Who Do you Say I am?

Text

Matthew 16:13–20 ESV

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Context in Matthew

Before this passage

After this passage (Transfiguration)

How this passage is a culmination

Caesarea Philippi

Banias

Court of Pan

more about Pan

Matthew–Luke Comment

In verse 13, Jesus takes the disciples aside, as he has done before. They go to Caesarea Philippi, about

Jesus’s use of “Son of Man”

Daniel 7:13-14 reads,

English Standard Version Chapter 7

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like

English Standard Version Chapter 42

42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2  He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3  a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4  He will not grow faint or be discouraged

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his law.

The Disciples’ response

“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter’s response

According to commentary by J. C. Ryle,

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels Matthew Matthew 16:13–20: Peter’s Noble Confession

People forget that it is a widely different thing to believe in Christ’s divine mission when we dwell in the midst of professing Christians, compared to believing in it when we dwell among hardened and unbelieving people. The glory of Peter’s confession lies in this: that he made it when few were with Christ and many against Him. He made it when the rulers of his own nation, the Scribes, Priests and Pharisees, were all opposed to his Master. He made it when our Lord was in the form of a servant, without wealth, royal dignity or any visible marks of a King.

“the Christ”

“the Son of the living God”

Jesus’s reply (to Peter)

“revealed by my Father who is in heaven”

“on this rock I will build my church”

English Standard Version Chapter 2

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the

Peter in his own epistle uses similar imagery of stones, rocks and the cornerstone, saying,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

4 As you come to him,