Matthew 16:13-20
The profession of Peter’s faith
16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
16:14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
16:20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
[13]᾿Ελθὼν δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἰς τὰ μέρη Καισαρείας τῆς Φιλίππου ἠρώτα τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ λέγων· τίνα με λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου;
[14]οἱ δὲ εἶπον· οἱ μὲν ᾿Ιωάννην τὸν βαπτιστήν, ἄλλοι δὲ ᾿Ηλίαν, ἕτεροι δὲ ῾Ιερεμίαν ἢ ἕνα τῶν προφητῶν.
[15]λέγει αὐτοῖς· ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι;
[16]ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ Σίμων Πέτρος εἶπε· σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος.
[17]καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· μακάριος εἶ, Σίμων Βαριωνᾶ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψέ σοι, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.
[18]κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς.
[19]καὶ δώσω σοι τὰς κλεῖς τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.
[20]τότε διεστείλατο τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ἵνα μηδενὶ εἴπωσιν ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Χριστός.
Comments
Literature abounds in puns, which can be tools of persuasion. We have a foretaste of paronomasia (wordplay’) in v. 13 (‘men’ and the title ‘Son of Man’). A bona fide pun occurs in v. 18, where it is not merely a paronomasia, but also a paronmymia (‘nickname’).
[13] ἠρώτα τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ λέγων: lit., ‘he was asking his disciples, saying.’ Τhe part. λέγων after a finite vb is pleonastic (i.e., superfluous), and a Hebraism also found in LXX. See EDNT s.v. λέγω, 2.
τίνα με λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου;: με in the text used by the Orthodox Church should be expunged. The correct reading is printed in The Greek New Testament, 2nd edn, eds Aland, K., Black, M., Martini, C.M., Metzger, B.M., Wikgren, A.
(Stuttgart: Württemberg Bible Society, 1968): Τίνα λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; ‘Who do men (i.e. people) consider to be the Son of Man?’ Initial Τίνα (‘who’?) is emphatic, and there is a slight pun on ‘men’ and ‘man’. Jesus will vary this question in v. 15.
[15] ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι: now the emphatic word in the question falls on ‘you’ (plural). ‘But who do YOU consider me to be?’ The conj. δὲ introduces a marked contrast: YOU vs the others.
[16] σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς: σὺ, ‘you’ is stressed. ‘YOU are the Christ.’ This syntactical pattern will be replicated in Jesus’ words in v. 18, σὺ εἶ Πέτρος.
In other contexts, χριστός, adj., can mean ‘suitable for anointing’, of olive oil.
[18] σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ: a famous pun (paronomasia). Πέτρος, ‘stone’ (already in the Iliad); πέτρα, ‘rock’, ‘boulder’ (already in the Iliad and the Odyssey).
πύλαι ᾅδου: Achilles says that he hates the ‘gates of Hades’ (Iliad 19.312-13). Hades in Greek myth is both a god and a place. In the latter case, the ‘gates’ mark the boundary between the living and the dead, but have no gatekeeper.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 