Peter
took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.” But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
Matthew 16:22-23
Matthew 16 [17.] 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. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
Matthew 16 [22.] Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
Matthew 16 [23.] But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds. Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Meaning:
Only moments earlier Peter had confessed Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus had called him blessed and named him the rock on which he would build his assembly (Matthew 16:17-18). Then Jesus began to explain that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised on the third day. Peter could not accept it. The same disciple who had spoken by revelation from the Father now spoke from a purely human point of view. Mark records the same scene more briefly (Mark 8:31-33).
- Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him
Peter drew Jesus aside, perhaps to spare him embarrassment, and began to correct him. The very idea is startling: the disciple rebuking his Master. Peter’s motives were loving. He could not bear the thought of Jesus suffering, and he could not fit a cross into his picture of the Messiah. Many Jews of the time expected the Christ to triumph over Israel’s enemies, not to be killed by Israel’s leaders.
- Far be it from you, Lord!
The expression is literally something like “Mercy to you!”, a strong way of saying “God forbid!” Peter calls Jesus “Lord” in the same breath as telling him what must never happen. His words show how easily we can honour Jesus with titles while resisting his will.
- Get behind me, Satan!
Jesus used almost the same words when the devil offered him all the kingdoms of the world in the wilderness (Matthew 4:10). Satan had offered a crown without a cross, and Peter, without realising it, was repeating that temptation. Jesus did not call Peter evil, but he recognised the enemy’s voice in Peter’s advice and rejected it at once.
“Get behind me” also puts Peter back in his place as a follower. In the very next sentence Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24-26).
- You are a stumbling block to me
Only Matthew records these words. The Greek word skandalon described the trigger of a trap or an obstacle that trips someone up. A few verses earlier Peter had been called a rock for building; now he had become a rock to stumble over. Peter was setting his mind “on the things of men”: comfort, safety, and earthly glory. God’s thinking is different: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says Yahweh (Isaiah 55:8-9).
The Significance of Matthew 16:22-23
- Loving advice can still be wrong
Peter acted out of affection, yet his advice opposed God’s plan of salvation. We should test even well-meant counsel, our own included, by asking whether it reflects the things of God or only the things of men.
- The way of the cross
Jesus would not be turned aside from suffering, because through it he would save his people. Those who follow him are called to the same path of self-denial. Peter himself later wrote of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them” (1 Peter 1:11), showing that he finally understood.
Cross-References:
Mark 8:33: "But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”" Mark adds that Jesus looked at his disciples as he rebuked Peter.
Matthew 4:10: "Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”" Jesus had already rejected the devil’s shortcut to glory.
Matthew 16:24: "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." The rebuke leads straight into the call to discipleship.
Isaiah 55:9: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." God’s thoughts are higher than human thoughts.
Conclusion: When Jesus spoke of his coming suffering and death, Peter took him aside and rebuked him: “Far be it from you, Lord!” Jesus turned and answered, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me.” Peter, so recently called a rock, had become an obstacle by setting his mind on human things. The passage teaches that the way of the Messiah, and of all who follow him, is the way of the cross, and that God’s thoughts are higher than ours.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible