Matthew 16:13 Commentary and Bible Study

This is about 10 months before the crucifixion of the Saviour. Caesarea Philippi was roughly 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and he begins to prepare them here for his death. There are things they have not grasped and understood. He had spoken of his death before this time, but not with great precision, not going into much detail. Now the detail begins. This passage introduces us to a new phase in the life of Christ. Now he is going to be instructing his disciples, in particular, rather more. There are public discourses, there are miracles still ahead, but there is this theme of private instruction to the disciples. Here is the key question: ‘Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?’ What, after all, is the difference between the believer and the unbeliever? It is their understanding of who Christ is. Why did he ask his disciples this? He did not need them to tell him what the people thought of him. He knew all things. He knew perfectly well what men and women were saying about him. He could read thoughts anywhere, everywhere, so why does he ask the disciples this question? As with all the questions of the Lord, it is for their benefit, so that they will be able to distinguish the difference between the attitude of the crowds and their own attitude, and consider how much those crowds need to learn. But, at the same time, the question is asked, because, while the disciples believe Jesus is Messiah, they don’t know what that means; they don’t really know what that involves. They still think according to the teaching of the Jews at that time, which was certainly not the teaching of the Old Testament, certainly not the Word of God. According to the teaching that prevailed, the Messiah, the great deliverer who was expected, would, when he came, be a political deliverer and would deliver the nation from Roman occupation and domination and set the people at liberty and cause the land to be prosperous, and the crowds did not think that Jesus was such a Messiah.