Matthew 16:18--17:13

Context
16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades¹ will not overpower it. 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” 16:20 Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.²

First Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

16:21 From that time on³ Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem⁴ and suffer⁵ many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law,⁶ and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 16:22 So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him:⁷ “God forbid,⁸ Lord! This must not happen to you!” 16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”⁹ 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower,¹⁰ he must deny¹¹ himself, take up his cross,¹² and follow me. 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life¹³ will lose it,¹⁴ but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 16:26 For what does it benefit a person¹⁵ if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? 16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.¹⁶ 16:28 I tell you the truth,¹⁷ there are some standing here who will not¹⁸ experience¹⁹ death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”²⁰

The Transfiguration

17:1 Six days later²¹ Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James,²² and led them privately up a high mountain. 17:2 And he was transfigured before them.²³ His²⁴ face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 17:3 Then Moses²⁵ and Elijah²⁶ also appeared before them, talking with him. 17:4 So²⁷ Peter said²⁸ to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make²⁹ three shelters³⁰ – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 17:5 While he was still speaking, a³¹ bright cloud³² overshadowed³³ them, and a voice from the cloud said,³⁴ “This is my one dear Son,³⁵ in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!”³⁶ 17:6 When the disciples heard this, they were overwhelmed with fear and threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.³⁷ 17:7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Do not be afraid.” 17:8 When³⁸ they looked up, all they saw was Jesus alone.

17:9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them,³⁹ “Do not tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 17:10 The disciples asked him,⁴⁰ “Why then do the experts in the law⁴¹ say that Elijah must come first?” 17:11 He⁴² answered, “Elijah does indeed come first and will restore all things. 17:12 And I tell you that Elijah has already come. Yet they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In⁴³ the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.” 17:13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

[16:18] ¹tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

[16:20] ²tc Most mss (א² C W Ï lat bo) have “Jesus, the Christ” (᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, Ihsou" Jo Cristo") here, while D has “Christ Jesus” (ὁ Χριστὸς ᾿Ιησοῦς). On the one hand, this is a much harder reading than the mere Χριστός, because the name Jesus was already well known for the disciples’ master – both to them and to others. Whether he was the Messiah is the real focus of the passage. But this is surely too hard a reading: There are no other texts in which the Lord tells his disciples not to disclose his personal name. Further, it is plainly a motivated reading in that scribes had the proclivity to add ᾿Ιησοῦς to Χριστός or to κύριος (kurio", “Lord”), regardless of whether such was appropriate to the context. In this instance it clearly is not, and it only reveals that scribes sometimes, if not often, did not think about the larger interpretive consequences of their alterations to the text. Further, the shorter reading is well supported by א* B L Δ Θ Ë^1,13 565 700 1424 al it sa.

[16:21] ³tn Grk “From then.”

[16:21] ⁴map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:21] ⁵sn The necessity that the Son of Man suffer is the particular point that needed emphasis since for many 1st century Jews the Messiah was a glorious and powerful figure, not a suffering one.

[16:21] ⁶tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[16:22] ⁷tn Grk “began to rebuke him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[16:22] ⁸tn Grk “Merciful to you.” A highly elliptical expression: “May God be merciful to you in sparing you from having to undergo [some experience]” (L&N 88.78). A contemporary English equivalent is “God forbid!”

[16:23] ⁹tn Grk “people.”

[16:24] ¹⁰tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24] ¹¹tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24] ¹²sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[16:25] ¹³tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

[16:25] ¹⁴sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[16:26] ¹⁵tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[16:27] ¹⁶sn An allusion to Pss 28:4; 62:12; cf. Prov 24:12.

[16:28] ¹⁷tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[16:28] ¹⁸tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[16:28] ¹⁹tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[16:28] ²⁰sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the Son of Man coming in his kingdom: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Christ’s role in the Church; (5) the destruction of Jerusalem; (6) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to six days later in 17:1 seems to indicate that Matthew had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration would be a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (in vv. 21-23), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

[17:1] ²¹tn Grk “And after six days.”

[17:1] ²²tn Grk “John his brother” with “his” referring to James.

[17:2] ²³sn In 1st century Judaism and in the NT, there was the belief that the righteous get new, glorified bodies in order to enter heaven (1 Cor 15:42-49; 2 Cor 5:1-10). This transformation means the righteous will share the glory of God. One recalls the way Moses shared the Lord’s glory after his visit to the mountain in Exod 34. So the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and they were getting a sneak preview of the great glory that Jesus would have (only his glory is more inherent to him as one who shares in the rule of the kingdom).

[17:2] ²⁴tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:3] ²⁵tn Grk “And behold, Moses.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[17:3] ²⁶sn Commentators and scholars discuss why Moses and Elijah are present. The most likely explanation is that Moses represents the prophetic office (Acts 3:18-22) and Elijah pictures the presence of the last days (Mal 4:5-6), the prophet of the eschaton (the end times).

[17:4] ²⁷tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the appearance of Moses and Elijah prompted Peter’s comment.

[17:4] ²⁸tn Grk “Peter answering said.” This construction is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:4] ²⁹tc Instead of the singular future indicative ποιήσω (poihsw, “I will make”), most witnesses (C³ D L W Θ [Φ] 0281 Ë^[1],13 33 Ï lat sy co) have the plural aorist subjunctive ποιήσωμεν (poihswmen, “let us make”). But since ποιήσωμεν is the reading found in the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke, it is almost surely a motivated reading. Further, the earliest and best witnesses, as well as a few others (א B C* 700 pc) have ποιήσω. It is thus more likely that the singular verb is authentic.

[17:4] ³⁰tn Or “booths,” “dwellings” (referring to the temporary booths constructed in the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles).

[17:5] ³¹tn Grk “behold, a.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here or in the following clause because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[17:5] ³²sn This cloud is the cloud of God’s presence and the voice is his as well.

[17:5] ³³tn Or “surrounded.”

[17:5] ³⁴tn Grk “behold, a voice from the cloud, saying.” This is an incomplete sentence in Greek which portrays intensity and emotion. The participle λέγουσα (legousa) was translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style.

[17:5] ³⁵tn Grk “my beloved Son,” or “my Son, the beloved [one].” The force of ἀγαπητός (agaphtos) is often “pertaining to one who is the only one of his or her class, but at the same time is particularly loved and cherished” (L&N 58.53; cf. also BDAG 7 s.v. 1).

[17:5] ³⁶sn The expression listen to him comes from Deut 18:15 and makes two points: 1) Jesus is a prophet like Moses, a leader-prophet, and 2) they have much yet to learn from him.

[17:6] ³⁷tn Grk “they fell down on their faces.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[17:8] ³⁸tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[17:9] ³⁹tn Grk “Jesus commanded them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[17:10] ⁴⁰tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[17:10] ⁴¹tn Or “do the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[17:11] ⁴²tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This has been simplified in the translation.

[17:12] ⁴³tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.