Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 16:16
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
16. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God ] This confession not only sees in Jesus the promised Messiah, but in the Messiah recognises the divine nature. He is more than one of the old prophets risen from the dead.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.] Every word here is emphatic – a most concise, and yet comprehensive, confession of faith.
The Christ, or Messiah, points out his divinity, and shows his office; the Son – designates his person: on this account it is that both are joined together so frequently in the new covenant. Of the living God , , literally, of God the Living One. The C. Bezae has for the Living One, , the Saviour, and the Cant. Dei Salvatoris, of God the Saviour.
Living-a character applied to the Supreme Being, not only to distinguish him from the dead idols of paganism, but also to point him out as the source of life, present, spiritual, and eternal. Probably there is an allusion here to the great name Yeve, or Yehovah, which properly signifies being or existence.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
16. And Simon Peter answered andsaid, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living GodHe doesnot say, “Scribes and Pharisees, rulers and people, are allperplexed; and shall we, unlettered fishermen, presume to decide?”But feeling the light of his Master’s glory shining in his soul, hebreaks forthnot in a tame, prosaic acknowledgment, “Ibelieve that Thou art,” c.but in the language ofadorationsuch as one uses in worship, “THOUART THE CHRIST,THE SON OF THELIVING GOD!”He first owns Him the promised Messiah (see on Mt1:16) then he rises higher, echoing the voice from heaven”Thisis My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”; and in theimportant addition”Son of the LIVINGGOD”he recognizesthe essential and eternal life of God as in this His Sonthoughdoubtless without that distinct perception afterwards vouchsafed.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Simon Peter answered and said,…. Either of his own accord, and for himself, being a warm, zealous, and forward man; one that dearly loved Christ, truly believed in him, and was ready to make a confession of him; or, as the mouth of the rest, in their name, and with their consent; or, at least, as full well knowing the sentiments of their minds. Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God: a short, but a very full confession of faith, containing the following articles: as that there is a God, that there is but one God; that he is the living God, has life in himself, is the fountain of life to others, and by this is distinguishable from the idols of the Gentiles: that Jesus is the Christ, the Christ of God, the true Messiah, that was promised by God, prophesied of by all the prophets, from the beginning of the world, and expected by the people of God: a character that includes all his offices, of prophet, priest, and king, to which he is anointed by God; and that this Messiah was not a mere man, but a divine person, the Son of God; not by creation, as angels and men are, nor by adoption, as saints, nor by office, as magistrates, but by nature, being his own Son, his proper Son, the only begotten of the Father, of the same nature with him, being one with him, and equal to him. This confession, as it is uniform, and all of a piece, and consistent with itself, and is what all the disciples of Christ agreed in, so it greatly exceeds the most that can be made of the different sentiments of the people put together. They took him, one and all, to be but a mere man; their most exalted thoughts of him rose no higher: but in this he is acknowledged to be the Son of God, a phrase expressive of his divine nature, and distinct personality: they thought him to be a dead man brought to life; but here he is called the Son of the living God, as having the same life in him the Father has: they indeed judged him to be a prophet, but not that prophet that was to come, superior to all prophets; but here he is owned to be the Christ, which not only takes in his prophetic office in a higher sense than they understood it, but all his other offices, and declares him to be the promised Messiah; which they who thought, and spoke the most honourably of him, could not allow of.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Peter is the spokesman now: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” ( ). It was a noble confession, but not a new claim by Jesus. Peter had made it before (Joh 6:69) when the multitude deserted Jesus in Capernaum. Since the early ministry (John 4) Jesus had avoided the word Messiah because of its political meaning to the people. But now Peter plainly calls Jesus the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the God the living one (note the four Greek articles). This great confession of Peter means that he and the other disciples believe in Jesus as the Messiah and are still true to him in spite of the defection of the Galilean populace (John 6).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
16. Thou art the Christ. The confession is short, but it embraces all that is contained in our salvation; for the designation Christ, or Anointed, includes both an everlasting Kingdom and an everlasting Priesthood, to reconcile us to God, and, by expiating our sins through his sacrifice, to obtain for us a perfect righteousness, and, having received us under his protection, to uphold and supply and enrich us with every description of blessings. Mark says only, Thou art the Christ. Luke says, Thou art the Christ of God But the meaning is the same; for the Christs ( χριστοί) of God was the appellation anciently bestowed on kings, who had been anointed by the divine command. (438) And this phrase had been previously employed by Luke, ( Luk 2:26,) when he said that Simeon had been informed by a revelation from heaven that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ For the redemption, which God manifested by the hand of his Son, was clearly divine; and therefore it was necessary that he who was to be the Redeemer should come from heaven, bearing the impress of the anointing of God. Matthew expresses it still more clearly, Thou art the Son of the living God; for, though Peter did not yet understand distinctly in what way Christ was the begotten of God, he was so fully persuaded of the dignity of Christ, that he believed him to come from God, not like other men, but by the inhabitation of the true and living Godhead in his flesh. When the attribute living is ascribed to God, it is for the purpose of distinguishing between Him and dead idols, who are nothing, ( 1Co 8:4.)
(438) See Harmony, vol. 1, p. 92, n. 2; p. 142, n. 2.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.The variations in the other GospelsSt. Mark giving simply, Thou art the Christ, and St. Luke, The Christ of Godare interesting in their bearing on the question of literal inspiration, but do not affect the meaning; and the fullest of the three reports may be received without hesitation as the most authentic. The confession was made by Peter, partly, we may believe, as the representative of the others, partly, as the special promise that follows implies, from the personal fervour of his character. He believed himself, and had impressed his faith on them. His words reproduced the confession of Joh. 6:69, even verbally, if we follow the received text, but the better MSS. of that Gospel have a different reading: Thou art the Holy One of God. In any form they recognised to the full our Lords character as the Christ; they identified Him with the Son of Man in Daniels vision, and, more than this, they recognised in that Son of Man one who was also not a son only, but, in some high incommunicable sense, the Son of the living God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Simon Peter answered As the senior apostle, and so, on the present occasion, the representative of the whole. This supposes a prominence, but not the primacy over the rest.
The Christ The Messiah. Son not merely of man but of God. The living God is the source of all existence and life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.” ’
As we would expect it is Peter who blurts out a response. The disciples appear to have been quite willing to let him take the lead in such matters, probably due to their own lack of confidence. One thing Peter was not lacking in was self-confidence. It does not, however, mean that they saw him as their leader. They looked on Jesus as their leader. He was simply their spokesman. This is emphatically brought out by the fact that later the Apostles will constantly argue among themeselves about who was the greatest (Mar 9:33-37; Luk 21:24-27; compare Mat 20:20-28). Had they seen Peter being established here by Jesus as their leader they would not have done that, and all Jesus would have had to point that was what He had Himself decided.
Peter declares, “You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.” We need not doubt that this was the opinion of them all, for they would undoubtedly have discussed the matter between themselves. The statement here reveals Him as the Coming One and as something more. There were many views about the Messiah, from that of a military leader who would drive out the Romans, to a great teacher, to a more splendid heavenly figure who would have great powers, and who would do the same but with more of a divine flourish. In the case of Jesus His disciples recognised that there was more to Him than they understood, that somehow He was different from all expectations, and that He had a relationship with the Father that was unique, a relationship in which God spoke of Him as His beloved Son (Mat 3:17; Mat 11:25-27). They remembered how He had walked on the sea, stilled the storm and fed the crowds. Then they had acknowledged Him instinctively as ‘the Son of God’ (Mat 14:33). Now it was a matter of working out what that actually meant. So these words of Peter well expressed something of what they all believed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 16:16 . As was to be expected from his impetuous character, his personal superiority, as well as from the future standing already assigned him in Joh 1:43 , Peter ( , Chrysostom) assumes the part of spokesman, and in a decided and solemn manner (hence: , the higher, and not, as in Mat 14:33 , the merely theocratic meaning of which the apostle could as yet but dimly apprehend, it being impossible for him to understand it in all its clearness till after the resurrection, comp. note on Rom 1:4 ) declares Jesus to be the Messiah ( ), the Son of the living God ( , in contrast to the dead idols of the heathen). Both elements combined, the work and the person constituted then, as they do always, the sum of the Christian confession . Comp. Mat 26:63 ; Joh 11:27 ; Joh 20:31 ; Php 2:11 ; 1Jn 2:22 f. Observe the climax at the same time; “nam cognitio de Jesu, ut est filius Dei , sublimior est quam de eodem, ut est Christus ,” Bengel.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Ver. 16. Simon Peter answered, &c. ] As the mouth of the company, and one that being, haply, older, and surely bolder than the rest, spake thus for them. But what a foul mouth of blasphemy opened those two popes (Peter’s pretended successors), Leo I and Nicholas III, that boasted that Peter was taken into fellowship of the individual Trinity? a Neither can that be excused that Jerome commenteth on the former verses (“Whom do men say that I am?” “But whom say ye that I am?”) that our Saviour there purposely opposeth his disciples to men, to intimate that they were something more than men. This is something like that note of a Latin expositor upon Exo 30:31 , where, because it is said, Exo 30:32 ; “Upon man’s flesh the holy ointment shall not be poured, thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons therewith,” thence infers that priests are angels, and have not human flesh. These were human glosses, and savoured as little of God’s meaning as that unsavoury speech of Peter, Mat 16:22 ; of this chapter, for the which he heareth, “Get thee behind me, Satan; thou savourest not,” &c.
Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God ] b A short confession, but such as in few containeth whatsoever we believe concerning the person and office of Christ, Brevis et longa planeque aurea est haec confessio. Well may we say of it, as St Bartholomew (quoted by Dionysius) did of the doctrine of Divinity, that it is , little and yet large.
a Petrum in consortium individuae Trinitatis assumptum iactarunt. Revius.
b . Singulae dictiones suos habent articulos adiectos. Aret.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] , , ; , Chrysost. Hom. liv. 1, p. 546. The confession is not made in the terms of the other answer: it is not ‘we say’ or ‘I say,’ but Thou art. It is the expression of an inward conviction wrought by God’s Spirit. The excellence of this confession is, that it brings out both the human and the divine nature of the Lord: is the Messiah, the Son of David, the anointed King: is the Eternal Son, begotten of the Eternal Father, not ‘Son of God’ in any inferior figurative sense, not one of the sons of God, of angelic nature, but THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, having in Him the Sonship and the divine nature in a sense in which they could be in none else . This was a view of the Person of Christ quite distinct from the Jewish Messianic idea, which appears to have been (Justin Mart. Dial. 48, p. 144) that he should be a man born from men, but selected by God for the office on account of his eminent virtues. This distinction accounts for the solemn blessing pronounced in the next verse.
must not for a moment be taken here as it sometimes is used, (e.g. ref. Acts,) as merely distinguishing the true God from dead idols; it is here emphatic, and imparts force and precision to .
That Peter, when he uttered the words, understood by them in detail all that we now understand, is not of course here asserted: but that they were his testimony to the true Humanity and true Divinity of the Lord, in that sense of deep truth and reliance, out of which springs the Christian life of the Church.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 16:16 . : now as always spokesman for the Twelve. There may be deeper natures among them (John?), but he is the most energetic and outspoken, though withal emotional rather than intellectual; strong, as passionate character is, rather than with the strength of thought, or of a will steadily controlled by a firm grasp of great principles: not a rock in the sense in which St. Paul was one. : “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” in Mk. simply “Thou art the Christ,” in Lk. “the Christ of God”. One’s first thought is that Mk. gives the original form of the reply; and yet in view of Peter’s vehement temperament one cannot be perfectly sure of that. The form in Mt. certainly answers best to the reply of Jesus, vide on Mat 16:17 . In any case the emphasis lies on that which is common to the three reports: the affirmation of the Christhood of Jesus. That was what differentiated the disciples from the favourably disposed multitude. The latter said in effect: at most a forerunner of Messiah, probably not even that, only a prophet worthy to be named alongside of the well-known prophets of Israel. The Twelve through Peter said: not merely a prophet or a forerunner of the Messiah, but the Messiah Himself. The remainder of the reply in Mt., whether spoken by Peter, or added by the evangelist (to correspond, as it were, to Son of Man in Mat 16:13 ), is simply expansion or epexegesis. If spoken by Peter it serves to show that he spoke with emotion, and with a sense of the gravity of the declaration. The precise theological value of the added clause cannot be determined.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
the Christ = the Messiah. The 1611 edition of the Authorized Version reads “Thou art Christ”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] , , ; , Chrysost. Hom. liv. 1, p. 546. The confession is not made in the terms of the other answer: it is not we say or I say, but Thou art. It is the expression of an inward conviction wrought by Gods Spirit. The excellence of this confession is, that it brings out both the human and the divine nature of the Lord: is the Messiah, the Son of David, the anointed King: is the Eternal Son, begotten of the Eternal Father, not Son of God in any inferior figurative sense, not one of the sons of God, of angelic nature, but THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, having in Him the Sonship and the divine nature in a sense in which they could be in none else. This was a view of the Person of Christ quite distinct from the Jewish Messianic idea, which appears to have been (Justin Mart. Dial. 48, p. 144) that he should be a man born from men, but selected by God for the office on account of his eminent virtues. This distinction accounts for the solemn blessing pronounced in the next verse.
must not for a moment be taken here as it sometimes is used, (e.g. ref. Acts,) as merely distinguishing the true God from dead idols; it is here emphatic, and imparts force and precision to .
That Peter, when he uttered the words, understood by them in detail all that we now understand, is not of course here asserted: but that they were his testimony to the true Humanity and true Divinity of the Lord, in that sense of deep truth and reliance, out of which springs the Christian life of the Church.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 16:16. , answering) Peter everywhere, from the warmth of his disposition, took the lead among the apostles in speaking.- , Simon Peter) On this solemn occasion his name and surname are joined. It is clear that Simon acknowledged, the Son of God more quickly and fully, and outshone his fellow-disciples.- , Thou art) He says firmly, Thou art, not I say that Thou art. It behoved that Peter should first believe this, and then hear it on the Mount of Transfiguration; see ch. Mat 17:5. Peter had already uttered a similar confession; see Joh 6:69; but this is mentioned with greater distinction, since he delivered it after so many temptations,[736] on being so solemnly interrogated.- , , the Christ, the Son of the living God) These two appellations, therefore, are not exactly synonymous, as John Locke[737] pretended, though the one is implied in the other (see Act 9:20); and there is a gradation here; for the knowledge of Jesus as the Son of God is sublimer than that of Him as the Christ.
[736] Joh 7:10.-E. B.
[737] The Author of the Essay concerning The human understanding; born at Wrington in 1632, died in 1704.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Thou: Mat 14:33, Mat 26:63, Mat 27:54, Psa 2:7, Mar 14:61, Joh 1:49, Joh 6:69, Joh 11:27, Joh 20:31, Act 8:37, Act 9:20, Rom 1:4, Heb 1:2-5, 1Jo 4:15, 1Jo 5:5, 1Jo 5:20
the living: Deu 5:26, Psa 42:2, Dan 6:26, Act 14:15, 1Th 1:9
Reciprocal: Deu 32:4 – the Rock Jos 3:10 – living Psa 27:5 – set me Psa 125:1 – but abideth Pro 22:12 – eyes Jer 10:10 – the living Mat 10:2 – Simon Mat 16:22 – began Mar 3:16 – Simon Mar 5:7 – Son Mar 8:29 – Thou Luk 2:11 – which Luk 9:20 – The Joh 1:34 – this Joh 9:35 – the Son Joh 17:25 – these Joh 20:6 – General Rom 4:11 – father 1Co 12:3 – no man 2Co 1:19 – the Son 2Co 3:3 – the living Phi 3:8 – the excellency 1Ti 3:15 – the living Heb 12:22 – of the 1Jo 5:1 – believeth Rev 20:9 – and compassed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:16
Jesus had addressed his question to all of the apostles, but it would not be expected that all of them would speak at once in answering the question. Peter was generally the spokseman for the others, and if what he said did not agree with them they would have made it known. The reply that Peter gave to the question embraced all that Jesus claimed to be. The word Christ means “anointed” and as it applied in this case it meant that Jesus was the one that God would recognize as a ruler in the kingdom. The Son is equivalent to the phrase “only begotten Son” in Joh 3:16. God has numerous sons from a spiritual standpoint, but Jesus is the only one who is the offspring of the person of God. The living God signifies that he is not the offspring of the idol gods for they are lifeless objects.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 16:16. Simon Peter; answering for the others as well as for himself.
Thou art the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the living God. Peters reply is a decided, solemn, profound confession, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God in a specific sense. This specific sense is clearly vindicated: (1.) by the presence of the article, which otherwise might have been omitted: (2.) by the addition of the phrase itself, otherwise unnecessary, since the confession of His Messiahship includes all lower ideas; (3.) from the word living, which is not opposed to dead idols, but indicates that God is the source of all life, and that His Son is the fountain of life to men; (4) from the declaration that God had revealed this to Peter, since men of themselves readily form lower conceptions of Christ. This is the germ of the true and full statement respecting the Divine Human Person of Christ. The germ itself was a revelation, and its development was through subsequent revelation to the Apostles. The doctrine of Christs Person is not the result of human speculation, but a truth revealed by the Father of our Lord respecting His only Begotten Son. As at the beginning of His ministry our Lord received an attestation from man (John the Baptist) preceding the attestation of His Son-ship from heaven (chap. Mat 3:17), so at this turning-point a confession from man precedes the renewed attestation from heaven on the mount of Transfiguration (chap. Mat 17:5).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 16
The Christ; the promised Messiah.