Matthew 16:14

16:13-20 Peter, for himself and his brethren, said that they were assured of our Lord's being the promised Messiah, the Son of the living God. This showed that they believed Jesus to be more than man. Our Lord declared Peter to be blessed, as the teaching of God made him differ from his unbelieving countrymen. Christ added that he had named him Peter, in allusion to his stability or firmness in professing the truth. The word translated rock, is not the same word as Peter, but is of a similar meaning. Nothing can be more wrong than to suppose that Christ meant the person of Peter was the rock. Without doubt Christ himself is the Rock, the tried foundation of the church; and woe to him that attempts to lay any other! Peter's confession is this rock as to doctrine. If Jesus be not the Christ, those that own him are not of the church, but deceivers and deceived. Our Lord next declared the authority with which Peter would be invested. He spoke in the name of his brethren, and this related to them as well as to him. They had no certain knowledge of the characters of men, and were liable to mistakes and sins in their own conduct; but they were kept from error in stating the way of acceptance and salvation, the rule of obedience, the believer's character and experience, and the final doom of unbelievers and hypocrites. In such matters their decision was right, and it was confirmed in heaven.

Matthew 16:14 . Reply of disciples : the general effect being: opinions of the people, favourable but crude, without religious definiteness and depth, with no promise of future outcome.— Ἰωάν ., Ἠλίαν ., Ἱερεμ . Historic characters, recent or more ancient, redivivi —that the utmost possible: unable to rise to the idea of a wholly new departure, or a greater than any character in past history; conservatism natural to the common mind. All three personages whose return might be expected; the Baptist to continue his work cut short by Herod, Elijah to prepare the way and day of the Lord ( Malachi 4:5 ), Jeremiah to bring back the ark, etc., which (2 Maccab. Matthew 2:1-12 ) he had hid in a cave. Jeremiah is classed with the other well-known prophets ( ἢ ἕνα τ . π .), and the supporters of that hypothesis are called ἕτεροι , as if to distinguish them not merely numerically ( ἄλλοι ) but generically: a lower type who did not connect Jesus with Messiah in any way, even as forerunner, but simply thought of Him as one in whom the old prophetic charism had been revived.

14. And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist—risen from the dead. So that Herod Antipas was not singular in his surmise (Mt 14:1, 2). some, Elias—(Compare Mr 6:15). and others, Jeremias—Was this theory suggested by a supposed resemblance between the "Man of Sorrows" and "the weeping prophet?" or one of the prophets—or, as Luke (Lu 9:8) expresses it, "that one of the old prophets is risen again." In another report of the popular opinions which Mark (Mr 6:15) gives us, it is thus expressed, "That it is a prophet [or], as one of the prophets": in other words, That He was a prophetical person, resembling those of old.

(14) And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist. —The passage is of the greatest possible interest as one of the very few that indicate the impressions shaped into beliefs that were floating among the people as to our Lord’s character and mission. They were based, it will be seen in each case, upon a popular doctrine of transmigration, to which the Pharisees had given a place in their system of teaching. The great actors of the past were still in existence. They might, at any great national crisis, reappear to continue and complete their work. Each of the answers has a further special interest of its own. (1.) The identification of our Lord with the Baptist has already met us as coming from the lips of the tetrarch Antipas, adopted, but not originated, by him as explaining our Lord’s mighty works ( Matthew 14:2 ; Luke 9:7 ). (2.) The belief that Elijah had reappeared was of the same nature. He was expected as the forerunner of the Messiah ( Malachi 4:5 ). The imagination of the people had at first seen in the Baptist the reappearance of the Tishbite, but he, though working in the spirit and power of Elijah, had disclaimed the character which was thus ascribed to him, and it was natural that the imagination of the people should now turn to One who appeared to them as simply continuing his work.

The character of our Lord’s recent miracles, corresponding as it did to that which was recorded as wrought by Elijah for the widow of Sarepta ( 1Kings 17:14 ), had probably strengthened that impression. (3.) The name of Jeremiah introduces a new train of legendary thought. The impression made by that prophet on the minds of men had led to something like a mythical after-growth. It was said that the spirit of Jeremiah had passed into Zechariah (see Note on Matthew 27:9 ), and on that assumption another reappearance might well seem probable. He, it was believed, had hidden the ark, and the tabernacle, and the altar of incense in a cave in “the mountain where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of God”— i.e., in Nebo, or Pisgah ( 2 Maccabees 2:1-7 )—and was expected to come and guide the people in the time “when God should gather His people together” to the place of concealment. He had appeared to Judas Maccabeus in a vision as “a man with grey hairs, and exceeding glorious,” and as the guardian prophet of the people, praying for them and for the Holy City, had given him a golden sword as the gift of God ( 2 Maccabees 15:13-16 ). As the prophet who had foretold the new covenant and the coming of the Lord our Righteousness ( Jeremiah 23:6 ; Jeremiah 31:31 ) he was identified, as thoroughly as Isaiah, with the Messianic expectations of the people.

Matthew 16:14 . Οἱ μὲν — ἄλλοι δὲ — ἕτεροι δὲ , some—some—and others ) It is not sufficient that we should know the various opinions of others, we ought ourselves to have a fixed faith, which then may make progress, even by the opinions of others, though vain in themselves.— Ἰωάννην — ἢ ἓνα τῶν προφητῶν , John—or one of the prophets ) There is no need to refer this to the notion of a metempsychosis believed by the Pharisees; for they expected the return of Elias himself in person, who was not dead, or the resurrection of the others from the dead;[735] see ch. Matthew 14:2 : Luke 9:8 ; Luke 9:19 .— ἸΕΡΕΜΊΑΝ , Jeremiah ) who was at that time expected by the Jews.— ἕνα , one) i.e. some one indefinitely. They did not think that anything greater could come than they had already had. They did not compare Jesus with Moses. [735] The suspicion they formed was not that the soul of Elijah or others had passed into the body of Jesus, according to the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, but an actual return of Elijah in person, or a resurrection of the others named.—ED.

Matthew 16:14 f. Ἰωάννην τὸν βαπτ .] Their opinion is similar to that of Antipas, Matthew 14:2 . Ἠλίαν ] These ἄλλοι cannot , therefore, have realized in the person of the Baptist that coming of Elias which was to precede the advent of the Messiah. ἕτεροι δέ ] a distinct class of opinion which, whatever may have been the subsequent view, was not at that time understood to be in any way connected with the expected coming of Elias. For ἕτερος , comp. note on 1 Corinthians 12:9 ; 1 Corinthians 15:40 ; 2 Corinthians 11:4 ; Galatians 1:6 . As forerunner of the Messiah they expected Jeremiah , who at that time was held in very high repute (Ewald, ad Apoc . XI. 3), or some other ancient prophet (risen from the dead). Bertholdt, Christol . p. 58 f. ἢ ἕνα τῶν προφ .] where we are not to suppose ἄλλον to be understood (Fritzsche), but should rather regard the persons in question as intending to say (in a general way): it is εἷς τῶν προφ .! without mentioning any one in particular . For εἷς , see note on Matthew 8:19 . ὑμεῖς δέ ] from them He expected a very different kind of confession, and He was not disappointed.

Ver. 13,14. This, and the following part of this discourse, is related both by Mark and Luke. Mark hath it, Mark 8:27 , And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. Luke saith, Luke 9:18,19 , And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. Matthew and Mark name the place whither our Saviour was going, viz. Caesarea Philippi: it is so called partly to distinguish it from another Caesarea, and partly because it was built to the honour of Tiberius Caesar, by Philip the tetrarch. It was a city at the bottom of Lebanon, and upon the river of Jordan. Mark saith this discourse was in the way.

Luke saith, as he was alone praying; but as must there signify after, for we cannot think that our Saviour would interrupt himself in prayer by this discourse, nor could he be alone praying if his disciples were with him, both which Luke saith; so that en tw einai autan proseucomenon katamonav were certainly translated better, after he had been praying alone, his disciples were with him: so that this discourse might be (as Mark saith) in the way, before they came to Caesarea Philippi, whither he was going. He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men (or the people, as Luke hath it) say that I am? Not that our Saviour, who knew the hearts of all, did not know, but to draw out Peter’s following confession. And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: we heard before that Herod said so. Some, Elias: this respected the prophecy, Malachi 4:5 . The Jews had a tradition, that before the coming of the Messias Elias should come, John 1:21 . Others, Jeremias, ( this is only in Matthew), or one of the prophets. The Jews seeing Christ do such wonderful works, could not resolve themselves who he was. Herod and his court party said that he was John the Baptist risen from the dead. They had, it seems, an opinion of some extraordinary virtues, or powers, in such as were risen from the dead. Many interpreters agree that the Jews had an opinion, that good men’s souls, when they died, went into other bodies; this made them guess that our Saviour was one of the old prophets.