Matthew 16:13-20 - Who Do YOU Say Jesus is?
- Chad Werkhoven
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
It's easy to say what other people think about Jesus, but who do YOU say He is?
Gospels: Week 6 - Confession, offense, glory, and resurrection power
Matthew 16:13–20 (NASB95)
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
Canons of Dordt
Point III/IV, Article 11: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Conversion
When God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones by working true conversion in them, He not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.
Summary
The disciples were likely used to pop quizzes like this from their Teacher, where as they traveled, Jesus would ask them a question and listen to their answers. What they might have been relieved about this time is the easy question Jesus lobs at them. You see, it's always easy to report on what other people are saying.
So when Jesus asks them who do people say the Son of Man is, the disciples are quick with their answers. Some say you're John the Baptist - whom Herod had beheaded months earlier - and others, the disciples continue, think you're a prophet. It must have felt good for these guys to finally be able to answer one of Jesus' questions correctly! There might have even been a few celebratory high fives and fist bumps when Jesus wasn't looking.
But then Jesus tightened the screws. He said to them, "Who do you think that I am." This time, the sound of silence from the disciples following Jesus must have been deafening. Nobody dared chime in on this one. Nobody, of course, except for Simon, whom we know better for the name Jesus gave him in today's passage, whose mouth often engaged quicker than his mind.
But this was Simon's moment. This time, the words that flowed out of his mouth form one of the Bible's boldest declarations of truth. Simon replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Dig Deeper
For most of us, this isn't the first time we've read these words. And like anything else, the more times we encounter something stunning, the less impressive it seems. Of course Jesus is the Christ - that is, the Messiah or the anointed one that God had promised for so long. Of course Jesus is the Son of the living God. People like us have known this for longer than we've known how to count to five.
But take a moment to consider just how monumental Simon's confession of Christ is. Or better yet, meditate on it throughout the day (meditate simply means to chew on it throughout the day, the way a cow chews her cud): Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!
There was likely another moment of acute silence after Simon replied. Whereas the silence that came after Jesus' pointed question about who they thought He was came as the result of twelve heads pointed to the ground in an attempt to evade Jesus' gaze, this time, all twenty four of those eyeballs would have been riveted on Jesus. How would He reply to this incredible thing Simon had just uttered? Had Simon said too much? Had his impulsive honesty drug him into blasphemy?
It didn't take long for Jesus to relieve the tension with the very next word He spoke, calling Simon blessed. Jesus then explained that the only way Simon could come to this conclusion was to have it directly revealed to him by Jesus' Father who is in heaven. For the first time, these disciples now knew beyond any shadow of doubt that Jesus was indeed the promised Christ.
How do you think this changed the disciples' lives from this moment forward? How does it change yours?
(To Dig Deeper into Jesus' famously difficult declaration that Simon, whose name would now be Peter, would be the rock upon which Jesus would build His church, click here and here).
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the living God;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the boldness Simon demonstrated here, and that his confession would not just be your own, but that it would shape your entire perception of reality;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
