Matthew 16:23, commentary and pictures

Jesus had plainly told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised the third day, but Peter took Him aside and insisted that suffering and death could not happen to Him. By saying Get thee behind me, Jesus ordered Satan to move back behind Him and not stand between Him and His disciple, directing the rebuke at the tempter working through Peter rather than rejecting Peter himself. To call him Satan names that tempter, to call him an offence means he was becoming an obstacle and stumbling block to Christ's mission, and to say he savoured the things of men means he was thinking from a human point of view rather than God's purpose. Peter's protest opposed God's purpose because Christ's humiliation, suffering, and death were necessary to the plan of salvation through which life and hope would come to dying people by the cross. The command remains a model and weapon for believers to resist evil firmly rather than reason with temptation, to keep the mind on God's things instead of human interests and plans, and to watch and pray so Satan finds no place to stand between the soul and Christ.

Setting in Jesus' Ministry

Jesus had plainly told the disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, be mocked and crucified, be killed, and be raised the third day. As the time drew near for Him to suffer and die, He gathered them to open their minds about His coming humiliation and shameful death at the hands of His persecutors. Peter, forward and impulsive by nature, could not endure the thought and could not accept that the Son of God could be put to death. Taking Jesus aside, he began to reprove and contradict Him, insisting that suffering and death could not happen to Him.

Satan exploited that forward, impulsive nature by suggesting that if Jesus was God's Son He could not die. Peter did not believe Christ's announcement and said in effect, Be it far from Thee, presuming even to reprove the Lord. His displeasure sprang from the shared Jewish expectation that Christ would reign as a temporal prince on David's throne, break the Roman yoke, deliver the nation from bondage, and give earthly honor and victory. Although Christ had repeatedly taught that His kingdom was not temporal and earthly but spiritual and heavenly, the disciples could not comprehend and believe it, and they read His death as defeat and the disappointment of their hope of temporal victory. His path was not earthly honor and a throne but shame and the cross.

The teachers had applied to the first advent descriptions belonging to the second coming in glory, voicing the very suggestions of Satan. The suffering Messiah was clearly delineated in Isaiah 53, but those who received the teachers' words instead of God's words were misled to expect an altogether different Messiah. Jesus fully knew the path to Calvary, yet He chose to do God's will and endure it. He willingly endured the cross and bore the world's sins because He looked ahead to the joy of winning the world back to loyalty to God.

When the crowd wanted to make Him king and the disciples shared their excitement and expectations, Jesus dismissed the crowd, sent the disciples away, and went alone to pray. That decisive refusal of earthly honor and rule was in effect His rebuke, Get thee behind me, Satan. The people's proposal repeated Satan's wilderness temptation to accept earthly rule. Judas's ambition for an earthly kingdom turned to disaffection when Jesus refused it.

Sense of the Rebuke

“Get thee behind me” was a command for Satan to move back behind Jesus and no longer stand between Him and His disciple, so that Jesus could speak to Peter directly. Satan had stepped right in between Peter and Jesus and stood as a wall between them when Peter rebuked Jesus for speaking of His expected sufferings. The rebuke was directed at Satan, who was using suggestions in Peter’s mind to interpose himself, rather than being directed at Peter himself.

The rebuke addressed Satan as the real source and tempter acting through Peter, not as a rejection of Peter himself. Jesus spoke to the tempter to prevent further interference and to reach His erring disciple with the revelation of His love. He desired to come close to His zealous, tempted disciple even while rebuking him for disputing His word. He did not forsake Peter but continued working with him while his character was being more fully developed.

Calling him Satan names the tempter working through Peter, whom Peter did not recognize though Christ detected him. Calling him an offence means he was becoming an obstacle and stumbling block between Jesus and His mission and message of His death. Saying he savoured not the things of God but those of men means his protest against the coming suffering reflected human thinking rather than God’s purpose, for he did not understand that life and hope for dying people would come through the cross.

The rebuke was spoken with divinity flashing through Christ’s humanity. It was severe, yet it belonged to Christ’s constant education and effort to prepare Peter for the great trial and sifting coming upon him. Peter remained submissive until that trial came, but Jesus did not force him.

Satan Speaking Through Peter

Satan came face to face with Peter at the moment Peter took Jesus aside to reprove Him for speaking of His expected sufferings, stepping right in between Peter and Jesus and standing as a wall between them. He filled Peter with doubts and unbelief so that Peter presumed to rebuke the Lord and refused to hear of being taken to Jerusalem to be mocked and crucified. He exploited Peter's forward, impulsive nature by suggesting that if Jesus was God's Son He could not die, and Peter's opposition therefore expressed satanically influenced human thinking rather than God's purposes. By coming close to Peter, Christ put Satan behind Himself and ordered him to move back behind Him so He could speak to Peter directly.

Peter did not recognize Satan's presence, but Christ detected the real tempter acting through him. Peter's affectionate wish to spare Jesus from suffering opposed God's purpose, for even well-meant human affection becomes an offense when it turns someone from God's will. His judging by human hopes of earthly victory rather than God's purpose of grace voiced Satan's suggestion, and his attempt to dissuade Jesus from suffering and death voiced self-protective thinking and the natural desire to put self first. His words voiced Satan's temptation to avoid humiliation and sacrifice in favor of earthly glory, becoming an obstacle between Jesus and His mission, yet Jesus spoke to the tempter not to reject Peter but to prevent further interference and reach His erring disciple.

What Jesus saw was Satan placing himself between Peter and his Saviour, so that Peter savored not the things of God but the things of men and voiced Satan's suggestions rather than God's words. Satan seeks to use people to repeat his suggestions instead of God's truth, and human beings can thus be deceived about their own motives and weakness.

When Satan is allowed to interpose between a person and God, the Word of God comes through him with his emphasis and his interpretation, making the father of lies the translator of truth. He prompts human words and obscures what is of God, casting his hellish shadow athwart the believer's pathway in hope of gaining control of the mind. When he intervenes between a repentant, believing soul newly come to the faith and Christ, he tries to weaken faith and hide Christ's love, acceptance, and pardon.

Jesus stands close to the tempted person, pities him, and intercedes so faith will not fail, opposing Satan's effort to bring him down. He commands Satan to get behind Him and not interpose himself between Christ and the tempted, tried soul, so that His light and righteousness and His life and love can reach the heart. He calls the soul to come to Him and trust Him rather than listen to the cruel deceiver. This included His prayer for Peter under Satan's desire to sift him as wheat, looking ahead to Peter's denial in the judgment hall, his weeping repentance and conversion, and his charge to feed God's sheep and lambs and strengthen others and help the most tempted and tried disciple.

Necessity of the Cross

Peter's protest stood against God's purpose because the humiliation, suffering and death of Jesus were necessary to His mission and to the plan of salvation, and life and hope were to come to dying people through the cross. He was preparing His disciples for His approaching death, willingly enduring the cross and bearing the world's sins because He looked ahead to the joy of winning the world back to loyalty to God. By calling Peter Satan and an offence, He sharply rebuked him for thinking in human terms and becoming an obstacle to the message of His death, for Peter did not understand that necessity.

As the time drew near Jesus gathered the disciples and opened their minds about His future humiliation and shameful death at the hands of persecutors, and the impulsive Peter could not endure the thought and insisted it could not happen. That insistence was unbelief suggesting that prophecy of the sacrifice of the Son of God should not be fulfilled, because he savoured not the things of God but those of men. Every project to take Jesus by force to a place of security to avert His doom is such a suggestion of Satan and is to be solemnly denounced.

The same mistaken outlook rejects truths because they involve a cross, including God's commandments, repentance and putting away sin. Peter opposed the announced suffering, rejection, death and resurrection and turned the disciples from the lesson meant to be taught, prompted by Satan to doubt and to think from a human point of view rather than God's. Jesus' path was not earthly honor and a worldly throne but shame and the cross, correcting the disciples' desire for a temporal kingdom. His followers too must therefore bear the cross, accept humiliation and reproach, give up the world's pomp and pleasures, and not cling to worldly hopes, if they are to share His glory and gain salvation.

Savoring Things of Men

To savor the things of men rather than the things of God is to set the mind on human interests, wisdom and plans rather than on God's way, preferring what is of human origin to what is of God. That mind opposes God's ways and God's leading, for human ways stand against God's ways. It is a failure to value what is of God, showing that human wisdom and ambition cannot replace spiritual discernment. Discernment of spiritual truth comes only through Christ's grace and the Spirit of truth, and human wisdom without Christ's guidance is dangerous.

Nebuchadnezzar exemplified this fault by self-exaltation and misuse of the light and wisdom God gave him. He received truth but did not practice it, glorified himself, and became oppressive. The king of Babylon thus shows the same mind set on human interests rather than God's.

Those who think they can improve on Christ's plan and mark out a better course than He has marked out hold fast to their own wisdom as precious. They refuse to be humbled or corrected when reproved, stubbornly follow their own way, and harden their hearts against God's leading. Choosing what is of men rather than what is of God in this self-confident judgment resists God's leading, leads along a mistaken course, and leads others astray, becoming a danger to those who follow the example. This course keeps the Holy Spirit from being manifested with greater power. Unless there is repentance, humbling of self, reform, and transformation in thought, word and deed, such workers will at last look upon the utter failure of their lifework.

Christ rejected human counsel that opposed God's direction and followed the clear light received from His Father rather than plans and advice offered by people, including religious leaders, remaining faithful to God's instruction from childhood and youth. Telling Satan to get behind means rejecting Satan's influence when it would lead to opposing God's will by favoring human ideas and feelings, and surrendering the will to God. The same words are to be kept in mind when facing sin and choosing not to enter the path of the wicked, keeping the mind on God's things rather than on what is merely human.

Resisting Satan Today

Christ's command is a model and weapon for resisting evil, to be spoken by those united to the living Vine with its sap flowing through them, who by the Spirit of God can utter the same rebuke, stand on the Lord's side, choose God's service over Satan's, break Satan's hold and refuse to yield to his commands. Temptation is to be rejected firmly rather than reasoned with or given room, with Satan's treacherous advances answered by an imperative command to depart and with God's Word allowed to govern. A living connection with God enables recognition of the tempter, so that his suggestions are identified and he is told to go away and turned from without listening to his voice. The rebuke belongs to one who has heeded Satan and must now break with the enemy.

Abundant knowledge of the Word and its precious promises taken into the heart enables standing against the adversary's onslaught, and every temptation resisted places the resister on vantage ground. When Satan is allowed to interpose between a person and God, the Word comes through him with his emphasis and interpretation, making the father of lies the translator of truth, and yielding to human ideas instead of God's will gives him that place to stand between the person and Christ. To avoid caring for human things instead of God's things and letting the devil hinder faith and obedience, the soul must watch and pray against temptation and deception and give the devil no place between itself and Christ. Jesus' words dismiss Satan and his temptations so they cannot interpose between believer and Christ, for He rebuked Satan as an adversary who would come between Him and the person for whom He died. Genuine faith proves itself by obedience, for God commands nothing impossible but gives strength to every believing, trusting soul, and keeping Christ present keeps the soul safe even when fiercely tossed.

Christ's denunciation of Satan can be spoken in seeking reform, with sin named plainly yet God's work advanced in Christ's spirit without the devil's harshness or bitterness. The same words supply refusal of falsehood, dishonest practice, and keeping position at the expense of conscience, especially for those lifting the standard of truth higher as medical missionary workers. Saying the words with meaning and decision means refusing the enemy's advantage, refusing to smile at falsehood or consent to dishonesty, choosing integrity over dishonest gain, and showing the soul emptied of every falsehood so that life bears good report of the Saviour's keeping power. The disciple will not join with evil powers or compromise integrity even in business or the medical profession, but will refuse every worldly bargain or practice that compromises integrity whatever the cost and remain under Christ's banner by divine grace.

The same rebuke applies when family ties tempt withholding from God what belongs to Him, for concern for wife or children must not turn one from obedience to the ruin and jeopardy of the soul, but must be rejected to keep an eye single to God's glory while family members are still treated tenderly. The words also resist fear by entrusting the choice between life and death to God's will. Against threatening despair they turn away from Satan, refuse his influence, and rest instead on Jesus. Kept in mind when facing sin, they turn from God's way neither to what is merely human nor to the path of the wicked.