and Jesus' response will be similar: the only sign is the sign of Jonah.

Matthew 16:3

And in the morning, it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. The signs of the times — the healings, the exorcisms, the teaching, the feeding miracles — are the evidence of the kingdom's arrival. Those who can read the sky's colors to predict the weather cannot read the evidence of the kingdom's presence. The selective blindness is the judgment on those who interpret the visible world with skill but refuse to interpret the spiritual world.

Matthew 16:4

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. So he left them and departed. The sign of Jonah — the resurrection — is the only sign that will be given to the sign-seeking generation. The departure communicates the finality of Jesus' refusal: there is no point in remaining with those who have already determined to reject what they have seen. The evil and adulterous generation that seeks a sign will receive the ultimate sign and still reject it (Matthew 28:11–15).

Matthew 16:5

When the disciples came to the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. The disciples' forgetfulness about bread is the occasion for the misunderstanding that the following conversation will correct. The transition from the sign-seeking confrontation to the disciples' boat conversation communicates the distance between the religious establishment's demands and the disciples' ordinary practical concerns.

Matthew 16:6

Jesus said to them: watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The warning against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees immediately follows the disciples' realization about the bread — creating the misunderstanding that Jesus was talking about literal bread. The leaven as a symbol of pervasive influence (the leaven-parable of Matthew 13:33 used the same image positively) here communicates the spreading danger of the Pharisees' and Sadducees' teaching.

Matthew 16:7

And they began discussing it among themselves, saying: we brought no bread. The disciples' bread-discussion reveals the literalism that still characterizes their understanding: they hear leaven and think bread. The disciples who participated in two miraculous feedings are worried about literal bread in the presence of the one who multiplied it.

Matthew 16:8

But Jesus, aware of this, said: O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? The little-faith rebuke — this time in plural — addresses the disciples' bread-anxiety with the same gentle challenge as Peter's water-walking (Matthew 14:31). The why are you discussing among yourselves communicates the unnecessary anxiety: the disciples have no bread because they forgot it, but they are with the one who can feed thousands with five loaves.

Matthew 16:9

Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? The appeal to memory: do you not remember the five-thousand feeding? The disciples who distributed the bread and collected the twelve baskets of leftovers should have connected the bread-worry to the feeding miracle. The perceive and remember are the two capacities that the little-faith disciples need to exercise.

Matthew 16:10

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? The appeal to the second feeding reinforces the point: two miraculous feedings, twelve baskets and seven baskets of leftovers — and the disciples are worried about having forgotten to bring bread. The rhetorical accumulation communicates the irony of the disciples' anxiety.

Matthew 16:11

How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The clarification after the two rhetorical questions: the warning was about the Pharisees' and Sadducees' teaching, not about literal bread. The how is it that you fail to understand communicates the persistent gap between Jesus' teaching and the disciples' comprehension.

Matthew 16:12

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples' eventual understanding: the leaven is the teaching. The teaching of the Pharisees (tradition over commandment, outward observance without heart-alignment) and the Sadducees (denial of resurrection, skepticism about spiritual reality) are the pervasive influences that the disciples must guard against.

Matthew 16:13

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples: who do people say that the Son of Man is? The question at Caesarea Philippi — who do people say the Son of Man is — is the turning point of Matthew's Gospel. The northern location (Caesarea Philippi is at the foot of Mount Hermon, near the source of the Jordan) communicates the geographical movement away from the center of Jewish life to the margins. The question about popular perception precedes the question about the disciples' own perception.

Matthew 16:14

And they said: some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. The popular identifications of Jesus reflect the perception that he is a prophetic figure: John the Baptist (Herod's guilty conscience, Matthew 14:2), Elijah (the returning prophet of Malachi 4:5), Jeremiah (the suffering prophet of the exile), or one of the prophets. All the identifications honor Jesus as a significant figure but fall short of the reality.

Matthew 16:15

He said to them: but who do you say that I am? The shift from the crowd's perception (who do people say) to the disciples' confession (who do you say) is the most important question Jesus asks his disciples in all the Gospels. The you is emphatic and plural — the question is addressed to the whole disciple group, but Peter will answer for them.

Matthew 16:16

Simon Peter replied: you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter's confession is the center of Matthew's Gospel: you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Christ (Messiah) addresses the Jewish expectation of the anointed deliverer; the Son of the living God goes beyond any Jewish messianic category to the identity of divine sonship. The living God is the God who is actively present and engaged — not a deity of stone or wood — and the Son of this God is what Peter confesses Jesus to be.

Matthew 16:17

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.

Matthew 16:18

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The name-and-mission declaration: Peter (Petros, rock) is the rock (petra) on which the church will be built. The wordplay communicates the connection between Peter's confessing identity and his foundational role. The church (ekklesia, the first use of the word in the Gospels) is the assembly of those who share Peter's confession. The gates of hell (the gates of Hades, the powers of death and the underworld) will not prevail against the church built on the confession of Jesus as Christ and Son of God.

Matthew 16:19

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The keys of the kingdom — the authority to open and close access to the kingdom — are given to Peter and (through him, as Matthew 18:18 makes clear) to the church. The binding and loosing authority given to Peter is the authority to declare what is permitted and what is forbidden, what is included and what is excluded, in the kingdom's community. The heavenly ratification of earthly decisions communicates the divine authority behind the church's community governance.

Matthew 16:20

Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. The command to silence after Peter's confession is the Messianic Secret at its most direct: the disciples have correctly identified Jesus, but the identification must not be publicly announced at this stage. The reason becomes clear in the following verses: the Christ that the disciples have confessed is the suffering, dying, rising Christ — not the triumphant political messiah the public expects.

Matthew 16:21

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. The first explicit passion prediction in Matthew's Gospel: from that time — the hinge moment of the Caesarea Philippi confession — Jesus begins to teach the disciples about the suffering, death, and resurrection that await him in Jerusalem. The must communicates the divine necessity of the suffering: the cross is not a tragedy that befalls Jesus but the path he has come to walk.

Matthew 16:22

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying: far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you. Peter's rebuke — far be it from you — is the disciples' immediate resistance to the passion prediction. The one who just confessed Jesus as the Christ cannot integrate the suffering Christ with his understanding of the Messiah. The rebuke communicates the disciples' messianic expectation: the Christ cannot suffer and die — that is a contradiction in terms for Peter's framework.

Matthew 16:23

But he turned and said to Peter: get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. The sharpest rebuke Jesus directs at any disciple: get behind me, Satan. The one who was just blessed as the recipient of divine revelation (verse 17) is now rebuked as a satanic hindrance. The contrast is jarring but intentional: the same Peter who received the Father's revelation about Jesus' identity is now voicing the enemy's resistance to Jesus' mission. Setting your mind on the things of men versus the things of God is the fundamental choice that the passion prediction requires.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples: if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. The discipleship requirement that follows the first passion prediction: self-denial, cross-taking, and following. The cross was not a metaphor in the first century but an instrument of Roman execution — the disciples who heard this knew what carrying a cross meant. The self-denial that takes up the cross is the discipleship that follows the suffering Christ rather than the triumphant messiah Peter envisioned.

Matthew 16:25

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The paradox of the kingdom's economy: the life saved through self-preservation is lost; the life lost in following Jesus is found. The saving and the losing and the finding all refer to the same life at different moments: the life clung to is the life surrendered; the life given for Jesus' sake is the life that is ultimately received.

Matthew 16:26

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? The soul-profit question is the challenge of the kingdom's economics applied to the individual: the entire world's wealth cannot compensate for the soul's loss. The soul is the irreplaceable self — the person as known by God — and no accumulation of the world's goods can substitute for it.

Matthew 16:27

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. The Son of Man's coming in glory with the angels is the eschatological frame for the discipleship requirement: the cross-taking self-denial of the present age will be evaluated in the age to come. The repayment according to what he has done communicates the judgment that evaluates the discipleship choices of the earthly life.

Matthew 16:28

Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. The difficult closing verse — some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom — is best understood as a reference to the transfiguration (the immediate following narrative) as a proleptic vision of the kingdom's glory, or possibly to the resurrection and Pentecost as the beginning of the kingdom's advance. The verse links the passion prediction and the discipleship teaching to the approaching glimpse of the kingdom's glory.