Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 16:20
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
20. they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ ] Lest the Galilan enthusiasm should endeavour to make Him a king.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 20. Then charged he his disciples] , he strictly charged them. Some very good MSS. have , he severely charged-comminatus est,-he threatened. These are the readings of the Cod. Bezae, both in the Greek and Latin.
The Christ.] The common text has Jesus the Christ; but the word Jesus is omitted by fifty-four MSS., some of which are not only of the greatest authority, but also of the greatest antiquity. It is omitted also by the Syriac, later Persic, later Arabic, Slavonic, six copies of the Itala, and several of the fathers. The most eminent critics approve of this omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text in both his editions. I believe the insertion of it here to be wholly superfluous and improper; for the question is, Who is this Jesus? Peter answers, He is, , the Messiah. The word Jesus is obviously improper. What our Lord says here refers to Peter’s testimony in Mt 16:16: Thou art the Christ – Jesus here says, Tell no man that I am the Christ, i.e. the MESSIAH; as the time for his full manifestation was not yet come; and he was not willing to provoke the Jewish malice, or the Roman envy, by permitting his disciples to announce him as the Saviour of a lost world. He chose rather to wait, till his resurrection and ascension had set this truth in the clearest light, and beyond the power of successful contradiction.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We met with some charges of this nature before, given to those whom he had miraculously cured, that they should tell no man of it, Mat 8:4; 9:30; but this seemeth to differ from them. There he only forbade the publication of his miracles; here he forbids them preaching that Jesus was the Christ, a doctrine necessary to be believed in order to peoples salvation. We are not able to give an account of all our Saviours particular actions.
1. We are sure this was a precept but of a temporary force and obligation, for we know that afterward they did sufficiently publish this abroad, only for a time he would not have it published by his disciples. We cannot certainly determine whether he forbade them;
a) Because they were not as yet fit to publish so great a truth. Or;
b) Because the time was not yet come for the publication of it. Or;
c) He would not have it published till he rose again from the dead, having triumphed over death, lest people, hearing of it before, should have had their faith shaken by his death; which seemeth very probable, because in the next words he begins to speak of his death.
d) That he might hereby (as much as might be) avoid the odium and envy of the Pharisees. Or;
e) That himself might publish first this great truth of the gospel, and confirm it by his miracles.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. Then charged he his disciplesthat they should tell no man that he was Jesus the ChristNowthat He had been so explicit, they might naturally think the timecome for giving it out openly; but here they are told it had not.
Announcement of His ApproachingDeath and Rebuke of Peter (Mt16:21-28).
The occasion here is evidently thesame.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then charged he his disciples,…. When Peter had so freely and fully confessed him to be the Messiah, and which was the sense of all the disciples; and when Christ had expressed his approbation of his confession, and had promised such great and excellent things upon it, he gave a strict charge unto his disciples,
that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. The word Jesus is not in some copies; and is left out in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions; nor does it seem absolutely necessary; it was enough to charge them to tell no man that he was the Messiah: his reasons for it might be, lest his enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees, should be the more provoked and incensed against him, and seek his death before his time; and lest the jealousy of the Romans should be stirred up, who might fear he would set up himself against Caesar, as king of the Jews, which might lead them to take measures obstructive of his further designs; and lest some persons, hearing of this, should rise and proclaim him king of the Jews, who were big with the notion of the Messiah being a temporal prince: and moreover, because the disciples were to attest the truth of this after his resurrection; and he chose, for the present, that the people should collect this from his own ministry and miracles, which were sufficient to lead them into the knowledge of it, without any declarations of their’s: and though they were possessed of true faith in him, as such, for themselves, as yet they had not the gifts and abilities to defend those doctrines respecting his person, and his offices, they had after the Spirit was poured down upon them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That they should tell no man ( ). Why? For the very reason that he had himself avoided this claim in public. He was the Messiah ( ), but the people would inevitably take it in a political sense. Jesus was plainly profoundly moved by Peter’s great confession on behalf of the disciples. He was grateful and confident of the final outcome. But he foresaw peril to all. Peter had confessed him as the Messiah and on this rock of faith thus confessed he would build his church or kingdom. They will all have and use the keys to this greatest of all buildings, but for the present they must be silent.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Having given a proof of his future glory, Christ reminds his disciples of what he must suffer, that they also may be prepared to bear the cross; for the time was at hand when they must enter into the contest, to which he knew them to be altogether unequal, if they had not been fortified by fresh courage. And first of all, it was necessary to inform them that Christ must commence his reign, not with gaudy display, not with the magnificence of riches, not with the loud applause of the world, but with an ignominious death. But nothing was harder than to rise superior to such an offense; particularly if we consider the opinion which they firmly entertained respecting their Master; for they imagined that he would procure for them earthly happiness. This unfounded expectation held them in suspense, and they eagerly looked forward to the hour when Christ would suddenly reveal the glory of his reign. So far were they from having ever adverted to the ignominy of the cross, that they considered it to be utterly unsuitable that he should be placed in any circumstances from which he did not receive honor. (459) To them it was a distressing occurrence that he should be rejected by the elders and the scribes, who held the government of the Church; and hence we may readily conclude that this admonition was highly necessary. But as the bare mention of the cross must, of necessity, have occasioned heavy distress to their weak minds, he presently heals the wound by saying, that on the third day he will rise again from the dead. And certainly, as there is nothing to be seen in the cross but the weakness of the flesh, till we come to his resurrection, in which the power of the Spirit shines brightly, our faith will find no encouragement or support. In like manner, all ministers of the Word, who desire that their preaching may be profitable, ought to be exceedingly careful that the glory of his resurrection should be always exhibited by them in connection with the ignominy of his death.
But we naturally wonder why Christ refuses to accept as witnesses the Apostles, whom he had already appointed to that office; for why were they sent but to be the heralds of that redemption which depended on the coming of Christ? The answer is not difficult, if we keep in mind the explanations which I have given on this subject: first, that they were not appointed teachers for the purpose of bearing full and certain testimony to Christ, but only to procure disciples for their Master; that is, to induce those who were too much the victims of sloth to become teachable and attentive; and; secondly, that their commission was temporary, for it ended when Christ himself began to preach. As the time of his death was now at hand, and as they were not yet fully prepared to testify their faith, but, on the contrary, were so weak in faith, that their confession of it would have exposed them to ridicule, the Lord enjoins them to remain silent till others shall have acknowledged him to be the conqueror of death, and till he shall have endued them with increased firmness.
(459) “ Que rien luy peust advenir qui ne fust honorable et magnifique;” — “that any thing should happen to him which was not honorable and magnificent.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat. 16:20. Tell no man.Jesus had not, even to His Apostles, said that He was the Christ, but He left it that they might discover it themselves from the testimony of facts. It was not suitable, therefore, that that should be openly told by the Apostles to others before His resurrection which was to corroborate the whole testimony to the fact of His being the Christ. For he who injudiciously propounds a mystery to those who do not comprehend it, injures both himself and others. Had they done so, those who believed in any way that Jesus was the Christ might have sought for an earthly kingdom with seditious uproar; whilst the rest, and by far the greater number, might have rejected such a Messiah at that time more vehemently, and have been guilty of greater sin in crucifying Him, so as to have the door of repentance less open to them for the future. Afterwards the Apostles openly bore witness to this truth (Bengel).
Mat. 16:21. From that time forth.An important note of time. Now that the disciples have learned to acknowledge Jesus to be the Messiah, He is able to instruct them in the true nature of His kingdom (Carr).
Mat. 16:22. Then.And (R.V.). We should do injustice to the reality, were we to imagine that in a moment or two after Peters noble confession, our Lord abruptly said all He had to say about the tragedy that was looming in the distance; and that in a moment or two later, Peter acted the part that is now about to be narrated. It is the salient points of many, and perhaps of lengthened, conversations, that alone jut up into view in the narrative of the Evangelist (Morison). Took Him.I.e. aside. Began.But the gracious Lord rose up in majesty and interrupted him. Be it far from Thee.God forbid! (Doddridge).
Mat. 16:23. He turned.See Mar. 8:33. Get thee behind Me, Satan.If the words of the tempter are in Peters mouth he is addressed as the tempter; when he speaks the words of truth he is the foundation-stone of the church (Carr). An offence.Literally, My stumbling-block; by suggesting visions of earthly pride (ibid.). Thou savourest.Mindest (R.V.). Thou art carried away by human views of the way of setting up Messiahs kingdom, quite contrary to those of God (Brown).
Mat. 16:24. Take up his cross.These words, which the disciples had heard before (Mat. 10:38), were now clothed with a new meaning.
Mat. 16:25. Whosoever will save his life, etc.See note on Mat. 10:39.
Mat. 16:27. Works.Doing (R.V. marg.). The word is put in the singular, for the whole life of man is one doing (Bengel). The total outward manifestation of his inner life as a believer or unbeliever (Lange).
Mat. 16:28. There be some standing here, etc.The expression is referred to:
1. The Transfiguration.
2. The Day of Pentecost.
3. The Fall of Jerusalem. The last best fulfils the conditions of interpretationa judicial cominga signal and visible event, and one that would happen in the lifetime of some, but not all, who were present (Carr). Our Saviour refers, though in an indefinite way, to the establishment and extension of His kingdom, and the manifestation of Himself as the victorious King, that took place when Jerusalem and Judaismboth thoroughly corrupted to the corewere overturned (Morison).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 16:20-28
A sudden descent.Most unexpected must have been the opening words of this passage to those who heard them first. One of their number had just openly confessed Jesus as Christ; and had been just as openly commended for doing so; and been encouraged also, in consequence, by many promises with regard to the future (Mat. 16:16-19). Yet now, on the other hand, with regard to the futureto the immediate future at any rate, if not to anything morethey are all solemnly admonished, and even charged to do nothing of the kind. Do not confess Me before men. So Mat. 16:20, in effect. Some of the reasons for this unexpected injunction are what come next in the story; and are such as appear to turn first, on what was about to be true of Jesus Himself, and, secondly, on what was about be true of His disciples.
I. About the Saviour Himself.This, for example, was true of Him, on the one hand, viz., that He would have to suffer and die. In various ways before now He had obscurely hinted at this (Joh. 2:19; Mat. 12:40). Now He plainly shows it to them (Mat. 16:21) in so many words. In what place; by whose hands; in how many ways; and to how extreme a length He was thus to suffer is shown (Mat. 16:21). Also how, in a certain sense, these were things that must be. Of one mitigation only, and that of a most mysterious kind (end of Mat. 16:21) does He make mention. All else here foretold of Him was of the gloomiest possible kind. They must prepare themselves from that time to think of Him as an eminently suffering Man. On the other hand, it was true about Him, also, that He meant to accept this to the full. This resolution of His is brought out in a highly noteworthy manner. When that forward disciple who had just before stood out from the rest to confess Him as Christ, hears this (as it clearly was to him) most extraordinary announcement, He cannot receive it fit all. On the contrary, it is something which seems to him as far as possible from what is fitting. What can the Master be thinking of to speak in that way? He even takes upon himself to chide Him () for what He has said. Why speak in this way? Why talk thus about must? Surely there is some other and less painful way of doing Thy work? Such appears to have been the inward spirit of this most unbecoming reproof. Apparently, if we may say so, it touched the Saviour in a very sensitive part. Once before, the great adversary had approached Him in a virtually similar way. Only worship me, he had said, and Thou shalt be at once, and with ease, all thou deservest to be to mankind (Mat. 4:8-9). Once again, therefore, and with the same vehemence as previously (Mat. 4:10), He bids the adversary begoneeven going so far as to address Peter himself by that name, and speaking now of that chosen stone as a rock of offence, and declaring of that once God-instructed witness (end of Mat. 16:17) that he was now taught from below (Mat. 16:23). So resolved is the Saviour to let nothing stand between His appointed sufferings and Himself.
II. About the Saviours disciples.That they must be prepared, first, on their part, for a similar kind of experience. A similar experience, not necessarilynot possibly, indeed, in some respectsof the very same kind. This was true of all those who would be His disciples indeed. If any man makes up his mind to come after Me, he must make up his mind also to meet the kind of things which I meet with Myself (Mat. 16:24). He must be as resolved in his way as I am in Mine. He must deny himself and take up his cross as you see Me taking up Mine. Only so can he follow Me and walk in My steps. That they will find it, next, well worth while to do so. To see this let them consider, in the first place, the nature of the alternative before them. Not thus to deny themselves in some things would be, in effect, to lose allto lose ones life, which is more than all elseto lose that for which there is no possible compensation. Better never have such a gift at all than thus to have and to lose it. Let them consider, next, the certainty of this statement. For who is to decide this in the end save He who is speaking? In whose awful name, also, and with what holy assessors, will this be done on His part? (Mat. 16:27). And on what principles, finally, in that day of days will the issue be made to depend? Is it not, in fact, on that very principle of which He has assured them just now, viz., that as a man sows so shall he reap? (end Mat. 16:27). Better, therefore, give up anything than be on the wrong side on that day. Also, let them understandso, perhaps, in conclusionthat that most momentous of days was nearer in some ways than many persons imagined. At any rate, there were some standing there at that moment, who, before the little span of their lives should come to its close, would see that which might be regarded as such a second coming of Christ (Mat. 16:28; see also 2Pe. 1:16-18).
The passage thus treated shows us:
1. How much these disciples had to be taught.Their Master was destined and resolved to endure what they, at that time, could hardly endure to hear mentioned. Things were to become realities both about Him and themselves which had no place as yet in their dreams. How wise of the Saviour, therefore, and how considerate, thus to teach them these things beforehand (cf. Luk. 14:28). Even with all He did in this way from this present beginning of doing so (Mat. 16:21), how all but fatal to the faith of some of them were the things foretold when they came (see Luk. 24:21, we trustedwe used to trustthat He should redeem Israel). What a key there is in all this, therefore, to the constancy, and continuity, and earnestness with which the Saviour from this time forth begins to show forth His death. Not until they had learned very much more both about Him and themselves would they be either fit or able to confess Him before men.
2. How very unlikely that many of the Saviours present disciples should know much about the future.At any rate in regard to anything more than its more conspicuous and ultimate features. We may judge this from what we see here of these personal disciples of Jesus. Also from what ought to be evident to us of the nature of the case. Gods plans are too wide, His purposes are too deep, our experience is too scanty, and even the light He has given us is too partial (1Co. 13:12) and mysterious to allow of any but directly inspired men being safe guides on such points. Not improbably, the most unfitted of all for such semi-prophetical work are those who suppose themselves the most fit. Certainly this experience of St. Peter rather points in that line.
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat. 16:21. Christ foretelling His death and resurrection.
1. Our Lord was not ignorant of what He was to suffer ere it came, nor ignorant of the outgate appointed for Him, how He should be killed and raised again.
2. Whose would look rightly on Christs sufferings must also look unto His outgate and victory over the samehe must look on His raising as well as His killing.David Dickson.
Christs sufferings.
I. The scene.Jerusalem.
II. The instruments.The rulers of the ration.
III. The climax.Death.
IV. The issue.His resurrection.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Why Christ suffered.
I. The Divine necessity, as expressed in that solemn must.
II. Christs willing acceptance of that necessity.Go. The necessity was no external compulsion, driving Him to an unwelcome sacrifice, but one imposed alike by filial obedience and by brotherly love. He must die because He would save.Ibid.
Mat. 16:22-23. Mistaken views of good men.Founded upon:
I. Error of Judgment.
II. Lack of knowledge.Why should the innocent Jesus suffer?
III. Misguided affection.Far from Thee, etc. Men often are biassed in their views of the sins, sufferings, and future of others by their affections.J. C. Gray.
Mat. 16:23. Christs reproof of Peter.
1. Our Lord so loved to work out our redemption that He could not endure to be any way hindered; therefore, saith He, Get thee behind Me.
2. What Satan cannot do immediately, he will essay to do by instruments. Christ findeth him out here, saying, Get thee behind Me, Satan.
3. Naturally a man savoureth not things spiritual, neither knoweth them, nor loveth them, if they be told him.
4. We should, in temptations beware of Satan, whoever be the instrument, and the more impudently we be tempted unto sin, we should the more stoutly and peremptorily resist, as Christ did, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan.
5. After a man hath been much lifted up in consolation, he may readily miscarry, and fall in some offence, as Peters case is here, compared with Mat. 16:16.
6. A man may be a stumbling-block unto others, albeit he do not intend it, for to Peter it is said, Thou art an offence.
7. Apparent good counsel from a carnal friend may readily carry some temptation in the bosom of it, as Peters counsel here doth; and sin will serve Satans turn, wherever he find it, whether in the godly or wicked, for Peters corruption here is Satans instrument fit enough for the time.David Dickson.
Mat. 16:24. Self-denial.Self-denial is the foundation of godliness; and if this be not well laid the whole building will fall. Self-denial is the thread which must run along the whole work of religion. To deny signifies to lay aside, to put off, to annihilate ones self. Beza renders it, let him renounce himself. Self is taken four ways.
1. Worldly self, i.e. his estate (Mat. 19:27).
2. Relative self, i.e. his dearest relations if God calls (Luk. 14:26).
3. Natural self; he must be willing to become a sacrifice, and make Christs crown flourish, though it be in his ashes (Rev. 12:11).
4. Carnal self. This I take to be the chief sense of the text.
I. He must deny self-ease (2Ti. 2:3).
II. He must deny self-opinion.
III. He must deny self-confidence.Peters self-confidence undid him (Mat. 26:33-34).
IV. He must deny self-wisdom (2Co. 1:12; Jas. 3:17).
V. He must deny self-will (2Pe. 2:10).
VI. He must deny self-reasonings.Consider:
1. Whatever you deny for Christ, you shall find again in Christ (Mat. 19:29).
2. Tis but equity that you should deny yourselves for Christ; did not Jesus Christ deny Himself for you?
3. Self-denial is the highest sign of a thorough-paced Christian. I have read of a holy man who was once tempted by Satan. Why takest thou all this pains, saith he; thou watchest, and fastest, and abstainest from sin; O man, what doest thou more than I? Art thou no drunkard, no adulterer? No more am I. Dost thou watch? Let me tell thee, I never slept. Dost thou fast? I never eat. What doest thou more than I? Why, saith the good man, I will tell thee, Satan; I pray, I serve the Lord, nay, more than all, I deny myself. Nay then, saith Satan, thou goest beyond me, for I exalt myself, and so vanished.
4. To deny yourself is what others have done before you (Heb. 11:8; Heb. 11:25).
5. If you do not deny the world for Christ, the world will deny you, and, what is worse, Christ will deny you (Mat. 10:33).Thomas Watson.
Self-denial.
I. Inquire what self-denial is.
1. It is not to deny what a man is or has, what he truly is, and what he really has, for that would be a falsehood; in this sense God cannot deny Himself (2Ti. 2:13); not His nature, and the perfections of it; or do, or affirm anything contrary thereunto. So a man ought not to deny himself as a man, nor the rational powers which he is possessed of. If God has bestowed internal endowments on men, gifts and talents, qualified for public service and usefulness, some way or another, they are to own them and use them; and not to wrap them in a napkin or hide them in the earth, which is interpretatively to deny that they have them. Nor should a truly good and gracious man deny what he is and has, but acknowledge it, and how by grace he came by it.
2. To deny a mans self is not to refuse favours conferred on him in a course of Providence, nor to neglect a lawful use of them, nor to take care of himself and of his affairs.
3. Self-denial does not require that a man should refuse temporal honours and riches bestowed on him in a Providential way.
4. Nor are the creatures of God, and the use of them, to be rejected (1Ti. 4:4).
5. Nor should a man be careless of his life, and health, and family, though he should not be anxiously careful for life, nor food and raiment, to support and secure it.
6. There is a self-love which is not criminal, nor contrary to the grace of self-denial (Eph. 5:29).
7. Nor is it self-denial, or any part of it, to abuse the body in any respect; not even on religious accounts. Self-denial lies in a mans renouncing, foregoing, and postponing all his pleasures, profits, relations, interests, and whatever he enjoys, which may be in competition with Christ, from love to Him, and to be given up at His command. A self-denying Christian is made willing to part:
1. With natural and civil self, with things relative both to soul and body, of which a mans self consists.
2. Another branch of self-denial lies in denying sinful self; this lesson not nature but grace teaches, even to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, which includes all kinds of sin; internal lusts and external actions of sin; sins of heart, lip, and life; everything that is contrary to God and His righteous law.
3. Another branch of self-denial is to deny righteous self, which is not to refuse to do works of righteousness for necessary uses, to glorify God, to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour; but to deny righteous self is to renounce all trust in and dependence on a mans own righteousness for justification before God, and acceptance with Him, and to submit to the righteousness of Christ, and depend upon that for such purposes (Php. 3:6-9).
II. The arguments or motives to excite to the exercise of this grace of self-denial, in the several branches of it.
1. It is an injunction of Christ on His disciples, even all of them.
2. Christ has not only commanded it, but! He has set an example of it Himself (Php. 2:5-8).
3. The examples of saints in all ages may serve to excite and encourage to it.
4. If a man do not deny himself, as required of God, he sets up himself for God; makes a God for himself, lives to himself and not to God.
5. The loss and gain of not denying, and of denying self, should be considered.Anon.
The imitation of Christ.The command which the text contains is based upon the great principle of the imitation of Christ. Unlike all other legislators, His life is the law of His people. If we would gain the root of the matter, then we must contemplate suffering as manifested in Christ Himself.
I. The great primary fact, upon which all the essential peculiarities of our religion are founded, is that God became strangely, inconceivably connected with pain; that this Being, whose nature is inherent happiness, by some mysterious process entered the regions of suffering, crossed the whole diameter of existence, to find Himself with His own opposite; bore, though incapable of moral pollution, the dark shadow of pollution, even anguish unspeakable; and though unsubdued by the master, Sin, exhibited Himself, to the wonder of the universe, clad in the weeds of the servant, Death. The main reason of this fact is to be found in the necessity of atonement. But the Divine Person also visited the regions of pain in such a sense as to be our Example; for so the text presents Him.
II. Must we not think that there is something in the sorrow, thus cordially and perpetually chosen by our Master, that is eminently adapted to elevate and purify our being?Must there not be something Divinely excellent in that which was deliberately chosen by a Divine nature as its peculiar tabernacle out of all the world afforded, the sad but awful cloud above the mercy-seat in which, while among us, His glory was to dwell? This special excellence is not hard to discover. Humbleness of spirit, the most pervading and universal of all graces, is in the Christian code the very essence of perfection, and sorrow borne with resignation has a direct tendency to produce it. Now, because our Redeemer knew, what it is so hard to persuade even His avowed followers, that in this direction lies the true perfection of manthat a gentle, unmurmuring submission is his truest, brightest heroismtherefore did He, in His own person, adopt the way that leads to it. He daily suffered, because suffering subdues the pride of human hearts, and He would teach us to accomplish that conquest.W. Archer Butler, D.D.
Self-denial is the first law of grace.A number of ministers were once dining together after an ordination, and when one of them seemed unduly attentive to the good things before him, he met with the approval of the host, who said, Thats right! To take care of self is the first law of nature. Yes, sir, said an old minister sitting near, in reply; but to deny self is the first law of grace!
The cross.Every high mission means the cross.W. S. Lilley.
Mat. 16:25. Gaining life by losing it.It is true that with respect to the work man has to do outside himself, the way to do it is to keep it directly in view, aim consciously at it. But the moment you come to the operations of mind or life in man himself, not merely in this higher life Christ speaks of, but in almost any part of his nature, in man himself, the opposite principle comes inthis very principle which seems so paradoxical, the principle that losing the life, letting it go, not thinking of it, is the surest way of saving it. This is not only true with regard to coming to the best for ones soul, it is true of coming to the best even in the commonest faculties and qualities of life. Did you ever try to cross a stream by some rather awkward stepping-stones, or by a rather narrow plank? Or have you tried to walk at some dangerous height? or, in fact, anything requiring a particularly clear, steady head? If you have, you know that it is to be done exactly by not thinking about it. If you begin looking down at the stepping-stones, or at the water, or at the depth beneath you, and thinking about it, and about how you shall go through with it, you are lost. Whereas, if you are so occupied, thinking about something else, that you hardly notice the stepping-stones; if you are on some errand in which you are so eager that you are not thinking of yourselfthat losing yourself is your safety; you may go perfectly safely over places and heights that afterwards, when you do come to think about them, will make you dizzy to look at. There, too, life is safest by not thinking about saving it. Take another matter, the preservation of health. One condition of keeping in good health is not to think about your health, but to be wholesomely occupied with quite other thoughts. Think about your health, begin feeling your pulse, watching your symptoms, considering all the things which might possibly be the matter with you, and you may think yourself into an illness. Why do physicians so often order change of scene and something to distract the mind, but that the patient may be led to lose himself and so find the health which he could not gain while anxiously thinking of himself? And so, when there is some epidemic about, how true you constantly see it that he that will save his life shall lose it. The most dangerous thing of all is to be constantly thinking and scheming how to escape infection. Take reasonable precautions, indeedespecially such precautions as are demanded for the general safetyand then go straight forward. Think of others, not of self.Brooke Herford.
Mat. 16:26. The preciousness of the soul.
I. The soul is very precious.
1. The soul has an intrinsical worth, which appears in
(1) Its spirituality. It is spiritual in its essence (Gen. 2:7), a sparkle lighted by the breath of God; in its object, it contemplates God and heaven; in its operation, it doth not depend upon the body in its working.
(2) Its immortality.
2. The soul has an estimative worth.
(1) Jesus Christ hath set a high value and estimate upon the soul. He made it, He bought it, therefore He best knows the price of it.
(2) Satan doth value souls.
II. The soul is more precious than a world.The world is of a coarser make.
1. If the soul is so precious, see what the worship is that God doth expect and accept, viz., that which comes from the soul (Psa. 25:1).
2. If the soul is so precious, then of what precious account should ordinances and ministers be.
3. Take heed of abusing your souls.Socrates exhorted young men that they should look at their faces in a glass, and if they saw they were fair, they should have a care to do nothing unworthy of their beauty. Christians, God hath given you souls that sparkle with Divine beauty; oh, do nothing unworthy of these souls! They abuse their souls:
(1) That degrade their souls, (a) Panting after the dust of earth (Amo. 2:7). (b) Making their souls lackeys to their bodies.
(2) That sell their souls. (a) The covetous person sells his soul for money. (b) The ambitious person sells his soul for honour. (c) The voluptuous person sells his soul for pleasure.
(3) That poison their souls.
(4) That starve their souls.
4. Take heed you do not lose your souls.
(1) It is a foolish loss, because: (a) There is a possibility of saving the soul, (b) Because we lose the soul for things of no value. (c) Because the man hath himself a hand in the loss.
(2) It is a fatal loss (a) Unparalleled, because so much is lost with it, Christ, the Comforter, heaven, etc. (b) Irreparable, (c) Eternal.
5. Do what you can to save these precious souls.Thos. Watson.
Profit and loss (To young men).You are resolved to gain the world, and I want you to abandon your resolution:
I. On the ground of probable failure.That the pleasures of the world are agreeable I admit; and that its honours are attractive I admit also; and that its riches are desirable I admit besides. But you may not be able to get them for your own. Have you never heard of competition? You may find yourselves outstripped. By untoward circumstances you may find yourselves baffled. By bodily sickness you may find yourselves unmanned. By mental malady you may find yourselves prostrate in the dust. You are embarking, therefore, upon an absolute uncertainty.
II. On the ground of impending unsatisfactoriness.Let our supposition be that you have actually gained, in the particular forms most pleasant to yourselves, the worlds pleasures, and the worlds honours, and the worlds wealth. You have gained the world, but it does not fit you, and by the want of fitness you are vexed; it does not solace you, and by its want of solace you are irritated; it does not assure and reassure you of the future, especially of that future away beyond the grave; and by its want of assurance you are aggrieved.
III. On the ground of inevitable ruin.That old Book tells you that you cannot go in for the world without losing your soul.W. Brock, D.D.
A terrible mistake.I. Let us look at the profit side of the account. If he gain the whole world.
1. What a world of meaning there is in that little word if! It suggests the fact that few, perhaps not one in ten thousand, does gain that portion of the world on which he sets his heart. We see this in the struggle for all kinds of prizes on which men set their hearts.
2. But let us come now and consider the question as if the man were successful. Suppose a man should gain the whole world, what then? Where is the profit? Let us not be unreal enough to make light of worldly prosperity, of happiness, of friendship, of learning, of wealth, of place or power. It is surely well to be above want, to have no undue pressure from without. Who again does not know how the burden of life is lightened by family ties and friendships? And if we think of the blessings of learning, surely no one will dare to despise the man to whom knowledge has unfolded her ample page, rich with the spoils of time! And is there nothing noble in the warriors or the statesmans career?
3. But now comes the grand question. What is the exact profit to the fortunate possessor of all that the world can give of wealth and wisdom, of honour and friendship, and material comfort? Does the possession of wealth add to human happiness? Was David the king happier in his palace with all Israel at his bidding than he was when, as a shepherd boy, he solaced his nights of watchfulness with his harp? Was he not more a man after Gods own heart in that pure, strong youth, than when his soul was led astray by the vanities and vices which became the bane of his later years? But surely wisdom, the pursuit of knowledge, is free from drawbacks. Surely there is deep delight in knowing, yet what saith the wisest of men? In much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Well then, you may say, you will spare us our last sanctuary on earththe warm light of home, and the love of friends? Surely a fathers care, a mothers love, a wifes devotion, a childs trust, a friends proved fidelitysurely these things are all gain? Yes; but do these things endure? Is not decay written on them all?
II. This brings us to consider the loss side of the account. What is it to lose ones own soul? What is the worth of a human soul? Doubtless some souls are of more intrinsic value than others. But to every man his own soul, whatever its value in the estimation of others, is of infinite value to himself. The man who loses his own soul loses himself. The account stands thus: Eternal ages of loss against seventy years of all that the world can give. If duration alone were to be taken into account the mere worldling makes a poor bargain; but the loss will be still more apparent if you consider the nature of the loss sustained. Verily, the soul is lost when its faculties are degraded. Man has been created with a soul capable of pure desires, of holy effort, of loving sacrifice, and therefore capable of communion with the Father of Spirits, who is pure and holy, just and true and loving. If any man degrades his soul till it is dead to love, to truth and purity, what remains? Has he not slain his soul?J. W. King, M.A.
Mat. 16:27. The final advent of Christ.Our attention is here directed to:
I. The Son of man.As the Promised One. As the Manifested One. As the Ascended One.
II. His reappearance on earth.It is predicted. It is possible. It is necessary.
III. His superhuman glory.His herald is glorious. His Person is glorious. His retinue is glorious.
III. His important work.To raise the dead. To change the living. To judge all. To reward each. To resign the reins of government into His Fathers hands.A. Macfarlane.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(20) Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man.We may venture to analyse what we may reverently call the motives of this reticence. Had the disciples gone about, not only as proclaiming the kingdom and as preachers of repentance, but sounding the watchword that the Christ had come, it might not have been difficult for them to gather round Him the homage of excited crowds. It was not such homage, however, that He sought, but that which had its root in a deeper faith. It tended to present a false aspect of His kingdom to the minds of men; it tended also to prevent the consummation to which He was now directing the thoughts of His disciples as the necessary condition of His entering on the glory of His kingdom. The zeal of the multitude to make him a king after their own fashion (Joh. 6:15) was what He deprecated and shunned.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
74. Predictions Of His Own Sufferings And Ultimate Coming To Judge The World, Mat 16:20-28 .
20. Tell no man the Christ At this difficult juncture none but himself could properly preach the Messiahship. See note on Mat 17:9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then he charged the disciples that they should tell no man that he was the Christ.’
Having declared His Messianic purpose Jesus now urged on His disciples the need to not, as yet, proclaim Him as the Messiah to the public. The reason for this was almost certainly because Israel’s view of the Messiah was such that the people might gain the wrong idea and seek to raise men to arms in support of His cause, while the Roman authorities would gather from the claim that He was an insurgent. So it would not only bring down on Him the wrath of Rome, but was also misrepresent the purpose for which He had come. He had come to save and to bless, not to destroy.
It was not that Jesus was not ‘the Anointed One’ (Messiah), for He constantly made clear in one way or another that He was. It was because the expression ‘Messiah’ gave to the people the wrong impression of Him because of men’s misconceptions. It had become a misrepresentation of the truth that it was intended to proclaim, and we must always be ready to drop terms that have begun to give misconceptions. However, once it had been reinterpreted after the resurrection, it would become a central plank in the Gospel. Jesus could then openly be proclaimed as ‘the Christ’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 16:20. Then charged he his disciples, &c. Jesus forbade his disciples to tell any man that he was the Messiah, because he was to suffer the punishment of death;a circumstance, which could not fail to give his followers great offence, as they did not yet understand the nature of his kingdom; for which reason he thought it better to leave every one to form a judgment of his character from his doctrine and miracles, than in all places to assume the title of Messiah publicly under such disadvantages. Or, his meaning may have been, “Because it is determined that the Messiah shall suffer death, it is not proper to assume that title publicly, lest the people, declaring in my behalf, endeavour to prevent the execution of the divine counsel.” The Romans certainly, say some, would not have suffered him to proceed, if he had gone about preaching that he was the king whom the Jews expected; unless he had interfered by his divine and irresistible power. Such an accusation would have been instantly brought against him by the Jews, if they could have heard it out of his own mouth; and if that had been his public doctrine to his followers, which was openly preached by his Apostles after his death, and of which they are accused, Act 17:5-9. Though the magistrates of the world had no great regard to the talk of a king who had suffered death, and appeared no longer upon earth; yet, if our Saviour had openly declared this of himself in his lifetime, with a train ofdisciples and followers everywhere owning and crying him up for their king, the Roman governors of Judea could not have forborne to take notice of it, and to make use of their force against it. In this the Jews were not mistaken, and therefore they made use of it as the strongest accusation, and the likeliest to prevail with Pilate against him, for the taking away his life; it being treason, and an unpardonable offence, which could not escape death from a Roman deputy, without the forfeiture of his own life. See Luk 23:2 and the note on Mat 12:16. Dr. Campbell, following many of the manuscripts, leaves out the word Jesus: then he forbade his disciples to tell any man that he is the Messiah.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 16:20 . ] He appointed, strictly enjoined . Comp. Plat. Rep . p. 535 B; Aristot. Polit . ii. 5; Jdt 11:12 ; 2Ma 14:28 ; Mar 5:43 ; Act 15:24 ; Heb 12:20 .
.] that He Himself is the Messiah . This points back to Mat 16:14 , according to which some one else was looked for as the Messiah, while Jesus was only regarded as His forerunner. The reason of this prohibition is not that He wanted to anticipate any offence that might afterwards arise in consequence of His sufferings (Chrysostom, Euth. Zigabenus), for Jesus quite foresaw His resurrection and , and the effect which these would have upon His followers (Joh 12:32 ); but (see note on Mat 8:4 ) its explanation is to be found in His uniform desire to avoid awakening and fostering sanguine Messianic hopes among the people.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Ver. 20. That they should tell no man ] viz. Till the due time. Everything is beautiful in its season, saith Solomon, Ecc 3:11 . Silence in some cases is a virtue, as here. The disciples might preach that Christ the Son of David was come to save the world; though they might not particularly point him out as the Son of the living God: which when Pilate himself heard he was afraid, saith the text, and sought to deliver him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20. ] See note on ch. Mat 8:4 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 16:20 . (T. R.), “charged” (A. V [97] ) not necessarily with any special emphasis = graviter interdicere , but = monuit (Loesner and Fritzsche). Cf. Heb 12:20 , where a stronger sense seems required. For in [98] [99] here and in Mk. Euthy. gives = to make sure by injunction. : all the disciples are supposed to say amen to Peter’s confession, thinking of God and of Jesus as he thought, though possibly not with equal emphasis of conviction. : no desire to multiply hastily recruits for the new community, supreme regard to quality. Jesus wanted no man to call Him Christ till he knew what he was saying: no hearsay or echoed confession of any value in His eyes. , the same concerning whom current opinions have just been reported (Mat 16:14 ). It was hardly necessary to take pains to prevent the faith in His Messiahship from spreading prematurely in a crude form. Few would call such an one as Jesus Christ, save by the Holy Ghost. The one temptation thereto lay in the generous beneficence of Jesus.
[97] Authorised Version.
[98] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[99] Codex Bezae
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Jesus. All the texts omit this, here, with Syriac.
the Christ = the Messiah. See App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20.] See note on ch. Mat 8:4.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 16:20. , to no one) Jesus had not, even to His apostles, said that He was the Christ, but He left it that they might discover it themselves from the testimony of facts. It was not suitable, therefore, that that should be openly told by the apostles to others before His resurrection, which was to corroborate the whole testimony to the fact of His being the Christ.[753] For he who injudiciously propounds a mystery to those who do not comprehend it, injures both himself and others. Had they done so, those who believed in any way that Jesus was the Christ might have sought for an earthly kingdom with seditious uproar; whilst the rest, and by far the greater number, might have rejected such a Messiah at that time more vehemently, and have been guilty of greater sin in crucifying Him, so as to have had the door of repentance less open to them for the future. Afterwards,[754] the apostles openly bore witness to this truth.- , the Christ) Soon after the disciples had acknowledged and confessed that Jesus was the Christ, He exhibited to them His transfiguration (ch. Mat 17:1-5), and openly spoke of Himself among them as the Christ; see Mar 9:41, and Joh 17:3.
[753] Inasmuch as even Peter himself could hardly have reconciled the doctrine concerning the Son of GOD with that of His Passion.-Harm., p. 369.
[754] And that, too, after the lapse of but a few intervening weeks,-Harm., p. 369.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
charged
The disciples had been proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, i.e. the covenanted King of a kingdom promised to the Jews, and “at hand.” The church, on the contrary, must be built upon testimony to Him as crucified, risen from the dead, ascended, and made “Head over all things to the church.” Eph 1:20-23. The former testimony was ended, the new testimony was not yet ready, because the blood of the new covenant had not yet been shed, but our Lord begins to speak of His death and resurrection Mat 16:21. It is a turning- point of immense significance:
Jesus Omit “Jesus.”
For Another Point of View: See Topic 301192
Additional Factors to Consider See Topic 301207
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
charged: Mat 8:4, Mat 17:9, Mar 8:30, Mar 9:9, Luk 9:21, Luk 9:36
Jesus: Joh 1:41, Joh 1:45, Joh 20:31, Act 2:36, 1Jo 2:22, 1Jo 5:1
Reciprocal: Joh 4:26 – I that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:20
A command similar to this one is in chapter 17:9, except that a certain time was set before which the disciples were not to make the specific announcement of the divinity of Christ. The crowning fact that was to prove that great claim of Jesus was to be his resurrection after three days. The public ministry for the general teaching about the kingdom that was at hand was drawing nearer to its close, and Jesus did not wish to release this fundamental truth unto the world prematurely.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 16:20. That they should tell no man. Until our Lord Himself announced His Messiahship before the Sanhedrin (chap. Mat 26:64), the Christian acknowledgment was to be kept separate from the carnal expectations of the Jews.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, till after his resurrection. It may seem strange, that our Saviour should charge his disciples to tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ, seeing the knowledge of it was so necessary. The reason is conceived to be:
1. Because the glory of his godhead was not to be fully manifested till after his resurrection, and then to be published by himself, and confirmed by his own miracles.
2. Lest the knowledge of it should have hindered his death; for had the rulers known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
Learn, That Christ has his own fit times and proper season, in which he reveals his own mysteries to the world.
3. That Christ was so intent upon his laying down his life for sinners, that he would not have his death hindered by an untimely declaration of his being truly and really God; after his death it was, that he declared himself to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 16:20. Then charged he his disciples Greek, , he strictly charged them: (Luke says, , , having severely charged, or charged with threats, he commanded to tell this to no one:) that he was Jesus the Christ The word Jesus is omitted here in many MSS., some of which are of great authority and great antiquity, and in several ancient versions, and the omission is approved of by some eminent critics. Certainly the insertion of it is superfluous, and apparently improper: for the context shows, that what our Lord forbade them to tell was simply that he was the Christ, that is, the Messiah, or, as Luke expresses it, the Christ of God. This truth, however important to be known and believed, the disciples were not to announce to the people till the grand proof of it was given, namely, his resurrection. Then they were by office to be his witnesses, and to declare openly and publicly that he was the Christ, because then they could do it, not only without suspicion of confederacy, but with greater advantage and better success, as Christ would then be no longer subject to those humbling circumstances and sufferings, and that death, which could not fail to be a great obstruction to mens receiving him as the Messiah, as well as a great stumbling-block in the way of his disciples, but would have taken possession of his kingdom, and given evidence of it, by sending down upon his followers the Holy Ghost, in his extraordinary gifts and operations, to enable them to confirm this testimony. Whereas, had his own disciples publicly declared him to be the Messiah, the king of the Jews, and the Son of God, while he was on earth, as this would have looked like a confederacy between them and their Master, so, on the one hand, it would have encouraged the attempt of a part of the Jews to come and take him by force to make him a king, Joh 6:15, and, on the other, would have provoked both the Jewish rulers and the Roman government. Certainly, says Mr. Locke, the Romans would not have suffered him, if he had gone about preaching that he was the king whom the Jews expected; and such an accusation would have been forwardly brought against him by the Jews, if they could have heard it out of his own mouth, and if that had been his public doctrine to his followers, which was openly preached by his apostles after his death. For though the magistrates of this world paid no great regard to the talk of a king who had suffered death, and appeared no longer anywhere; yet if our Lord had openly declared this of himself in his lifetime, with a train of disciples and followers, everywhere owning and crying him up for their king, the Roman governors of Judea could not have forborne to take notice of it, and to make use of their force against it. The Jews well understood this, and therefore they made use of it, as the strongest accusation, and likeliest to prevail with Pilate against him for the taking away his life, it being treason, and an unpardonable offence, which could not escape death from a Roman deputy, without the forfeiture of his own life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Then He commanded . . . Jesus the Christ. Some Greek MSS. and the Syriac omit the word Jesus. Then the sentence flows more clearly; for all men knew that He was called Jesus, but they did not know that He was Messiah, or Christ, the true Son of God. Christ did not wish the Apostles to preach this doctrine to others, for two reasons; first, because they themselves were not as yet sufficiently instructed and confirmed in it. Secondly, because Christ was about to be put to death by the Jews. Wherefore the Jews would have been scandalised if the Apostles had preached that He was Messiah and God, and would have said to them, Away with your Christ to destruction, Who would make us Deicides-even as the Jews say to Christians now; wherefore, had they once cast away faith in Christ, they would not have hearkened to it any more, even though it had been attested afterwards by miracles. Thus they were to wait for the death, the glory, and the resurrection of Christ; that then they might proclaim Him to be Messiah and the Son of God, and confirm this doctrine by miracles, and persuade the people, as they did at Pentecost (Acts ii.), according to the words: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” (Phil. ii. 9, 10.) Thus S. Jerome: “Preach Me when I shall have suffered those things, since it is not expedient that Christ should be publicly proclaimed, and His majesty made commonly known among the people, when they are about shortly to behold Him scourged and crucified.”
From that time forth began Jesus, &c. Gr. , i.e., from this time in which He had made known to them His Divinity, He began to teach them concerning His Passion and Death. For there are two chief points of faith-namely, Christ’s Divinity, and His Humanity, together with His Cross and Passion, by which He redeemed the world. There was also another reason-lest when the Apostles beheld Christ put to death, they should doubt concerning His Divinity; and He would show them that the two things were not inconsistent. For in this way only could He make perfect satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of Adam and his posterity. Lastly, He wished to instruct men how to imitate Him and bear His cross.
And Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him. Took Him-that is to say, apart-as though more familiarly and secretly he would chide Him out of vehement love, which before the others he did not dare to do. So S. Chrysostom, and Euthymius; and S. Jerome, who comments thus: “Peter did not wish that his confession should be brought to nought, as he had said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ for he did not think that it was possible that the Son of God should be put to death; and so he takes Him into connexion with himself, or leads Him apart that he might not appear to reprove his teacher in the presence of his fellow-disciples, and began to rebuke Him with loving affection, and to say to Him with desire, ‘Be it far from Thee, 0 Lord;’ or-as it is better-in the Greek, ‘Be propitious to Thyself, 0 Lord.'” It will not be, says S. Thomas, that this should have, as it were, a necessary propitiation. And Christ indeed accepted the affection, but reproved the ignorance. Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee. So shameful a death shall not befall Thee; for who can endure that the Son of God should be crucified and put to death? The Greek is , i.e., mayest thou be, or may God be propitious to thee. So the LXX usually translates the Hebrew, hali-la-lach, i.e., let there be prohibition to Thee-as formerly people were wont to say “the gods forbid”-“the gods send better things.” The Syriac is spare Thyself. Peter speaks out of human prudence and affection, not by Divine inspiration as when he said a little before, “Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God,” for here being left to himself he fails, and therefore he is reproved by Christ.
But He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan-thou art an offence unto Me (Syriac, thou art a stumbling-block unto Me), for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. S. Hilary refers the Get thee behind Me to Peter, but the words Satan, thou art an offence unto Me he refers not to Peter, but to the devil, who had suggested to Peter to say, be it far from Thee, 0 Lord. S. Hilary writes thus: “For the Lord, knowing the suggestion of the Satanic craft, saith to Peter, ‘Go thou backward after Me’-i.e., that he should follow the example of His Passion. But He adds against him by whom this speech had been suggested, Thou art an offence unto Me, Satan: for we must not think that the name of Satan and the offence of the stumbling-block are to be applied to Peter after such great words of blessedness and power had been applied to him.” But all other writers join Satan with Get thee behind Me, and consider that the whole was spoken to Peter. Christ therefore saith unto Peter, Get thee behind leave Me-i.e., leave Me, depart hence, get out of My sight; for in this matter thou art not a friend unto Me, but Satan-that is, an adversary (for this is the meaning of the Hebrew “Satan,” and so the Vulgate has it; 2Sa 19:22, and 1Ki 5:4)-and a scandal, that is, a stumbling-block and hindrance to Me; for thou wouldst hinder My Passion, and consequently the redemption and salvation of man, which by My Passion I am about to merit and obtain. So S. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and S. Jerome, who says: “It is My own and My Father’s good pleasure that I should die for the salvation of man, thou considerest only thine own will, and wouldst not that the grain of wheat should fall into the earth so as to bring forth much fruit.” “And therefore,” says S. Thomas, “because thou art contrary to My will thou oughtest to be called an adversary, for Satan is interpreted adversary, or contrary; not, however-as many think-that Satan and Peter are condemned by the same sentence, for to Peter it is said, Get thee behind Me, Satan, ie., thou who art contrary to My will, follow thou Me. But to Satan it is said, Get thee hence, Satan; and it is not said to him ‘behind me,’ that it may be understood, Go away into everlasting fire.” Calvin and his followers object that Christ here calls Peter Satan; therefore He a little previously did not call him the rock, nor appoint him the head of the Church. S. Jerome answers that Peter was called Satan (that is, an adversary) only for the particular time in which he withstood Christ, who was willing to suffer and be crucified, but that he was appointed a rock, not for the time then present, but for the future; namely, that after Christ’s death and resurrection he should become the rock and head of the Church. Secondly, S. Augustine (Serm. 13, de Verb. Dom. secundum Matth.) and Theophylact reply, that Peter is called blessed, and constituted the rock of the Church, inasmuch as being enlightened by the revelation of God, he had confessed Christ the Son of the Living God, and therefore had been by Him appointed the rock of the Church; but that he is here called Satan so far as he, departing from God and God’s decree (of which he was ignorant), followed human affection, on account of which he was unwilling that Christ-whom he loved so much-should die. Moreover, the fifth cumenical Council of Constantinople, in a constitution of Pope Vigilius, pronounces an anathema against those who explain the words of Christ (Get thee behind Me, Satan) to have been spoken to Peter, lest the mind of Christ, being perturbed by his dissuasion, should avoid the Passion, so that by His Passion He might be profitable to Himself, and who therefore do not believe that His death purchased the rewards of eternal life for us. In a similar way, blessed Peter Damian (l. 1, Epist. xvi. to Pope Alex. II) calls Cardinal Hildebrand, who afterwards became Pope Gregory VII., “his holy Satan.” Satan, because he opposed his refusing the cardinalate and returning to his Camaldolese hermitage; holy, because he did it with a holy purpose, namely, because he saw that the work of Peter was very useful to the Church.
For thou savourest not, &c.; Arab. thou thinkest not; Gr. , i.e., thou understandest not, thou dost not receive, nor approve with thine intellect and thine affections the things which are pleasing to God, but the things which human prudence, that is to say, flesh and blood, suggests. This was the fount and the cause of Peter’s error, and of all other men, that Thou savourest not. For thou wouldst consider My body and My life, and wouldst provide for human consolation contrary to God’s decree, whereby He has most wisely appointed that I should die for the salvation of men. Thus men sin when they prefer the weak judgment of the flesh to the wise and lofty judgment of God. For, “the animal man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him, and he cannot understand them.”
(1Cor 2:14).
Then Jesus said, &c. This medicine of self-denial and the cross Christ opposes to natural love, which Peter had shown to Christ when he would have hindered His Passion. Therefore He spake this not to Peter only, but to the other Apostles, yea even to the multitude, as Mark says (viii. 34). This is a sort of axiom of Christ’s school, if any one will come after Me, &c. It means, says Chrysostom, “Thou, 0 Peter, suggestest unto Me, spare Thy life, be propitious to Thyself, but I say to thee that not only is it hurtful to thee to keep Me from My Passion, but not even thyself canst be saved, unless thou shalt suffer and renounce thy life. Christ gives three commands, first, let a man deny himself; second, 1et him take up the cross; third, let him follow Me.”
If any man will, &c. Christ does not compel, nor use violence, says S. Chrysostom, but invites the willing, and kindly allures and draws them. For who would not long and burn to follow Christ, the Son of God? But as God bids all follow Christ, so likewise He bids them freely choose and embrace self denial. Again Christ draws all men, when He says “come after Me.” He means, ye will not be the first in the cross, in death, in martyrdom. I, your Captain, will go before you; wherefore follow Me because I will precede you, not only by My example, but by My help, and I will make you certain of victory and the crown, if only ye will follow Me and earnestly co-operate with My grace. Thus Cato going before his soldiers through the sands of Lybia, said, “Have experience of your perils by mine. I will command nothing except what I do myself first.”
Let him deny himself: i.e., Let him put away from him his own judgment, and human affection. For this is the dearest to a man of all things, by which man is delighted and fed, so that he thinks it is man himself. For man is that which flourishes and lives in man. He bids therefore that every one should mortify his natural affections, so far as they are repugnant to the will of God.
Christ, as it were, says to Peter, Be thou willing to act in all thy judgments, desires, affections, and notably in the death of the cross as God hath appointed for thee, that thou mayest embrace that will, although nature and natural affection would dread it, and flee from it according to the words, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (John xxi. 18). Whence Origen explains let him deny himself to mean, Let him deny his life by undergoing death for the sake of faith in Me, even as I undergo the death of the cross for God’s sake. After a like manner let every believer deny himself, i.e., his own desires, his own imaginations, his own human reasonings, his own will; and let him conform it in all things to the will of God. So too with regard to his senses, so far as they desire things forbidden by God, let him say, I will not see, or hear, or taste those things, because I wish to follow the law of God, and to please God, and not to give satisfaction to my carnal appetites.
S. Gregory observes, (Hom. 32 in Evang.) Christ does not say, Let him deny his riches, but let him deny himself, so that a man should go away from himself, and become a stranger to himself, yea that he should leave off to be what he was and begin to be what he was not, and become as it were a new and another man. “It is less,” he says, “to deny what a man has; but it is far more to deny what he is. It sufficeth not to relinquish what is ours unless we leave also ourselves.” S. Gregory then asks the question, “Whither shall we go out of ourselves?” And he answers, “We have become something different through our fall into sin from that which we were made. Let us leave therefore ourselves, as we have made ourselves by sinning: and let us remain ourselves such as we have been made by grace. Behold, he who was proud, if he has been converted to Christ, has been made humble; he has left himself.” He shows us the same thing by the example of Paul, “Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, when he said, ‘I live, yet not I’; forasmuch as that cruel persecutor was dead and the pious preacher had begun to live, I Christ indeed liveth in me. ‘” It is as though he said plainly, I indeed am dead to myself, because I live not after the flesh. Nevertheless I am not dead essentially, because I live in Christ spiritually. Therefore let the Truth say, let It say, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself; because except a man cease from himself, he cannot draw nigh to Him who is above himself: nor is he able to apprehend that which is beyond himself, if he knows not how to slay that which he is.
S. Chrysostom (Hom. 56.) illustrates the same principle by a similitude. “If thou understandest what it is to deny another, then wilt thou rightly perceive what it is to deny thyself. He who has denied another, if he see him beaten with rods, if cast into chains, he does not assist him, he is altogether unmoved, as one who is wholly apart from him. Thus too He wills us by no means to spare our own body, that not even though it be beaten, nor burnt, nor suffer any other thing, we should spare it.” Victor of Antioch adds, “He hath not said, a man must not be too self indulgent; or that he should not spare his own flesh too much; but rising to a very lofty height, let him deny himself, He says, or abjure himself, that is, let him have no commerce with himself, or with his own flesh, but let him so conduct himself, as though it were not he himself who bears the cross but some other person.” Note this word abjure. For as in baptism we renounce Satan, and as it were abjure him, so ought we fully to deny, and as it were abjure ourselves, that is our lusts. For these are more the enemies of our salvation than the devils themselves. For we dread the devil, but our lusts flatter and deceive us, and profess to be our friends. For there is greater danger from one who secretly lies in wait than from an open enemy.
In the Lives of the Fathers (l. 5, libello 1, de profectu patrum, num. 7) the Abbot John gives the following proofs of self-denial and a holy life: “Be patient under injuries, and not soon angry: be a peacemaker, and not rendering evil for evil: not looking at the faults of others, nor exalting thyself; but be subject with humility unto every one: renouncing all fleshly pleasures, and the things which are after the flesh, in humility of spirit in fasting, in patience, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, and in labours, shutting thyself up in a sepulchre, as though thou wast already dead, that death may every day seem to be very nigh unto thee.” S. Agidius, a companion of S. Francis, a very holy man, and enlightened by God, was wont to give these paradoxes of self denial which follow:
“If thou wilt see clearly, pluck out thine eyes, and become blind.
“If thou wilt hear well, be thou deaf.
“If thou wouldst speak well, become dumb.
“If thou wouldst walk well, cut off thy feet.
“If thou wouldst work well, cut off thine hands.
“If thou wouldst love well, hate thyself.
“If thou wouldst live well, make thyself die.
“If thou wouldst gain, learn to lose.
“If thou wouldst be rich, become poor.
“If thou wouldst live in pleasure, afflict thyself.
“If thou wouldst be secure, have perpetual fear.
“If thou wouldst be exalted, humble thyself.
“If thou wouldst be honoured, despise thyself, and honour those who despise thee.
“If thou wouldst have what is good, bear evil.
“If thou wouldst be at rest, work.
“If thou wouldst be blessed, desire to be evil spoken of.
“Oh how great is this wisdom, to know how to do these things! and because they are great, they are not given unto all men.”
“The same Agidius gives the following as the way of salvation, and perfection through self denial:
“If thou wilt be saved, do not ask of any human creature the reason wherefore anything befalls thee.
“If thou wilt be saved, make it thy business to rise superior to every consolation and honour which a creature can give thee.
“Woe to those who desire to be honoured for their wickedness.
“If any one contendeth with thee and thou wishest to overcome, be overcome; for when thou thinkest thou hast won, thou has lost.
“If thou lovest, thou shalt be loved.
“If thou fearest, thou shalt be feared.
“If thou doest service, service shall be done unto thee.
“If thou actest well to others, others shall behave well towards thee.
“Blessed is he who loves, and seeks not to be loved again.
“Blessed is he who serves, and seeketh not to be served. And forasmuch as these things are great, fools cannot attain unto them.”
There are three things which ought more especially to cleave to thy mind. The first is to bear willingly all tribulations. The second, to be more and more humble on account of everything which thou doest, or receivest. The third, faithfully to love those good things which cannot be seen with bodily eyes.
Let him take up his cross. That as I have borne Mine, he may follow with alacrity Me, Christ, as it were the first cross bearer, and the Standard Bearer and Captain of the cross bearers-I who bore My cross, on which I was to be crucified, on My shoulders to Mount Calvary. Luke adds the word daily, to signify that every day, and sometimes every hour, some trouble will come to every one, which he ought to bear bravely and patiently; and that throughout his whole life; and thus must every one live upon the cross, and die upon the cross with Christ. “He takes up his cross” says S. Jerome, “who is crucified to the world, to whom also the world is crucified, who follows a crucified Lord.” This cross is, 1. persecution and martyrdom; 2. any affliction or tribulation sent by God; 3. temptation of the devil, permitted by God for our probation and humiliation, and to increase our reward; 4. self denial and the mortification of our lusts.
His own cross, i.e., every one has his peculiar cross; one has it from wife, or children, or relations; another from character; a third from rivals; a fourth from misfortunes; a fifth from poverty; a sixth from exile, bonds, and so on.
2. His own cross, i.e., commensurate with his strength. For God does not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, says S. Paul. He gives to every one a cross as a sort of medicine suitable to the vice from which he suffers. Thus to him who is inclined to pride, God gives some despite, or temptation of the flesh, such as He permitted to come upon S. Paul. The cross He gives to the covetous is loss of goods. To the learned, a fall into some mistake, or bad repute, lest he should be puffed up, and think too highly of himself.
3. His own cross, i.e., decreed by God from eternity for his good. When therefore thou feelest the cross, think upon God, and say, “0 Lord, I willingly accept this cross from thy Fatherly hand, for this is the cross which has been appointed to me from eternity, and decreed by Thee for the destruction of my faults; wherefore I render unto Thee boundless thanks. For I know and believe that by it Thou wouldst make me like unto thy well beloved Son, here in patience, and hereafter in glory. ‘For, whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.'” (Rom 8:29.)
4. As S. Gregory says (Hom. 32. in Evang.), “The cross is taken up in two ways, when either by abstinence the body is affected, or by compassion for our neighbour the mind is afflicted. Let us consider how in both ways Paul bore his cross. For he said, “I chastise my body and reduce it to servitude, lest perchance preaching to others, I myself should be made reprobate.” (Vulg.) Next let us hear his mind’s cross through compassion for his neighbour. For he said, “Who is Weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?” Behold how the perfect preacher carried the cross in his body, to give an example of abstinence. And forasmuch as He took upon Himself the failings of other men’s infirmity, He carried the cross in His heart.”
For he that will save his life, &c. Greek and Vulgate, his soul. Forasmuch as the cross is bitter and gives pain, “Christ,” says S. Chrysostom, “here animates believers to take it up, by the great reward and the crown of glory which it brings. It is as though one should say to a husbandman: ‘If thou shouldst keep thy corn, thou losest it; if thou sowest it, thou renewest it. For who does not know that the corn, which decays in the dust, springs up from the same dust in a renewed form?'” Origen explains this verse in two ways. 1. Thus: If any man (being a lover of life present) spares his soul through fear of death, and thinking that his soul will perish by that death, he shall lose it, withdrawing it from life eternal. But if any one (despising life present) shall contend for the truth even until death, he shall lose indeed his soul so far as pertains to this life; but since he shall lose it for Christ’s sake, he shall make it safe for the life eternal. The other explanation is as follows: If any one understands what true safety is, and wishes to gain it for the salvation of his soul, he, by denying himself, loses his soul (so far as carnal pleasures are concerned) for Christ’s sake; and losing his soul in this way, he saves it through works of piety. Thus far Origen. The former explanation seems to be the more correct, and may be amplified thus. He who in this life, fleeing from the cross and self-denial, wishes to preserve his soul-that is, his life-and therefore denies Me and My faith in persecution; or wishes to save his soul-that is, the desires of his soul-he shall lose his soul in the life to come, in hell. But he who shall lose his soul in this life for Christ’s sake-either by dying for Him in persecution, or by denying his lusts for His sake-he shall find his soul, which he lost in this life, in the life to come. He shall find it in eternal glory, in the bosom of Christ, Who shall raise and glorify the soul which was exposed to death for His sake. The antithesis between lose and save requires this meaning.
For what does it profit, &c. Lose-Greek, , i.e., make loss, be fined. The meaning is, What assistance shall it be to thee-for this is the meaning of the Greek -to have gained all the riches, honours, and pleasures of the whole world, if on account of them you destroy yourself, and be fined as to your soul with the eternal torments of hell? According to the words, “If you lose all things, remember to save your soul.” For wealth and pleasure, if you lose, you may recover! but the soul once lost, is lost for ever. 0 foolish children of Adam, why do ye so love these fleeting things, that for them ye lose your souls, and deliver them to everlasting burnings? 0 insensate, who for a drop of pleasure purchase eternal pains.
Or what shall a man, &c., exchange; Greek, , i.e., compensation, exchange, price, ransom. For thy soul is above all price, all compensation; because it has been purchased and redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ, the Lord our God. Wherefore the whole world is an insufficient price for the soul of one man. For if once thou shalt lose it, by no price canst thou redeem it, nor be able to buy back thy soul with any other soul, because thou hast but one. Here, indeed, the soul is able to redeem her falls by repentance, by tears, and by good works: but in the Day of Judgment there will be no longer place for repentance and redemption. Behold, therefore, the deceit of Satan and the folly of man. Satan buys the soul of a sinner from him at the cheapest rate, for the brief pleasure of gluttony, of luxury, and so on. “He offers an apple, and deprives him of Paradise,” says S. Bernard.
The Son of Man, &c.-according to his works, i.e., according to what he hath wrought, not according to what he hath known, understood, believed.
Shall come in the glory of His Father. This is the incentive with which Christ stirs up all to heroic acts of self-denial, of the cross, and of virtue. Hear what S. Jerome says (Epist. 1, ad Heliodorum): Thus he invites him to a solitary life, and to take up his cross-“Dost thou fear poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. Art thou terrified at labour? But no athlete is crowned without sweat. Dost thou think about food? But faith is not afraid of famine. Dost thou fear to wear out thy limbs upon the bare ground? But the Lord lieth with thee. Does the infinite vastness of the desert affright thee? But do thou walk in Paradise in thy mind. That day will come, it will surely come, in which this corruptible and this mortal shall put on incorruption and immortality. Blessed is the servant whom the Lord shall find watching. Then when the earth with its inhabitants shall tremble at the sound of the trumpet, thou shalt rejoice. Then shall the most mighty kings tremble in their nakedness. Plato, with his disciples, shall be found a fool. The arguments of Aristotle shall not profit. But then shalt thou, a rustic and poor, exult. Thou shalt laugh, and say, Behold my crucified God, behold the Judge, who, wrapped in swathing-bands, cried in the manger.” Thus S. Jerome, pathetically but truly.
Verily I say unto you, &c., in His kingdom. Syriac, into His kingdom. Christ promised that a reward in the heavenly kingdom should be given for good works of self-denial and the cross. Now, lest any one should find fault that it was to be put off for many ages, He shows that it was in reality near; He shows that very kingdom in the transfiguration, after a few days, to some yet alive.
Shall not taste of death, i.e., shall not die. It is a metaphor taken from the deadly cup which was given to persons condemned to die.
In His Kingdom. You will ask what was this kingdom of Christ; and when some of the Apostles standing there beheld it? S. Gregory answers (Hom. 32, in Evang.), and Bede, that this kingdom of Christ was the Church, and its diffusion throughout all nations, which verily the Apostles beheld, yea, brought about. Christ says this, says S. Gregory, that from the spread of the Church’s kingdom, which they were about to behold, they might learn how great would be their future glory in the heavenly kingdom, which in this life is invisible. For God, by the visible things, which He sets forth, confirms the hope of the invisible promises. And, 2. Some think that it was to take place at the resurrection, and in the day of judgment, of which Christ spake in the preceding verse. But I say it took place in the Transfiguration of Christ. For in it they beheld Christ’s glorious kingdom as in a glass. Three of the Apostles, namely, Peter, James, and John, had a foretaste of this kingdom. This view is plain from what follows. All the three Evangelists who relate the Transfiguration, place it immediately after this promise, as though it were the fulfilment of it. Thus SS. Hilary, Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, Theophylact, and others, passim. Whence S. Leo says (de Transfig.). In the kingdom, that is in royal splendour. For in His Transfiguration Christ gave to His Apostles a specimen of the glory, the joy and the happiness which the Saints shall obtain in the Heavenly Kingdom, that He might thereby animate them to Evangelical labours and sorrows, and that they might animate others to the same. After the same manner S. Jerome animates Eustochium. “Go forth,” he saith, “for a little space from thy prison, and picture to thine eyes the reward of thy present labours, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man. What sort of day will that be when Mary the mother of the Lord shall meet thee with choirs of virgins? When after Pharaoh with his host has been drowned in the Red Sea, she shall sing the antiphon to the responsive choirs, as she bears the timbrel. Let us sing to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. Then shall Thecla joyfully fly to embrace thee. Then too the Spouse Himself shall meet thee, and shall say, Arise and come, My kinswoman, and My fair one, for lo the winter is passed, the rain is over. Then the angels shall wonder and say, who is this that looketh forth as the morning, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun? Then the little ones, lifting up the palms of victory, shall sing with concordant voice, ‘Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest!’ Then the hundred and forty and four thousand before the Throne, and before the Elders shall hold their harps, and shall chant the new song.”
* The construction of this passage is somewhat involved, and the thought obscure. What appears, however, to be meant is this. First, that there were some early heretics who held that the primary or chief object of our Lord’s Passion was to procure certain rewards and advantages to Himself, rather than to reconcile man to God, and obtain the salvation of the human race. Secondly, that our Lord’s rebuke was given to Peter, on the ground that if he followed Peter’s advice, and shrank from His coming Passion, He would by so doing deprive Himself of the benefits flowing from it.
The anathema of the Council, which is referred to in the text, seems therefore to be directed against those who would consider our Lord’s rebuke to Peter as springing from the thought that, listening to S. Peter’s advice would deprive Himself of the benefits of His Passion.
The heretical idea condemned by the Council is the very subtle one, that our Lord was actuated by a regard to self-interest in His voluntary submission to suffering and death. (Back up to the place )
Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary
16:20 {7} Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
(7) Men must first learn, and then teach.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ warning in this verse seems to run contrary to His purpose to manifest Himself as the Messiah to Israel for her acceptance (cf. Mar 8:30; Luk 9:21). Jesus wanted His disciples to keep a "messianic secret," namely, that He was the Messiah. Jesus was not trying to conceal His true identity, but He was controlling how people would respond to Him (cf. Mat 12:38-39; Mat 16:4). If the disciples had broadcast the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, some people would have tried to draft Jesus as a political liberator. However, Jesus wanted people to come to believe on Him because of the words He spoke and the works He performed (cf. Mat 11:4; Mat 11:25-26). These were the tools God had ordained to give people divine insight into Jesus’ identity (Mat 11:27), as Peter had experienced (Mat 16:17).
"Contrary to common misappropriation of the messianic secret, it was not Jesus’ purpose to conceal his messianic identity. It was his purpose to set before Israel symbol-charged acts and words implying a persistent question: Who do you say that I am?" [Note: Ben F. Meyer, The Aims of Jesus, p. 350, footnote 59; cf. pp. 250, 309-10, footnotes 119-20.]
Jesus wanted His disciples to stay within the means and limits that He had imposed on Himself for His self-disclosure. They should not appeal for people’s acceptance of Jesus because of nationalistic zeal or misguided messianic expectations but because of faith rooted in understanding. Jesus’ popularity on a superficial level could short-circuit the Cross. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples could take a more unrestrained approach to calling people to repentance and faith (cf. Mat 10:27). The disciples apparently grasped the danger of people accepting Jesus for superficial reasons, but they did not understand the threat of short-circuiting the Cross, as the next section shows. [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 375.]
"Why this prohibition? Because although the disciples correctly understand who Jesus is, they do not as yet know that central to Jesus’ divine sonship is death on the cross. Hence, they are in no position at this point to go and make disciples of all nations." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 75.]
"In the second part of his story (Mat 4:17 to Mat 16:20), Matthew tells of Jesus’ ministry to Israel (Mat 4:17 to Mat 11:1) and of Israel’s repudiation of Jesus (Mat 11:2 to Mat 16:20). Sent to Israel, Jesus teaches, preaches, and heals (Mat 4:23; Mat 9:35; Mat 11:1). He also calls disciples, and commissions them to a ministry in Israel modeled on his own (Mat 4:17 to Mat 11:1). Israel’s response to Jesus, however, is one of repudiation (Mat 11:2 to Mat 16:20). Still, even as Israel repudiates him, it wonders and speculates about who he is. Wrongly, the religious leaders think of him as one who acts in collusion with Satan (Mat 9:34; Mat 12:24), and the Jewish public imagines him to be a prophet (Mat 16:13-14; Mat 21:46). In stark contrast to Israel, the disciples, as the recipients of divine revelation, are led by Jesus to think about him as God ’thinks’ about him, namely, as the Messiah Son of God (Mat 16:15-17; Mat 14:33). Nevertheless, because the disciples do not know at this point in the story that the central purpose of Jesus’ mission is death, Jesus commands them to silence concerning his identity (Mat 16:20)." [Note: Ibid., pp. 161-62.]