18 And
it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and
He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I
am?” 19 So they
answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say
that one of the old prophets has risen again.” 20 He said to them, “But
who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
21 And He
strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son
of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Commentary
Vs. 18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
Having miraculously fed the multitudes of people (i.e. the five thousand men) and now while alone in prayer, Jesus’ twelve disciples come and join Him. Now when they came to Him Jesus asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Jesus’ doing so was not so much as to know what the crowds were saying about Him, for as we will see Jesus wanted the disciples to know and believe in Him as He is, the Christ, the Son of God, and not be swayed or influenced by whatever the crowds are saying about Him. For their misguided understandings of Him are just as those who do not know God, nor belong to Him, who always wrongly judge both the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who belong to Him (1 Cor. 2:12-16). Therefore, Jesus in asking them this question is not concerned about what the crowds are saying about Him, rather He is looking for what the disciples themselves have now come to know and believe about Him.
Vs. 19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
The disciples then answer Jesus by saying that the crowds are saying that He is either John the Baptist, or Elijah, or that one of the old prophets has risen again. None of which is even close to being right. For John the Baptist never came to declare himself, but only came to declare and point people to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and Savior of the world. And so, John never miraculously fed five thousand people, healed the lame and sick, gave sight to the blind, cast out demons with a word or raised the dead back to life, or walked on stormy water (or enabled others to do so) and then calmed the very same seas, all with His word. Same with Elijah, though God did some miracles through him, (clearly as precursors to Christ’s) his works were like his person far, and away less significant and important than Jesus’, just as his person is far and away exceedingly less than Jesus Christ’s. Because Elijah came first to establish the works of Christ in the minds of the Israelites, not to establish himself. Finally, the old prophet’s ministry was primarily focused on turning wayward Israel back to God, and in declaring the Word of God to them, they also foretold of the Coming One (i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ; from His birth to His death,) for it is He who is going to Rule and Reign over them, and all of God’s new creation forever. Thus, the crowds clearly didn’t understand who the Lord Jesus Christ was, though those they speculated Him to be knew exactly who Jesus really is, for they by faith embraced God’s Word and Promises spoken to and through them, and thus were all looking to Him, and for Him, by faith (Heb. 11). Therefore, not to themselves, nor to someone else did they look, or proclaim, or hope in, for they (like us all who believe in Him) are only looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Redeemer, Judge, and Savior. For having now found Him the Lord Jesus Christ’s Return and Reign is what we are now only waiting for!
Vs. 20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
Jesus then having heard the disciples reply to whom the crowds think that He is. Now asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” And with that Peter the disciple’s spokesman then doesn’t even hesitate, but immediately says, “the Christ of God.” Thus, not a rehearsed confession, but one that was a true and deep conviction, that both Peter and all the rest of twelve all had. For they all had come to believe that Jesus is the Christ of God! As do I, and I hope and pray that you do as well.
Vs. 21-22 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
When Peter declared what Jesus already knew what His disciples believed about Him, He strictly warns them to tell this to no one. For not until Jesus Christ is Crucified and then three days later Risen from the dead and forty days later Ascended back to God the Father in heaven, and thus only when the Holy Spirit is poured out, does the evangelism of the world, and thus the complete declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Person begin. For then having fulfilled His Purposes as a Man, the Lord Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead is to be proclaimed everywhere and to everyone. Having then told them to tell no one what they now know about Jesus that He is the Christ of God. Jesus then tells them something that they did not know, nor could they have imagined: “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” All which would’ve been utterly shocking to them. That Jesus was not now going to rule on earth as the Messiah, but first He must suffer many things, (at the hands of mortal men and woman), and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (thus all of Israel’s leaders), before being killed by them, and then on the third day He would rise again! It’s a brief statement by Jesus of what is too come upon Him, for clearly He did not want to overwhelm the disciples, but also He did not want them hoping that He was now on His way to setting up His earthly kingdom and throne, because before His exaltation there must be by the foreordained Will and predetermined Plan of God His humiliation, and thus His death on the Cross for us all. Something which they were not going to fully understand until it was accomplished.
Commentary
Vs. 18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
Having miraculously fed the multitudes of people (i.e. the five thousand men) and now while alone in prayer, Jesus’ twelve disciples come and join Him. Now when they came to Him Jesus asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Jesus’ doing so was not so much as to know what the crowds were saying about Him, for as we will see Jesus wanted the disciples to know and believe in Him as He is, the Christ, the Son of God, and not be swayed or influenced by whatever the crowds are saying about Him. For their misguided understandings of Him are just as those who do not know God, nor belong to Him, who always wrongly judge both the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who belong to Him (1 Cor. 2:12-16). Therefore, Jesus in asking them this question is not concerned about what the crowds are saying about Him, rather He is looking for what the disciples themselves have now come to know and believe about Him.
Vs. 19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
The disciples then answer Jesus by saying that the crowds are saying that He is either John the Baptist, or Elijah, or that one of the old prophets has risen again. None of which is even close to being right. For John the Baptist never came to declare himself, but only came to declare and point people to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and Savior of the world. And so, John never miraculously fed five thousand people, healed the lame and sick, gave sight to the blind, cast out demons with a word or raised the dead back to life, or walked on stormy water (or enabled others to do so) and then calmed the very same seas, all with His word. Same with Elijah, though God did some miracles through him, (clearly as precursors to Christ’s) his works were like his person far, and away less significant and important than Jesus’, just as his person is far and away exceedingly less than Jesus Christ’s. Because Elijah came first to establish the works of Christ in the minds of the Israelites, not to establish himself. Finally, the old prophet’s ministry was primarily focused on turning wayward Israel back to God, and in declaring the Word of God to them, they also foretold of the Coming One (i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ; from His birth to His death,) for it is He who is going to Rule and Reign over them, and all of God’s new creation forever. Thus, the crowds clearly didn’t understand who the Lord Jesus Christ was, though those they speculated Him to be knew exactly who Jesus really is, for they by faith embraced God’s Word and Promises spoken to and through them, and thus were all looking to Him, and for Him, by faith (Heb. 11). Therefore, not to themselves, nor to someone else did they look, or proclaim, or hope in, for they (like us all who believe in Him) are only looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Redeemer, Judge, and Savior. For having now found Him the Lord Jesus Christ’s Return and Reign is what we are now only waiting for!
Vs. 20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
Jesus then having heard the disciples reply to whom the crowds think that He is. Now asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” And with that Peter the disciple’s spokesman then doesn’t even hesitate, but immediately says, “the Christ of God.” Thus, not a rehearsed confession, but one that was a true and deep conviction, that both Peter and all the rest of twelve all had. For they all had come to believe that Jesus is the Christ of God! As do I, and I hope and pray that you do as well.
Vs. 21-22 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
When Peter declared what Jesus already knew what His disciples believed about Him, He strictly warns them to tell this to no one. For not until Jesus Christ is Crucified and then three days later Risen from the dead and forty days later Ascended back to God the Father in heaven, and thus only when the Holy Spirit is poured out, does the evangelism of the world, and thus the complete declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Person begin. For then having fulfilled His Purposes as a Man, the Lord Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead is to be proclaimed everywhere and to everyone. Having then told them to tell no one what they now know about Jesus that He is the Christ of God. Jesus then tells them something that they did not know, nor could they have imagined: “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” All which would’ve been utterly shocking to them. That Jesus was not now going to rule on earth as the Messiah, but first He must suffer many things, (at the hands of mortal men and woman), and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (thus all of Israel’s leaders), before being killed by them, and then on the third day He would rise again! It’s a brief statement by Jesus of what is too come upon Him, for clearly He did not want to overwhelm the disciples, but also He did not want them hoping that He was now on His way to setting up His earthly kingdom and throne, because before His exaltation there must be by the foreordained Will and predetermined Plan of God His humiliation, and thus His death on the Cross for us all. Something which they were not going to fully understand until it was accomplished.
Scripture Quotations
New King James Version (1982): Thomas Nelson
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