16:5-12 What did the leaven of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees symbolize?

Mt 16:1-4 See comments on Mt 16:1-4.

16:5-12 What did the leaven of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees symbolize?

The disciples thought that Jesus was alluding to bread which they had forgotten to bring with them, but bread was not the issue – Jesus reminded them that He could easily provide bread if need be, just as He had done previously, first for the five thousand who followed Him, and then for the four thousand. The issue here was the false teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The leaven symbolized their false doctrines which can penetrate and influence the whole church. In Lk 12:1 Jesus referred to it as hypocrisy (cp Lk 12:1-3). The Pharisees and the Sadducees were more concerned with external appearances and ceremonies and their man-made traditions than with the deeper things of God (cp Mt 23:13-36).

16:13-18 (A) Is Peter the rock upon which the church is built, and if not, who or what is?

(cp also Mk 8:27-29; Lk 9:18-20). The church is founded upon the great spiritual truth Peter confessed to Jesus in these passages that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. But Jesus Himself is the rock upon which He is building His church (cp Mt 7:24-25; Lk 6:47-48; Ac 4:10-12; Ro 9:33; 1Cor 3:11; Eph 5:23; 1Pe 2:6-8). Peter and the rest of the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church, but Christ remains the rock upon which it is built (cp Eph 2:13-22). There is much teaching in Christendom that Peter is the rock upon which Christ is building the church because his name means rock, but that is not correct.

Peter is from the Greek word Petros, which simply means a stone or fragment of rock that is easily moved, whereas the rock that Jesus said He will build His church upon is Petra, an immovable mass of rock which is used figuratively of Jesus Himself in both the Old and New Testaments (cp Ex 17:6; Psa 118:22; Isa 8;13-15; 28:16 with 1Cor 10:1-4 and Mt 7:24-25; Lk 6:48; Ro 9:33; 1Pe 2:7-8). Petra is the word Jesus used in Mt 16:18, not Petros. Jesus was referring to Himself as the rock upon which He will build His church, not Peter or Cephas, a stone or a fragment of rock that is easily moved, but Himself and the testimony concerning Him, which is an unchangeable, immovable testimony (cp Mt 16:18). Jesus’ closing statement in V18 that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church means that all the powers of Satan and his hosts cannot overcome the church. The church is the company of the redeemed of God and as such has power over all the power of the devil (cp Lk 10:19; Jas 4:7).

16:19 By telling Peter that He would give him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, did Jesus give Peter precedence in authority over the other disciples, as some teach?

(cp V13-19) Peter had no precedence at all over the other disciples in authority, only in time – he was the first to confess his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. They were all equal in authority, as scriptures clearly teach (cp Mt 20:20-28; Mk 10:35-45; Lk 22:24-27). On the ground of his confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Lord simply designated Peter as the first one to open the door of the Kingdom of Heaven – to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (cp Ac 2:14-41). And later to the Gentiles through the salvation of Cornelius and all his house (cp Ac 10:1-8, 21-48). The keys are metaphorical – they represent the ministry of the word by which the Kingdom of Heaven is unlocked for all who hear the word and wish to enter in. Every believer in Christ has been given the keys of the kingdom. They have all been delegated to minister God’s word and empowered to bind and loose, the same as Peter (cp Mt 18:18-20; Jn 20:21-23; 2Cor 5:17-19).

Many Christians believe that the believer’s authority to bind and loose in Mt 16:19 and 18:18 extends only to church discipline and remitting or retaining sins (cp Mt 18:15-18; 1Cor 5:1-7 with Jn 20:21-23). The word whatsoever however is all-inclusive and encompasses every facet of ministry – not only church discipline and remitting or retaining sins, but also raising the dead; healing the sick; walking on water; stilling storms; making the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak and the lame to walk; casting out demons; taking up serpents, etc. In this charge to the church Jesus is authorizing believers to activate everything He has made provision for in His life, death and resurrection (cp Mt 17:20; 21:22; Mk 11:22-24; 16:17; Jn 14:12-14; 15:7, 16; 16:20-23; Ac 1:8). The word again in Mt 18:19 means once more, pointing to a repeat of the believer’s authority in V18 but expressing it in another form, which is that if any two believers agree in prayer for anything at all, God will do it for them (cpV19). Anything in this context means essentially the same as whatsoever in its context - it is also all-inclusive. We have Christ’s assurance that it will come to pass because where two or three believers gather together to fulfill Christ’s purpose for the church He is in their midst. It goes without saying though that both whatever and anything must always be in accordance with scripture (cp 1Jn 5:14-15).

16:21-23 Why did Jesus refer to Peter as Satan here?

Here Jesus had just begun to tell the disciples how He must shortly suffer and die. Peter could not understand how Jesus could be Messiah and yet have to suffer at the hands of the religious leaders and then be put to death. Peter did not comprehend God’s redemptive plan in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, and he tried to talk Jesus out of allowing it to happen. In so doing Peter unwittingly allowed himself to become a tool of Satan by trying to thwart Christ’s mission on earth and interfere with God’s redemptive plan for all mankind. Jesus’ whole purpose in living was to die (cp Isa 53:10; Jn 3:16; 10:17-18; 12:27; Ac 2:22-23; 4:26-28). Peter was not thinking from God’s viewpoint but Satan’s, and Jesus rebuked him as Satan for yielding to Satan’s influence. (See also comments on Mk 9:9-10, Jn 20:9).

16:24 See comments on Mt 10:37-38.

16:25-26 See comments on Mt 10:39.

16:28 What did Jesus mean when He said, “There be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom?

Most commentators agree that Jesus is referring to Peter, James and John here who were to shortly see Him in His glory at His transfiguration on the mountain in Mt 17 (cp Mt 17:1-9). The transfiguration was a preview of Christ’s future eternal glory in the coming Kingdom of Heaven. It is also recorded in Mk 9:1-8; Lk 9:27-36 and 2Pe (cp 2Pe 1:16-18).

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