Luke 9:18-21

Peter’s Confession

9:18 Once ¹  when Jesus ²  was praying ³  by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, ⁴  “Who do the crowds say that I am?” ⁵  9:19 They ⁶  answered, ⁷  “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; ⁸  and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” ⁹  9:20 Then ¹⁰  he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter ¹¹  answered, ¹²  “The Christ ¹³  of God.” 9:21 But he forcefully commanded ¹⁴  them not to tell this to anyone, ¹⁵ 

[9:18]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:18]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:18]  ³ sn Prayer is a favorite theme of Luke and he is the only one of the gospel authors to mention it in the following texts (with the exception of 22:41): Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:28-29; 11:1; 22:41; 23:34, 46.

[9:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “the disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying.”

[9:18]  ⁵ sn “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The question of who Jesus is occurs frequently in this section of Luke: 7:49; 8:25; 9:9. The answer resolves a major theme of Luke’s Gospel.

[9:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “And answering, they said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “They answered.”

[9:19]  ⁸ sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

[9:19]  ⁹ sn The phrase has risen could be understood to mean “has been resurrected,” but this is only a possible option, not a necessary one, since the phrase could merely mean that a figure had appeared on the scene who mirrored an earlier historical figure. Note that the three categories in the reply match the ones in Luke 9:7-8.

[9:20]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:20]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:20]  ¹² tn Grk “Peter answering, said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Peter answered.”

[9:20]  ¹³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[9:21]  ¹⁴ tn The combination of the participle and verb ἐπιτιμήσας and παρήγγειλεν (epitimhsa" and parhngeilen, “commanding, he ordered”) is a hendiadys that makes the instruction emphatic.

[9:21]  ¹⁵ sn No explanation for the command not to tell this to anyone is given, but the central section of Luke, chapters 9-19, appears to reveal a reason. The disciples needed to understand who the Messiah really was and exactly what he would do before they were ready to proclaim Jesus as such. But they and the people had an expectation that needed some instruction to be correct.