The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew16:21–23

Christ’s Passion Foretold

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 16:21–23 — Christ’s Passion Foretold. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

21

From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Apo tote ho Iēsous ērxato deiknyein autou tois mathētais hoti dei auton apelthein eis Hierosolyma kai pathein polla apo tōn presbyterōn kai archiereōn kai grammateōn kai apoktanthēnai kai tē tritē hēmera egerthēnai

Word by word32 · parsed
ἈπὸApoFromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τότεtotethat time [on]G5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: the when, at that time With Apo, a hinge in the narrative, not a vague transition. Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all read it the same way: only after the confession of v. 16 does the Passion become teachable.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἤρξατοērxatobeganG756
√ ἄρχομαι — to commence (in order of time)VerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
archomai: to commence (in order of time) Aorist middle indicative. JFB reads the "began" strictly: from here Jesus speaks of His death "with an explicitness and frequency He had never observed before." Pulpit: "No longer obscurely, but plainly and without reserve."
δεικνύεινdeiknyeinto showG1166
√ δεικνύω — to show (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
deiknyō: to show (literally or figuratively) Present infinitive active, a verb of demonstration rather than mere speech. Ellicott lists what had already been said in riddle (John 2:19, John 3:14, the sign of Jonah at Matthew 12:39) and concludes: now the veil is uplifted and the order of events is plainly foretold.
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοῖςtoisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
μαθηταῖςmathētaisdisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounDative Masculine Plural
mathētēs: a learner Dative plural: the showing is aimed at learners, not at crowds. Gill adds a reason for the privacy, that the Passion must not be prevented.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
δεῖdeiHe mustG1163
√ δεῖ — also deon deh-on'VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
dei: it is necessary The theological center of the verse, and the only finite verb governing the four infinitives that follow (go, suffer, be killed, be raised). It is impersonal: the necessity is not a mood in Jesus but an order of things He obeys. Pulpit: "He must ( δεῖ ) go thither to meet and endure these sufferings, because it was so ordained in the counsels of God and announced by the prophets." The same dei reappears on the Emmaus road and at Matthew 26:54, which is why v. 23 can treat opposition to it as opposition to God.
αὐτὸνauton. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Accusative pronoun serving as subject of the infinitives that follow.
ἀπελθεῖνapeltheingoG565
√ ἀπέρχομαι — to go off (iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
aperchomai: to go off, go away Aorist infinitive. The compound has departure in it: Galilee is left behind. Benson notes the geography is theological, that He lived most of His time in Galilee but must die at Jerusalem, "there all the sacrifices were offered."
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἹεροσόλυμαHierosolymaJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
Hierosolyma: Jerusalem Accusative neuter plural. Named as destination, and Gill notes why it had to be this city: only the great sanhedrim sitting there could try Him as a false prophet, so the condemnation would be maximally public.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
παθεῖνpatheinsufferG3958
√ πάσχω — to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
paschō: to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful) Aorist infinitive active, and the only active verb in the chain of suffering: He goes, He suffers, then He is killed and is raised. The Greek verb is broad, an experiencing, which is why BSB must supply "many things" from the adjective that follows.
πολλὰpollamany thingsG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
polys: much, many Accusative neuter plural standing alone, "many things." Barnes and Pulpit both note what is withheld here: no cross is named yet, only a quantity of suffering; Pulpit sends the reader to Matthew 20:18, 19 for the details.
ἀπὸapoat the hands ofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
Preposition apo, source: the suffering comes out from the named authorities.
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
πρεσβυτέρωνpresbyterōneldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
presbyteros: older Genitive plural. Geneva's marginal gloss settles the sense: "It was a name of dignity and not of age: and it is used for those who were the judges, whom the Hebrews call the Sanhedrin." Benson calls them "the most honourable and experienced men."
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀρχιερέωνarchiereōnchief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounGenitive Masculine Plural
archiereus: the high-priest Genitive plural: the chief priests, whom Pulpit identifies as "heads of the twenty-four courses, as office bearers of the theocracy." The office established to bring sacrifice will procure this one.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γραμματέωνgrammateōnscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounGenitive Masculine Plural
grammateus: scribe, town-clerk Genitive plural, the learned class. Benson: "the most learned body of men in the nation," and he marks the scandal that men of Scripture, who professed to expect Messiah's coming, used Him so. Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all read the three names together as the Sanhedrin, so the whole religious establishment is meant.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀποκτανθῆναιapoktanthēnaithat He must be killedG615
√ ἀποκτείνω — to kill outrightVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
apokteinō: to kill outright Aorist passive infinitive. The lexicon's "outright" is not decoration: this is judicial killing, not death. Cambridge notes the restraint, "As yet there is no mention of the Roman judge or of the death upon the cross; this truth is broken gradually."
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τῇtēon theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
τρίτῃtritēthirdG5154
√ τρίτος — thirdAdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
tritos: third With the dative hēmera, a dative of time: on the third day. Pulpit reads the phrase both ways at once, "not only for typical reasons, but to assure them that his death should be speedily followed by his return to life."
ἡμέρᾳhēmeradayG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Singular
hēmera: day Dative singular of time when.
ἐγερθῆναιegerthēnaibe raised to lifeG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
egeirō: to waken Aorist passive infinitive: to be raised, agent unnamed. The resurrection is stated as plainly as the death, which creates the problem Cambridge presses honestly: how could disciples told this be so slow to believe it? He answers with the blindness of those who will not see and with their habit of taking Jesus' hard sayings as metaphor. Benson hears in the pairing the pattern of 1 Peter 1:11, the sufferings and the glory that should follow.
22

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho Petros proslabomenos auton ērxato epitiman autō Hileōs soi Kyrie legōn touto ou mē estai soi

Word by word17 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠέτροςPetrosPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounNominative Masculine Singular
Petros: a (piece of) rock The name is doing narrative work six verses after it was given. Cambridge and Pulpit both build on the collision: the one just called the rock now speaks as the obstacle.
προσλαβόμενοςproslabomenostook Him asideG4355
√ προσλαμβάνω — to take to oneself, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
proslambanō: to take to oneself Aorist middle participle. The middle voice is not incidental: the disciple appropriates his Lord, whatever the physical gesture was. Geneva reads the gesture as courteous, "Took him by the hand and led him aside, as they used to do, which meant to talk familiarly with one"; Pulpit calls it "a reverent familiarity permitted by the Lord to his loving apostle." Barnes takes it as the grasp of a friend.
αὐτὸνauton. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἤρξατοērxato[and] beganG756
√ ἄρχομαι — to commence (in order of time)VerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
Aorist of archomai, the same verb as v. 21: Jesus began to show, Peter began to rebuke. Pulpit hears the choice of word as deliberate reporting, that the historian "intimates that he had not time to say much before the Lord mercifully interposed and cut him short."
ἐπιτιμᾶνepitimanto rebukeG2008
√ ἐπιτιμάω — to tax upon, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
epitimaō: to tax upon, to rebuke Present infinitive active. Poole compares the way "men often do their familiar friends, when they judge they have spoken something beneath them"; Benson refuses to weaken it to expostulation and argues from the severity of the answer in v. 23 that the offense was real. The Verifier finds the same lexeme in Mark 8:33 and Luke 9:55.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἽλεώςHileōsFar be itG2436
√ ἵλεως — cheerful (as attractive), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
hileōs: cheerful, propitious, merciful A rare word: the Verifier finds it in only two verses of the New Testament, here and Hebrews 8:12, where it belongs to God's promise to be merciful toward iniquities. Here it is aimed at the Son by a man asking that He be spared. Ellicott traces the idiom to the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 32:12, Numbers 14:19, Deuteronomy 21:8); Pulpit adds 1 Chronicles 11:19; Benson cites 1 Maccabees 2:21 for the sense "God forbid." So the form is a prayer, and the intent, as Poole grants, was affectionate.
σοιsoifrom YouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
ΚύριεKyrieLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
kyrios: supreme in authority Vocative. The title concedes everything the sentence then takes back: Peter calls Him Lord in the act of correcting Him.
λέγωνlegōnhe saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
τοῦτοtoutoThisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
οὐou{shall} neverG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
The absolute negative ou, first half of the emphatic ou mē.
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
mē: not, lest Paired with ou before a future indicative, this is the strongest denial Greek makes: not "may it not be" but "it certainly will not be." Pulpit insists the construction is predictive and never prohibitory, so the clause is not a plea but a verdict passed on the plan just announced. That is what divides the two halves of Peter's speech: hileōs soi prays, ou mē estai rules.
ἔσταιestaihappenG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
eimi: I exist, to be Future indicative middle, third singular. Gill hears in it both confidence and resolve, "expressing his full assurance of it, and his resolution to do all that in him lay to hinder it." Ellicott reads it as Peter extending his new authority to bind and loose over his Master's work and its means, which is the precise overreach.
σοιsoito YouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
23

But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho strapheis eipen tō Petrō Hypage opisō mou Satana ei skandalon emou hoti ou phroneis ta tou Theou alla ta tōn anthrōpōn

Word by word23 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
στραφεὶςstrapheis[Jesus] turnedG4762
√ στρέφω — to twist, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
strephō: to twist, to turn Aorist participle, passive in form. A physical turn that is also a reversal of the scene: the one just drawn aside is now faced in front of the others. JFB explains why it had to be public: Jesus "perceiving that he had but boldly uttered what others felt, and that the check was needed by them also."
εἶπενeipen[and] saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
Aorist of epō, to say: the narrative verb that frames the whole rebuke.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ΠέτρῳPetrōto PeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounDative Masculine Singular
Petros: a (piece of) rock Dative: the words are addressed to Peter by name, not to a power behind him. Barnes leans on this to keep the rebuke human; Gill grants that some take Satan here as merely "adversary," yet himself inclines to the devil taking advantage of Peter's weakness. The brief preserves both readings; neither is certain.
ὝπαγεHypageGetG5217
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
hypagō: to lead (oneself) under, to go away Present imperative active, second singular: a standing order, not a single shove. With opisō mou it puts Peter back into the place of a follower.
ὀπίσωopisōbehindG3694
√ ὀπίσω — to the back, iPreposition
opisō: to the back, behind The spatial word that makes the rebuke also a restoration of order: behind, in the disciple's place.
μουmouMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ΣατανᾶSatanaSatanG4567
√ Σατανᾶς — the accuser, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
Satanas: the accuser, adversary Vocative. This is the unit's hardest word and the sources honestly divide. Barnes limits it: "there is no evidence that the Lord Jesus meant to apply this term to Peter, as signifying that he was Satan or the devil, or that he used the term in anger." Geneva takes it as the Hebrew word for adversary, spoken of those who resist God's will "of lightness and pride." Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge and Pulpit go further and hear the wilderness temptation renewed, the offer of a crown without a cross. Benson records Baxter putting it in Jesus' own mouth: "I say to thee as I did to the devil when he tempted me."
εἶeiYou areG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
σκάνδαλονskandalona stumbling blockG4625
√ σκάνδαλον — a trap-stick (bent sapling), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
skandalon: a trap-stick (bent sapling), an occasion of stumbling A relatively rare noun; the Verifier finds the lexeme in 13 verses, among them Luke 17:1 on the inevitability of offenses. Ellicott and Pulpit both hear the deliberate reversal of v. 18: "Peter is still a stone, but it is as "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" ( Isaiah 8:14 ; 1Peter 2:8 )." Gill is careful about the tense of the danger, that Peter was not in fact an offense but "endeavoured to be, and was as much as in him lay."
ἐμοῦemouto MeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ὅτιhotiForG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
Conjunction hoti giving the ground of the rebuke: the diagnosis follows the sentence.
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
φρονεῖςphroneisyou do not have in mindG5426
√ φρονέω — to exercise the mind, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
phroneō: to exercise the mind Present indicative: a settled way of thinking, not a slip of the tongue. Barnes glosses "thou thinkest not upon"; Poole prefers "thou understandest not, the things that be of God, that is, the counsels of God in this matter"; Cambridge hears party allegiance. Taken with v. 21, the object of the verb is precise: what Peter is not minding is the dei.
τὰtathe thingsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
theos: God Genitive: "the things of the God." Gill names them, the appointment of God, the counsel of His will, the provision of the covenant, the prophecies of the Old Testament, that is, exactly the content of the necessity announced in v. 21.
ἀλλὰallabutG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
alla: but The strong adversative that makes the two minds exclusive, not merely different.
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
τῶνtōnthingsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnof menG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
anthrōpos: man Genitive plural, "the things of men." Not sin as such but the human calculus of glory and self-preservation. JFB: "Thou art carried away by human views of the way of setting up Messiah's kingdom, quite contrary to those of God." Henry states the application plainly: those who decline suffering for Christ savour more of the things of man than of the things of God.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The veil uplifted: a necessity, not a misfortune — Matthew 16:21

⚙ Everything in this verse hangs on one impersonal verb. δεῖ (dei, G1163) is the only finite verb of necessity, and four aorist infinitives hang from it: to go away, to suffer, to be killed, to be raised. Gill reads the grammar exactly this way, insisting that the word "must" governs not only the journey but the sufferings, the death and the resurrection alike. Pulpit supplies the reason the word is impersonal: He must go "because it was so ordained in the counsels of God and announced by the prophets." Ellicott dates the change in method, that the prominence given to the prediction shows it struck the disciples as altogether new, and that earlier hints (John 2:19, John 3:14, the sign of Jonah) had gone unread. Cambridge and Barnes both explain the timing pedagogically: only now that the confession of v. 16 is made can the true nature of the kingdom be taught, and Barnes adds bluntly that had Jesus declared this when He first called them, "they would never have followed him." Poole says the same in one sentence, that our Lord taught his hearers by degrees. Two details in the Greek should not be lost: the verbs of death and resurrection are both passive infinitives, ἀποκτανθῆναι and ἐγερθῆναι, so the Son is the one acted upon at both ends; and the three groups named in the genitive, elders, chief priests and scribes, are read by Barnes, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit together as the Sanhedrin, which is Pulpit's point that "the whole religious world would thus be combined against Christ." Geneva's marginal note keeps one word honest: elder here is "a name of dignity and not of age."

ii. The kindest possible wrong: Peter's prayer and Peter's verdict — Matthew 16:22

⚙ Peter's objection has two halves, and the Greek makes them different in kind. The first, Ἵλεώς σοι, is a prayer with the divine name omitted; Ellicott calls BSB's "Far be it from You" a paraphrase rather than a translation and restores the ellipsis, "( God be ) merciful to Thee," tracing the idiom through the Greek Old Testament at Exodus 32:12, Numbers 14:19 and Deuteronomy 21:8. Pulpit fills in εἴη ὁ Θεός and points to 1 Chronicles 11:19; Benson offers the alternative margin, "Pity thyself," and reports that Wesley called such advice the counsel "of the world, the flesh, and the devil," given "to every one of our Lord's followers." Cambridge leaves both senses standing. The second half is not a prayer at all: οὐ μὴ ἔσται is an emphatic double negative with a future indicative, and Pulpit insists on the mood, "a very strong assertion, not a prayer or wish," since the construction is "predictive, never prohibitory." Between the two stands the verb the sources argue over. Benson will not soften ἐπιτιμᾶν to expostulation, since the verb of a past thing "always implies a declaration of censure or blame"; Barnes pulls the other way, taking it as earnest entreaty and denying that Peter assumed authority, though he still grants "Even this was improper." The affection is not in dispute. Poole says the words were undoubtedly spoken out of a good intention and a singular affection, and then says the harder thing: good intentions and good affections will not justify evil actions. Benson supplies the motive with uncomfortable specificity, that the man just promised the keys "could not help being very much displeased to hear his Master talk of dying at Jerusalem." JFB adds that the aside was taken "presuming on the distinction just conferred on him," and that his protest voiced what the others felt.

iii. Turned: the rock named the trap-stick — Matthew 16:23

⚙ The rebuke begins with a body. στραφείς stops the walking group; Pulpit stages it, "Now Jesus stops, turns, and faces them," and Ellicott and JFB both bring in Mark's detail that the look took in the other disciples, so the answer given to one man is heard by all. Then three sentences, each a reversal of v. 18. Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου puts Peter back behind, in a follower's place, and the sources divide honestly on the name that follows. Barnes restrains it to the lexical sense of adversary and denies both anger and identification with the devil; Geneva likewise reads the Hebrew word for adversary, spoken of those who resist God's will "of lightness and pride"; Gill notes that some read it so, yet inclines to the devil exploiting Peter's weakness, and also records the rabbinic usage in which Satan names the corruption of nature. Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge and Pulpit take the stronger line, that the words are those spoken to the Tempter, and that the suggestion of a crown without a cross was the wilderness offer returning. Cambridge states the conditional cleanly: if the words of the tempter are in Peter's mouth he is addressed as the tempter, and when he speaks the words of truth he is the foundation stone. The second sentence completes the wordplay in the Greek itself: σκάνδαλον, a trap-stick, of Me. Ellicott and Pulpit both hear Isaiah 8:14 and 1 Peter 2:8 in it, the same man a stone of stumbling. The third sentence gives the diagnosis, φρονεῖς: Ellicott retires the archaic "savourest" for the mind and affection language of Romans 8:5 and Colossians 3:2; Cambridge hears a word of taking sides; Poole restricts the object precisely, that Peter does not think of "the counsels of God in this matter, as to the redemption of mankind," and considers Him only as Master and Friend, not as Saviour of the world. Pulpit closes with Chrysostom, that to Peter the Passion looked unmeet, while Christ answers that "for me not to suffer is of the devil's mind." JFB adds the reading of Jesus' motive that we think the text supports: the explanation was kindly given, not "to take off the sharp edge of the rebuke, but to explain and justify it."

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by Scripture. Notice that nothing in the rebuke touches Peter's love, his courage, or even his theology of who Jesus is. Six verses earlier the confession was called a revelation of the Father; here the same mouth is called a trap-stick. What changed is not the doctrine of Christ's person but the doctrine of His work, and the text locates the whole fault in one place: Peter is not minding the δεῖ of v. 21. A right Christology that refuses the cross has already become, in Cambridge's phrase, an argument for the false kingdom. That is why the rebuke is spatial rather than merely verbal. Jesus does not say "be silent" but "get behind Me," which is exactly where a disciple belongs, and where v. 24 will tell the whole crowd to be. Peter's sin was not standing too far off; it was standing in front. We would add a second observation, and hold it loosely: the words Ἵλεώς σοι are a genuine prayer for mercy, and the Verifier finds that rare adjective in only one other New Testament verse, Hebrews 8:12, where God promises to be merciful toward iniquities. Peter asks that mercy be shown to the Son, and the mercy shown to us is that it was not. Barnes, Gill and Geneva restrain the word Satan here, and we think that restraint is worth preserving, because the text gives us something more useful than a demonology: it shows that the counsel of hell can arrive in the voice of the friend who loves you most, and can be sincere. Henry draws the application we would draw, that whoever would make us fear to do too much for God speaks Satan's language. The single line set apart below is our own synthesis, not Scripture.

The rock did not stop being a rock when it became a stumbling block; it only stopped standing behind.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

"Mercy on Thee": Peter's rare word, and God's own promise of mercy verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The adjective in Peter's protest, ἵλεώς (hileōs, G2436), is almost unique in the New Testament. The Verifier finds it in only two verses: this one, and Hebrews 8:12, where the writer carries over the promise of the new covenant that God will be merciful toward iniquities and remember sins no more. Ellicott notes that the idiom is frequent in the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 32:12, Numbers 14:19, Deuteronomy 21:8), and Pulpit adds 1 Chronicles 11:19, so the word belongs to the vocabulary of pleading for mercy. The link is lexical and nothing more, yet it is worth recording: the one other place the New Testament uses this word, it is God being merciful to sinners; here it is a sinner asking that God be merciful to the Son, which would have left no mercy for the sinner. Neither verse quotes the other.

Hebrews 8:12

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2436 ἵλεως, found in only 2 verses of the NT (Matthew 16:22 and Hebrews 8:12). Rare shared lexeme, both Greek, so a genuine verbal link; explicitly not a quotation of one passage by the other, and the two uses run in opposite directions.

The same scene in Mark and Luke, and what each keeps structural / thematic: confirmed

The synoptic parallels are named by the sources themselves: Cambridge heads the section "The Passion is foretold Mark 8:31-33 ; Luke 9:22" and observes "St Luke omits the rebuke to Peter." JFB supplies from Mark 8:31 the words "and be rejected," and from Mark 8:32 that "He spake that saying openly," which JFB glosses "explicitly," or "without disguise." Ellicott, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all use Mark's added detail that Jesus looked on the disciples before rebuking Peter. ⚙ The Verifier's shared lexemes here are the ordinary ones of the scene, so we record this as the confirmed synoptic parallel rather than as a quotation.

Mark 8:31 · Mark 8:32 · Mark 8:33 · Luke 9:22

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes with Mark 8:31 and Luke 9:22 (G615 ἀποκτείνω in 70 vv, G749 ἀρχιερεύς in 119 vv, G1163 δεῖ in 101 vv) and with Mark 8:32-33 (G756 ἄρχομαι in 84 vv, G4355 προσλαμβάνω in 11 vv, G4074 Πέτρος in 150 vv, G2008 ἐπιτιμάω in 29 vv). All common vocabulary apart from προσλαμβάνω, so we claim the shared narrative, not verbal dependence; the parallel itself is named by Cambridge, JFB and Pulpit.

"Must suffer many things": the Servant, and the third day typological

⚙ The content of the δεῖ is not explained in v. 21, but the sources locate it in the prophets. Pulpit says He must go "because it was so ordained in the counsels of God and announced by the prophets"; Gill lists "the prophecies of the Old Testament" among the things that made it necessary and, on the resurrection, writes that it was "according to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and the type of Jonas"; Benson pairs the sufferings and the glory as 1 Peter 1:11 does. The figure of a man despised and rejected who is nevertheless vindicated is Isaiah 53:3-12; the third-day pattern is read by the older commentators in Hosea 6:2 and in Jonah 1:17, which Matthew himself has already called a sign (Ellicott cites Matthew 12:39 and Matthew 16:4). These are figural readings, not quotations: no citation formula appears in this verse, and no shared Strong's number is possible between the Greek here and the Hebrew there.

Isaiah 53:3-12 · Hosea 6:2 · Jonah 1:17

basis: Figural, not verbal: cross-Testament, so shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed between Greek and Hebrew, and the Verifier lists no such basis. Ancient and widely held: the sign of Jonah is Matthew's own (Matthew 12:39, cited by Ellicott) and Gill names "the type of Jonas" explicitly; the Isaiah 53 and Hosea 6:2 readings are the standard patristic and Reformation ones, and are our inference here, not a claim printed in this unit's sources.

Rejected by elders, chief priests and scribes: the stone and the shepherd structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The three genitive groups in v. 21 are read by Barnes, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit as the Sanhedrin, the whole religious leadership. Benson marks the scandal that the men "who professed to expect the Messiah's coming, and sustained a sacred character, should use him with such contumely and cruelty when he came," and Pulpit that "the whole religious world would thus be combined against Christ." The Old Testament already has a shape for that: the stone the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22, which Matthew will quote later in this Gospel, though not here), and the shepherd struck with the sheep scattered (Zechariah 13:7). We record the resonance and claim no citation: v. 21 has no quotation formula at all.

Psalm 118:22 · Zechariah 13:7

basis: Shared motif of an authorized rejection of God's chosen one. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexemes can be computed and none are offered; the Verifier lists no basis for these pairs. The sanhedrin identification is printed in Barnes, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit; the Psalm and Zechariah contacts are our own reading, and no quotation is claimed.

"Satan" and "the things of men": the adversary, and counsel that is not God's structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Two Old Testament shapes stand behind v. 23, and the sources point at both without naming these texts. First, the word itself: Geneva notes that "The Hebrews call him Satan, that is to say an adversary," and Barnes that it "literally means "an adversary," or one who opposes us in the accomplishment of our designs." That is the figure who stands to accuse in Job 1:6-12 and at the right hand of Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3:1-2, and the point in both is opposition to what God has determined. Second, the diagnosis: to mind the things of men rather than of God is the distance named in Isaiah 55:8-9, where God's thoughts are not ours. JFB reads Jesus' closing words precisely so, that Peter is "carried away by human views of the way of setting up Messiah's kingdom, quite contrary to those of God."

Job 1:6-12 · Zechariah 3:1-2 · Isaiah 55:8-9

basis: Shared pattern (the accuser who opposes God's determined purpose; human counsel measured against divine) with no quotation claimed. Cross-Testament Greek to Hebrew, so shared Strong's numbers are unavailable by definition and the Verifier supplies no basis. The lexical sense of Satan as adversary is printed in Geneva, Barnes, Gill and Poole.

"Get behind Me, Satan": the wilderness words, and a text-critical caution flagged: verify source

Four of this unit's voices identify the rebuke with the temptation. Ellicott: "The chief of the Apostles was addressed in the self-same terms as those which had been spoken to the Tempter (see Note on Matthew 4:10 )." JFB says the same but cites Luke 4:8. Pulpit says Jesus "uses nearly the same words," citing Matthew 4:10, and the word "nearly" is doing real work. Cambridge and Gill make the same identification, Gill adding that such resentment was shown to no one else "but to the devil himself, when he tempted him to worship him." ⚙ We flag the link rather than confirm it, for a reason internal to the text: the phrase "behind Me" in the wilderness account is text-critically disputed, standing in the Received Text and in Luke 4:8 but absent from Matthew 4:10 in the critical editions, which is why the older commentators cite the two places inconsistently. The theological identification may well be right; the verbal identity should not be asserted from this brief, and the Verifier offers no basis for it.

Matthew 4:10 · Luke 4:8

basis: Contested wording. The sources themselves disagree on the referent (Ellicott and Pulpit cite Matthew 4:10, JFB cites Luke 4:8), Pulpit hedges with "nearly the same words," and the ὀπίσω μου clause in the wilderness rebuke is a known textual variant. No Verifier basis was computed for either reference. Verify against a critical apparatus before upgrading.

A trap-stick set in the road: skandalon from Peter to Isaiah's stone structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ σκάνδαλον (G4625) is a relatively uncommon noun: the Verifier finds the lexeme in 13 verses, one of them Luke 17:1, where Jesus tells the same disciples that occasions of stumbling are bound to come and pronounces woe on the one through whom they come. The nearer resonance, and the one the sources name, is figural: Ellicott writes that "Peter is still a stone, but it is as "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" ( Isaiah 8:14 ; 1Peter 2:8 )," and Pulpit repeats it, "Petros, the stone, to maintain the metaphor, is now "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence."" That Peter's own letter later uses the figure is the detail worth keeping: the man told he was the stumbling block writes the phrase about Christ.

Luke 17:1 · Isaiah 8:14 · 1 Peter 2:8

basis: Two different kinds of basis, so we tier to the weaker. Verifier: shared Greek lexemes with Luke 17:1, G4625 σκάνδαλον (in 13 vv) and G3101 μαθητής (in 247 vv), a real verbal contact that we do not call quotation. The Isaiah 8:14 and 1 Peter 2:8 contact is cross-Testament and figural, printed in Ellicott and Pulpit, with no shared Strong's number possible.

"Took him to himself": one uncommon verb, two opposite uses structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The participle in v. 22, προσλαβόμενος (proslabomenos, G4355), is not common: the Verifier finds the lexeme in 11 verses. Benson reports that Campbell argued for the rendering "taking him aside" precisely from one of them, Acts 18:26, where Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside to teach him better, and says it "is necessary in Acts 18:26 , which cannot be interpreted otherwise." In Paul the same verb carries the opposite freight: receive one another as Christ received you (Romans 15:7), receive him as you would me (Philemon 1:17). The verb is the same and the sense differs, so we claim no more than a lexical observation: Peter takes his Lord to himself in order to correct Him, and the word that names that act is the word the apostles will use for welcome.

Acts 18:26 · Romans 15:7 · Philemon 1:17

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4355 προσλαμβάνω (in 11 vv) with Acts 18:26, Romans 15:7 and Philemon 1:17. Though the lexeme is uncommon, the senses diverge (take aside versus welcome), so we deliberately under-claim and do not tier this verbal; Benson's use of Acts 18:26 for the translation is printed in the brief.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The δεῖ of the cross: Calvary as the will of the Father, not the failure of a plan ancient/widely-held

⚙ The redemptive-historical weight of this unit sits in one impersonal verb. Gill takes δεῖ to cover the journey, the sufferings, the death and the resurrection alike, and grounds it in "the immutable decree of God, the council, and covenant of grace, and peace, the prophecies of the Old Testament, and the redemption and salvation of God's elect." Pulpit says the sufferings are necessary "in the order of things, so that any one who opposes this design is fighting against God." Poole makes it personal in Jesus' mouth: "It was the determinate counsel of God; it is my Father's will. He is mine enemy that dissuades me from a free and cheerful obedience to it." Benson has Baxter put the stakes in the plainest terms available, that Peter tempted Him "to violate my Father's command, and my undertaking, and to forsake the work of man's redemption and salvation." This is the ancient and widely held reading, and it is why the rebuke in v. 23 is disproportionate only if the cross is optional. Gill draws the conclusion: nothing was more offensive to Christ than an attempt to divert Him from the work His Father called Him to.

Matthew 26:54 · Luke 24:26 · Acts 2:23

The mercy Peter asked for, and the mercy that was given instead ancient/widely-held

⚙ Peter's words are a request for mercy: Ellicott restores the ellipsis, "( God be ) merciful to Thee," and Cambridge glosses the literal sense as "may God pity thee", that is, "give thee a better fate". Poole supplies the missing verb the same way: "God shall be merciful unto thee, and help thee, this shall not betide thee." Gill allows the parallel wish, "Lord, be propitious to thyself", or "spare thyself". Granted, it would have been the end of mercy for everyone else. Pulpit states it as sharply as any of the sources: "He who would turn him aside from Calvary is the enemy of man's salvation, which was to be won there." Poole reaches the same place by way of Peter's blindness, that he considered Him only as Master and Friend and did not mind Him as "the Saviour of the world, or the Redeemer of mankind, which cannot be redeemed otherwise than by my death." That substance is the common reading of this passage. What we add, and mark as our own pairing rather than a claim of the sources, is the lexical irony recorded in our first thread: the only other New Testament use of Peter's rare word ἵλεώς is Hebrews 8:12, God's covenant promise to be merciful toward iniquities. The Son was not spared, and that is the mercy.

Hebrews 8:12 · Romans 8:32 · Matthew 26:39

The stone, the stumbling block, and the preacher of the determined counsel ancient/widely-held

⚙ Read with v. 18, this unit is a small history of one man's relation to Christ's work. Ellicott: "Peter is still a stone, but it is as "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" ( Isaiah 8:14 ; 1Peter 2:8 ). He is hindering, not forwarding his Master's work." Cambridge gives the rule behind the two scenes: when the words of the tempter are in Peter's mouth he is addressed as the tempter, and when he speaks the words of truth he is the foundation stone, which means the foundation was never Peter's competence. Benson notes what Jesus' severity implies about the promise just made, and turns the passage against the claims built on it, that if the primacy were rightly read here it would appear in a better light. And the ending belongs to Peter: Benson himself cites 1 Peter 1:11, where this same apostle writes of the Spirit of Christ in the prophets testifying beforehand "his sufferings" and "the glory that should follow," which is exactly the pairing he could not bear in Matthew 16:21. The man who said "this shall never happen to You" preached at Pentecost that Christ was delivered up by God's determined counsel. The reversal is the text's own; the way we have set it out here, from v. 18 through 1 Peter 1:11, is our arrangement of sourced material.

Matthew 16:18 · 1 Peter 1:11 · 1 Peter 2:8 · Acts 2:23

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text and sources. The English is the Berean Standard Bible (CC0); the word-by-word data, Strong's numbers and parses are the Berean interlinear as supplied in this unit's brief. Every gloss above (for example skandalon as "a trap-stick (bent sapling)") is quoted from those Strong's entries and not from our own lexical judgment. The commentary is public domain and named at every point: Ellicott (1878), Benson (1810s), Henry (1706), Barnes (1834), JFB (1871), Poole (1685), Gill (1746 to 1763), Geneva (1599), Cambridge (1880s), Pulpit (1880s). All ten are quoted in this unit.

What is uncertain. (1) The word Satan in v. 23 divides the sources and we have not resolved it: Barnes explicitly denies that Jesus applied the term to Peter as meaning the devil or used it in anger, Geneva and Poole read the Hebrew sense of adversary, while Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge and Pulpit hear the wilderness tempter renewed. We print both and settle neither. (2) The identification of "Get behind Me, Satan" with the wilderness rebuke is flagged rather than confirmed: our sources cite it inconsistently (Matthew 4:10 in Ellicott and Pulpit, Luke 4:8 in JFB), Pulpit hedges with "nearly the same words," and the ὀπίσω μου clause at Matthew 4:10 is a known textual variant. (3) The sense of προσλαβόμενος in v. 22 is genuinely open; Benson lists four renderings that commentators have defended, and BSB chooses one. (4) No Old Testament citation formula occurs anywhere in these three verses, so every Old Testament link above is tiered structural or typological, never verbal, and the cross-Testament pairs carry no shared Strong's basis because Greek and Hebrew lexeme numbers cannot be compared.

Housekeeping in the sources. The Barnes entry for v. 21 opens with the cross reference "See also Mark 7:31-33 ; Luke 9:22," and the Mark reference there does not match the parallel; Mark 8:31-33 is the passage intended, as Cambridge, JFB and Pulpit all give it. The Ellicott entry on v. 23 and the Gill entry on v. 23 are both truncated in this brief (capped at 15 and 1,311 further characters respectively); our quotations from them lie inside the text supplied, but readers should know those two entries continue. Ellicott's closing application of v. 23 to the history of the Papacy, and Benson's similar remark, are polemical judgments of their own period, printed here as the authors wrote them and not endorsed by this layer. Thread bases are the Verifier's computed shared lexemes with frequencies as given; where we had no computed basis we say so in the badge.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)