Matthew 16

Matthew 16:1

Not being satisfied with his former answer of the sign of Jonas, ch. xii. 39, they again require some farther sign from him, to testify that the God of heaven hath sent him.

ye hypocrites, ye have skill enough to expound and interpret the appearances of the sky, and can prognosticate what kind of weather it will be, by what at the present ye observe in the colour of the clouds: and when my preaching in these words, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, and my adding miracles of all sorts to enforce belief on you, do not yet work on you, is it not strange that you cannot discern what is coming upon you? Can there be any more certain prognostic of approaching destruction than this? and are not you much more nearly concerned herein than in rain or fair weather ye can be? Why should not your sagacity in other things extend to this also?

Matthew 16:4

It is an argument of great perverseness and falseness in you, that when so many miracles have been wrought, and repentance so long preached among you, ye now require a sign from heaven to

satisfied, Exprodation.

Matthew 16:6

[a] leaven of the Pharisees] That which is here the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the infusions of these upon all their followers, is, Mark viii. 15, the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. And the reason may be, either because some of the Sadducees were also Herodians, adhered to Herod’s party, that is, to the Roman government, (see note [b] ch. xxii.) whereas, generally, the Pharisees were on the other side, took Cæsar for an usurper; or else because Christ mentioned all three, the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and of Herod also, each of them designing ill against Christ and his apostles.

Matthew 16:7

And they understood not his meaning, but from the mention of leaven grossly conceited that the occasion of his speech was because they had forgotten to bring bread along with them. • What a piece of infidelity is this, thus to apply my speech to the want of bread!

Matthew 16:9

Will you never lay to heart, or consider? Have you so soon forgot how easily I am able to relieve your want of bread? Ye have had two competent evidences of this very lately afforded you, five thousand men fed with five loaves, and yet twelve baskets of fragments to spare after they were satisfied.

Matthew 16:10

And so four thousand fed with seven loaves, and seven baskets of fragments remaining.

[b] baskets] That which is here rendered baskets is not κοφίνους, (the word used before, ver. 9, and in the relation of the story, to which that refers, Matt. xiv. 20. Mark vi. 43. John vi. 13, constantly retained in all the three evangelists,) but σπυρίδας, which is retained also in the other story, (to which this passage refers,) Matt. xv. 37, and Mark viii. 8, from whence it is probable that these two, κόφινοι and σπυρίδες, were vessels of several quantities, and σπυρίδες much the bigger: so large that Saul was let down in one, Acts ix. 25; but what the bigness was, or how they differed, will not perhaps be worth the pains of inquiry; and however the word basket (being not a note of a limited measure or quantity, but only of the kind of the vessel) may well enough be retained in both places.

Matthew 16:11

How then could ye be guilty of so gross an infidelity as to think me still unable to provide necessaries for myself and you, and consequently to speak of bread when I bid you beware—

Matthew 16:12

Then they understood their mistake, how that he had not spoken of bread or leaven literally, but that he foretold them what kind of people all the Pharisees and Sadducees were, and all that were leavened or taught, or received infusions from them, viz., that all the whole tribe of them were a sort of hypocrites, Luke xii. 1, who pretended much piety and love of the truth, and so inquired after signs from heaven, ver. 1, but were indeed most perversely and maliciously bent against Christ and his doctrine, and would prove the most virulent persecutors both of him and them, ch. x. 17.

Matthew 16:13

And being on his way (Mark viii. 27.) to Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, What opinion have the multitude, Luke ix. 18, of me? do they take me for an ordinary man? or a prophet, or what else?

some old prophet of the Old Testament, either risen from the dead, (as it is clear they expected Elias should come again,) or else that the soul of one of them was by way of transmigration (which the Pharisees had borrowed from the Pythagoreans) come into his body. See note [a] on John ix.

[c] Cæsarea Philippi] Καισάρεια Φιλίππου is not here set to signify that city where Philip the evangelist dwelt, Acts xxi. 8, the style is of another origination; for Euseb. Chron. l. 1. p. 43. saith, that Philip the tetrarch, Herod’s brother, built many houses in the city Paneas, and having so enlarged it, gave it a new name, Cæsarea Philippi, the first part in honour of the emperor, the second of himself. And to the same purpose Josephus also. Whereas that other Cæsarea, simply so called, without any addition, in the Acts, was built by Herod, and was in Syria, formerly called Stratonis turris: of that see Ærodius Pandect. rer. Jud. l. 5. tit. 21. c. 7, where he relates the contention between the Jews and the Syrians, before Nero, for this city: the Jews said it was a city of Judæa, because built by Herod, and by him Jews planted there; the Syrians, that it was in Syria, and that Herod did not found but only enlarge it, and gave it a new name, and that he built it not for the Jews, because he set up images in the temple, which are not allowed by the Jews. Whereupon the emperor adjudged it to the Syrians.

[d] Son of man] That the Son of man is a title of Christ peculiarly (though the most humble title, and of least eminence, belonging to his state of exinanition) hath been before said, note [a] ch. xii. And so here it is set to signify Christ in that humble guise, as a man, or

Matthew 16:16

To this question Simon Peter particularly rendered an answer, Thou art the Messias, even the Son—

¶ this faith of thine is not built upon human testimony, but upon the miracles and doctrines which thou hast heard and seen, which are the testimonies of God himself, whereby he hath testified of me to thee, and such as thou art, Matt. xi. 25. See note [d] on ch. xv.

Matthew 16:17

[e] flesh and blood] The phrase σάρξ καὶ αἷμα, flesh and blood, is an Hebrew phrase, בשר ודם, signifying no more than a mere man here upon the earth, one that hath ascended no higher than the common state of men. Thus it is ordinary in the Jewish writers; take one example for all, in Gemara Babyl. ad Cod. Berachoth, where a parable of a rich man (the first draught, as it were, and monogram of that which is enlarged and filled up with lively colours by our Saviour, Luke xvi. 19.) is called משל למלך בשר ודם, a parable of a king of flesh and blood, that is, of a human, mortal king here on earth. Thus 1 Cor. xv. 50, σάρξ καὶ αἷμα, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, that is, these corruptible, gross, earthy bodies of ours, till they be refined. So Ephes. vi. 12, our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, that is, against ordinary human enemies, but, as it follows, against the most powerful enemies, &c.; and so here, when Christ tells Peter that that confession of his, That Christ is the Son of God, was not founded on any human testimony, nor on the votes and wishes of men, which were not much likely to be gratified by this doctrine, but on that stronger of God himself. And so when St. Paul mentions his call to apostleship immediately from heaven, Acts xiii. 2, he adds, Gal. i. 16, that he applied not himself to flesh and blood, that is, to any men, to receive mission or commission of apostleship from them.

Matthew 16:18

And seeing thou hast so freely confessed me before men, I will also confess thee, Thou art &c., that is, The name by which thou art styled and known by me is that which signifies a stone or rock, and such shalt thou be in the building of the church, which accordingly shall be so built on thee, founded in thee, that the power of death or the grave shall not get victory over it; the Christian church, now to be planted, shall never be destroyed.

[f] rock] The name of Πέτρος signifying a stone here, such an one as for the firmness and validity is fit to bear the greater stress and weight in the building, is applicable to the person of St. Peter in respect of the church. He was the apostle of the circumcision, as Christ himself was. He was already a very considerable disciple, joined ordinarily with James and John in the participation of some favours, which others enjoyed not, (though in Christ’s favour John enjoyed the first place, John xiii. 25); he twice made confession, with greatest boldness, of Christ’s being the Messias, and Son of God, John vi. 19, and here. And after the resurrection of Christ, he had among the twelve the honour of his first appearing, 1 Cor. xv. 5; and proportionably was first of all to preach and make known to the Jews (but so as not to exclude the heathens) the truth of that which he here professed, viz. that

[g] hell] Hades here (according to the notion of ἄδης for the state of ἀφανισμός before mentioned, note [i] ch. xi.) signifies death, or grave, or destruction, and by consequence Satan also, who hath the power of these. Then for gates, they may signify, first, power, force, strength, which consists in arms or weapons, which were usually kept over the gates of the cities. Secondly, counsel, contrivance, stratagems, policy, because they were wont to sit in counsel in the gates. Thirdly, worldly authority, borrowed by Satan from his instruments, the heathen powers of the world, because judgment was wont to be exercised in the gates: and so these three (τὰ τρίθυρα διαβόλου, in Macarius’s style) being put together, will conclude, that it is not all the power and strength, wisdom and policy, authority and empire in the world, no, not death or grave, (which are proverbially irresistible, Cant. viii. 6.) nor Satan himself, that shall be able to destroy this fabric now to be erected by Christ and his apostles in the hearts of men, though that glorious temple of Jerusalem erected by God’s own appointment shall be destroyed. Now that all this shall not prevail against the church, may be understood, either as the church signifies particular persons, (believers, true faithful Christians,) of which the church consists, or as it signifies the whole congregation and society of men: as the church signifies the persons, so the phrase imports, that though Christians shall die, yet death shall have no dominion over them, Christ shall break open those bars, and rescue them by his resurrection from the power of the grave. As it refers to the church in complexo, that is, to the whole congregation of Christian professors, so it signifies a promise of Christ, that it shall never be destroyed so as to perish totally, irrecoverably, but whatsoever change it undergoes in the world, it shall again lift up the head, and have as it were its resurrection;

Matthew 16:19

And I will give thee (as afterwards to all the twelve, ch. xviii. 18, and more distinctly John xx. 23.) the keys of the gate of this court or kingdom, the church, of which every one of you is to be the steward, (as the keys of the court were given to Eliakim, Isaiah xxii. 22, in token of his being steward of the house, to admit and exclude whom he pleased,) that is, both power and ensign of power, Apoc. iii. 7, to exercise censures, and by them to exclude men in case of their impenitence, either by laying some restraints on them in the church, or to turn them out of the gates of this city, and upon repentance to receive them into the church again. And what you do here, as you ought to do, shall be valid in heaven.

20, 21. The disciples knowing that he was the Messias, and having told him so, ver. 16, he commands that this be not publicly disclosed (till after

³ hades.

[h] keys of the kingdom] What is here meant by the keys is best discernible by Isaiah xxii, where God foretells Eliakim, ver. 20, the son of Hilkiah, that he will call him, and clothe him with the robe of Shebna, (which was over the household, ver. 15,) and strengthen him with his girdle, and commit his government into his hand, and lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and shut, and none shall open. By which is noted the bestowing on him the power of administering, and ruling the whole family or house of the king, so as to entertain and admit into it, and in like manner to exclude out of it whom he would. And accordingly this being by Christ accommodated to the church, notes the power of governing in it. This primarily and independently belongs to Christ, the holy and true, which hath the key of David, Apoc. iii. 7, where a difference must be observed betwixt the key of David and the keys of the house of David. Keys are an ensign of power; but that power is not all of one kind; it is greater or less, principal and independent, or inferior and derivative; and the several keys are emblems of these severals. David we know was a king, and independent from any on earth; and consequently the key of David notes an independent, supreme power, and that, applied to the church, belongs only to Christ, in that prophetic expression, Apoc. iii. 7. But the keys of the house of David notes an inferior power, that of a steward in David’s family, which being perfectly subordinate to him, hath yet the διοίκησις, the administration of the affairs of his family intrusted to him. Now Christ is the original and prime fountain of all power over the whole church, that spiritual kingdom of David, as to whom was given by the Father all power in heaven and earth, particularly that of loosing or remitting sin on earth, Matt. ix. 6. And this is by Christ here communicated to his apostles, and their successors, the bishops in the church, as so many several stewards. Hence is that of St. Chrysostom, περὶ ἱερωσ. 1. 3, “That the bishops are those faithful servants in the parable whom the Lord sets over his household,” that is, literally, stewards. And so this agrees perfectly with the promise of Christ, ch. xix, of the apostles sitting on twelve thrones, where the power of judging and governing in the church, set answerable to that of the phylarchæ, or chief of the tribes, which was, among the Jews, next unto the regal, is directly that of the œconomus, or ruler of the king’s household, which is here, as in Isaiah, noted by the keys. And this power being here promised by Christ to be conferred on Peter, a single person, so that whatever he bound or loosed was bound and loosed by Christ’s affirmation, is by force of the words, ch. xviii. 18, (before the keys were given,) Whatsoever ye shall bind and ye shall loose, and by the form of conferring it actually, John xx. 23, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted, &c., actually and equally instated on every of the apostles; and accordingly the fiery tongues descended, and sat upon every one of them. And so when Cephas, in respect of this authority, is styled Πίερος, a stone, on which, as on a foundation-stone, built on Christ, the head of the corner, this holy city, that comes down from heaven, the new Jerusalem, the church of Christ, is built; it is also apparent that all and every the apostles have the same title bestowed upon them,

Matthew 16:22

[I] Be it far] This form of speech, ἰδεὼς σοι, is borrowed from the Hebrews, who use it to express the Latin absit, that is, amoliri malum aliquod, to signify our desire that such a thing may not come to pass. So in the Jerusalem Targum on Gen. xlix. 22, Parce tibi Josephe, ut ne conjicias oculos, that is, “God forbid thou shouldst cast thine eyes;” and on Num. xxxi. 50, Parce nobis Moses doctor noster, ne unus

I

Matthew 16:23

[k] Satan] The title of Satan here signifies according to the use of the Hebrew phrase, 2 Sam. xix. 22, where David, rejecting the counsel of Abishai, saith, Why art thou to me this day, ישש, in Satanam, for an adversary? that is, Why dost thou give me this evil, pernicious counsel, and so suppliest the true enemy’s, or even the devil’s place to me?

Matthew 16:24

[l] deny himself] Denying himself is renouncing all interest, relations, engagements of his own, when they come in balance or competition with Christ. Thus saith Porphyry of the gymnosophists among the Indians, that there were two sorts of them, the θεόσοφοι, divines, by families, and the samanæi, which were chosen; and of these, whensoever any had once taken the stole upon him, οὔτε πρὸς γυναίκα οὔτε πρὸς τέκνα (εἰ τύχοι κεκτημένος) ἐπιστροφὴν, ἢ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅλως νομίζων, περὶ ἀποχ. l. 4. pp. 58, 59, “he never thought of any return to wife, to children, or at all to himself again.”

Matthew 16:26

Nay, if by denying me a man should gain some advantage at the present, what a pitiful bargain would he make of it, although he should gain the whole world, as long as life, (ver. 25,) especially eternal life, were lost by it! And what price is there imaginable to buy that back again if it be lost? or what is there that a man would not willingly give for it?

[m] lose] Ζημιωθῆναι, to have a mulct inflicted on one, is not thought very fitly to be joined with ψυχὴν, the soul, as the accusative case governed by it, but rather to stand as a passive, and τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν to be instead of κατὰ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν, and so not only to belong to the final fatal loss, or damnation of the soul, but also to any loss or damage that belongs to it here: as deprivation of grace; nay, guilt of sin, &c. So Munster’s Hebrew reads it, בְּנַפְשִׁי יָשָׁא נוֹק, receive damage in his soul. Yet may it be read with an accusative case following the verb, as in that place of Agathias in the speech of Phartazes to the Colchiansᵃ, Τί δὲ κερδανοῦμεν ἅπασαν τὴν Περσίδα, θῶμεν γὰρ οὕτω, προσλαμβάνοντες, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ἐζημιωμένοι; “What if we gain all Persia, and lose our lives, or our souls?” a place almost parallel to this.

Matthew 16:27

For there shall be a solemn visitation among the Jews, a time of judgment on them (see note [m]), wherein there shall be a visible discrimination between those which cleave fast to Christ and those which do not, and so likewise on all mankind, either in particular visitation upon kingdoms or at the day of doom.

[n] glory] The Hebrew שכינה, the appearance of God, or special presence, which is called his δόξα, glory, consists generally in the appearance of his guard, the angels that wait on him; as, when Jacob sees the vision of angels, he concludes, Surely the Lord is in this place. And accordingly here, Christ coming ἐν δόξῃ Πατρὸς, in the glory of his Father, is expressed by μετὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ, with his angels. See note [k] ch. iii.

Matthew 16:28

And of this coming of mine against my enemies, and to the relieving of them that adhere to me, I tell you assuredly that some that are here present,

[o] coming in his kingdom] The nearness of this to the story of Christ’s transfiguration makes it probable to many that this coming of Christ is that transfiguration of his; but that cannot be, because the 27th ver. of the Son of man’s coming in his glory with his angels to reward, &c. (to which this verse clearly connects) cannot be applied to that. And there is another place, John xxi. 23, (which may help to the understanding of this,) which speaks of a real coming, and one principal person (agreeable to what is here said of some standing here) that should tarry, or not die, till that coming of his. And that surely was fulfilled in John’s seeing the πωνολεθρία, or famous destruction of the Jews, which was to fall in that generation, (Matt. xxiv.); that is, in the lifetime of some there present, and is called the kingdom of God, and the coming of Christ; and by consequence here, most probably, the Son of man’s coming in his kingdom, (see note [c], Matt. iii. 2,

ᵃ Lib. 3. p. 82.