Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 16:13-19

"Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? And they said, Some [say] John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." — Matthew 16:13-19 (ASV)

Glossa Ordinaria: As soon as the Lord had taken His disciples away from the teaching of the Pharisees, He then suitably proceeded to lay the deep foundations of Gospel doctrine. To give this greater solemnity, it is introduced by the name of the place: When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi.¹

St. John Chrysostom: He adds “of Philip” to distinguish it from the other Caesarea, that of Strato. He asks this question in that location, leading His disciples far away from the Jews, so that, being free from all fear, they could freely say what was on their minds.²

St. Jerome: This Philip was the brother of Herod, the tetrarch of Ituraea and the region of Trachonitis. He gave the city, which is now called Paneas, the name of Caesarea in honor of Tiberius Caesar.

Glossa Ordinaria: When He was about to confirm the disciples in the faith, He first sought to remove the errors and opinions of others from their minds. Therefore, the text continues: And he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?³

Origen of Alexandria: Christ asks this question of His disciples so that from their answer we may learn that there were various opinions about Christ among the Jews at that time. He also does this so that we should always investigate what opinions people may form of us. If anything bad is said about us, we may remove the reasons for it; if anything good, we may increase the reasons for it.

Glossa Ordinaria: So by this example of the Apostles, the followers of bishops are instructed that whatever opinions they may hear from others concerning their bishops, they should report these to them.⁴

St. Jerome: The question is beautifully put: Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? For those who speak of the Son of Man are men, but those who understand His divine nature are called not men but gods.

St. John Chrysostom: He does not ask, Whom do the Scribes and Pharisees say that I am? but, Whom do men say that I am? He does this to examine the minds of the common people, which were not corrupted by evil. For although their opinion of Christ was far below what it should have been, it was still free from willful wickedness, whereas the opinion of the Pharisees was full of great malice.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: By asking, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? He implied that something should be thought about Him beyond what was apparent, for He was the Son of Man. In asking for people’s opinion of Himself, we should not think that He was making a confession about Himself; for what He asked for was something hidden, to which the faith of believers must extend.

We must hold to a form of confession where we mention the Son of God in such a way that we do not forget the Son of Man, for the one without the other offers us no hope of salvation. Therefore, He said emphatically, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?

St. Jerome: He does not ask, Whom do men say that I am? but, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? so that He would not seem to be asking about Himself ostentatiously. Observe that wherever the Old Testament has “Son of Man,” the phrase in Hebrew is “Son of Adam.”

Origen of Alexandria: Then the disciples recount the diverse opinions of the Jews relating to Christ: And they said, Some say John the Baptist,ⁱ following Herod’s opinion; others Elijah, supposing either that Elijah had been born a second time or that, having remained alive in the body, he had now appeared; others Jeremiah, whom the Lord had ordained to be a prophet to the Gentiles, not understanding that Jeremiah was a type of Christ; or one of the prophets. This last was a similar error, because the things God spoke through the prophets were not fulfilled in them, but in Christ.

St. Jerome: It was as easy for the crowds to be wrong in supposing Him to be Elijah or Jeremiah as it was for Herod to be wrong in supposing Him to be John the Baptist. This is why I wonder that some interpreters have sought for the causes of these various errors.

St. John Chrysostom: After the disciples recounted the opinions of the common people, He then, with a second question, invited them to higher thoughts about Him. Therefore, the text continues, Jesus says to them, But whom do you say that I am? You who are with Me always and have seen greater miracles than the crowds ought not to share the opinion of the crowds. For this reason, He did not ask them this question at the beginning of His preaching, but only after He had performed many signs and had also spoken to them many things concerning His deity.

St. Jerome: Observe how in this part of the discourse the Apostles are called not men, but gods. For after He had asked, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? He adds, But whom do you say that I am? It is as if to say: “They, being men, think of Me as a man; but you, who are gods, whom do you think I am?”

Rabanus Maurus: He inquires about the opinions of His disciples and of outsiders, not because He was ignorant of them. He asks His disciples so that He might give a fitting reward for their confession of a correct faith. He inquires about the opinions of outsiders so that, by having the wrong opinions stated first, it might be proven that the disciples had received the truth of their confession not from common opinion, but from the hidden treasure of the Lord’s revelation.

St. John Chrysostom: When the Lord inquires about the opinion of the crowds, all the disciples answer. But when all the disciples are asked, Peter, as the mouth and headⁱ of the Apostles, answers for all, as it is written: Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Origen of Alexandria: With his confession, You are the Christ, Peter denied that Jesus was any of the things the Jews supposed, for they were ignorant of this. But he added something more: the Son of the living God, who had said through His prophets, As I live, says the Lord (Ezekiel 33:11). He was therefore called the living Lord, but in a more special way, being preeminent above all that has life. For He alone has immortality and is the fountain of life, which is why He is rightly called God the Father. For He is life, as it were, flowing from a fountain, who said, I am the life (John 14:6).

St. Jerome: He calls Him “the living God” in comparison to those gods who are considered gods but are dead—such as Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Hercules, and the other monstrous idols.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: This is the true and unalterable faith: that from God came forth God the Son, who has eternity from the eternity of the Father. That this God took a body to Himself and was made man is a perfect confession. Thus, He embraced everything by expressing both His nature and His name, in which lies the sum of all virtues.

Rabanus Maurus: It was by a remarkable distinction that the Lord Himself highlighted the lowliness of the humanity He had taken upon Himself, while His disciple shows us the excellence of His divine eternity.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: This confession of Peter received a worthy reward, because he had seen the Son of God in the man. Therefore it is written: Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

St. Jerome: Christ makes this reply to the Apostle for the testimony Peter had spoken concerning Him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Why? Because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father. That which flesh and blood could not reveal was revealed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. By his confession, then, he obtains a title that signifies he had received a revelation from the Holy Spirit, whose son he shall also be called; for Bar-Jonah in our language means “son of a dove.”

Others take it in the simple sense that Peter is the son of John,ⁱ according to the question in another place, Simon, son of John, do you love me? (John 21:15). They affirm that it is a copyist’s error to write Bar-Jonah here instead of Bar-Joanna, dropping one syllable. Now, Joanna is interpreted as “the grace of God.” But either name has a mystical interpretation: the dove signifies the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God signifies the spiritual gift.

St. John Chrysostom: It would be meaningless to say, “You are the son of Jonah,” unless He intended to show that Christ is as naturally the Son of God as Peter is the son of Jonah—that is, of the same substance as the one who begot him.

St. Jerome: Compare what is said here, flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, with the apostolic declaration, Immediately I was not content with flesh and blood (Galatians 1:16). In that passage, the expression refers to the Jews, so that here also the same thing is shown in different words: that Christ was revealed to him as the Son of God not by the teaching of the Pharisees, but by the grace of God.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Alternatively, he is blessed because to have looked and seen beyond human sight is a matter for praise. He did not behold that which is of flesh and blood, but saw the Son of God by the revelation of the heavenly Father, and he was considered worthy to be the first to acknowledge the divinity that was in Christ.

Origen of Alexandria: We must inquire here whether the disciples knew He was the Christ when they were first sent out, for this statement shows that Peter then confessed for the first time that He was the Son of the living God. Consider whether you can solve such a question by saying that to believe Jesus is the Christ is less than to know Him. If so, we might suppose that when they were sent to preach, they believed Jesus was the Christ, and afterward, as they progressed, they knew Him to be so.

Or must we answer this way? That at that time the Apostles had the beginnings of a knowledge of Christ and knew a little about Him, and that they progressed afterward in their knowledge of Him. This progress enabled them to receive the knowledge of Christ revealed by the Father, like Peter, who is blessed here not only because he says, You are the Christ, but much more because he adds, the Son of the living God.

St. John Chrysostom: Truly, if Peter had not confessed that Christ was born of the Father in a unique sense, there would have been no need for a revelation. Nor would he have been worthy of this blessing for confessing Christ to be one of many adopted sons. Before this, those with Him in the boat had said, Truly you are the Son of God. Nathanael also said, Rabbi, you are the Son of God (John 1:49). Yet these men were not blessed, because they did not confess the same kind of sonship that Peter confesses here. They thought of Him as one among many, not a son in the true sense—or, if chief above all, yet not of the same substance as the Father.

But see how the Father reveals the Son, and the Son the Father. Confession of the Son comes from no one else but the Father, and confession of the Father from no one else but the Son. From this passage it is also clear that the Son is of the same substance and is to be worshiped together with the Father. Christ then proceeds to show that many would later believe what Peter had now confessed, which is why He adds, And I say to you, that you are Peter.

St. Jerome: It is as if to say: “You have said to me, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, therefore I say to you—not as mere words that have no effect, but I say to you, and for Me to speak is to bring it into beingⁱ—that you are Peter.” For just as the light by which the Apostles were called the light of the world proceeded from Christ, along with the other names the Lord gave them, so upon Simon who believed in Christ the Rock, He bestowed the name of Peter (Rock).

St. Augustine of Hippo: But let no one suppose that Peter received that name here. He received it at the time when John relates that it was said to him, You shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted, Peter (John 1:42).⁵

St. John Chrysostom: And pursuing the metaphor of the rock, it is rightly said to him as follows: And upon this rock I will build my Church.

That is, on this faith and confession I will build my Church. Here He shows that many would come to believe what Peter had confessed, and in doing so, He elevates Peter’s understanding and makes him His shepherd.

St. Augustine of Hippo: I have said in a certain passage concerning the Apostle Peter that it was on him, as on a rock, that the Church was built. But I know that since then I have often explained these words of the Lord, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, as meaning it was built upon Him whom Peter confessed, saying, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In this way, Peter, named after this rock, would represent the Church, which is built upon this rock. For it was not said to him, “You are the rock,” but, You are Peter. But the rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), and because Simon confessed Him as the whole Church confesses Him, he was named Peter. Let the reader choose which of these two opinions seems more probable.⁶

St. Hilary of Poitiers: In this giving of a new name is the blessed foundation of the Church, and a rock worthy of that building which would break up the laws of hell, burst the gates of Tartarus, and shatter all the shackles of death. And to show the firmness of this Church, thus built upon a rock, He adds, And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Glossa Ordinaria: That is, they shall not separate it from the love and faith in Me.⁷

St. Jerome: I suppose the “gates of hell” to mean vice and sin, or at least the doctrines of heretics by which people are ensnared and drawn into hell.

Origen of Alexandria: But in heavenly things, every spiritual sin is a gate of hell, to which the gates of righteousness are opposed.

Rabanus Maurus: The gates of hell are the torments and promises of persecutors. Also, the evil works of unbelievers and their worthless conduct are gates of hell, because they show the path to destruction.

Origen of Alexandria: He does not specify what it is that they shall not prevail against—whether the rock on which He builds the Church, or the Church which He builds on the rock. But it is clear that the gates of hell will not prevail against either the rock or the Church.

St. Cyril of Alexandriaⁱ: According to this promise of the Lord, the Apostolic Church of Peter remains pure and spotless from all deception or heretical fraud, above all heads, bishops, and primates of churches and peoples, with its own pontiffs, with most abundant faith, and with the authority of Peter. While other churches must blush for the errors of some of their members, this one reigns alone, immovably established, enforcing silence and stopping the mouths of all heretics. And we,ⁱ not drunk with the wine of pride, confess together with it the model of truth and of the holy apostolic tradition.

St. Jerome: Let no one think that this is said of death, implying that the Apostles would not be subject to the condition of death, when we see their martyrdoms are so illustrious.

Origen of Alexandria: Therefore, if we, by the revelation of our Father who is in heaven, confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God while also living our lives as citizens of heaven, it will also be said to us, You are Peter. For everyone who is an imitator of Christ is a Rock. But whoever the gates of hell prevail against is neither to be called a rock upon which Christ builds His Church, nor a Church or part of the Church which Christ builds upon a rock.

St. John Chrysostom: Then He speaks of another honor for Peter when He adds, And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. It is as if to say, “As the Father has given you knowledge of Me, I also will give something to you, namely, the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Rabanus Maurus: Because he had confessed the King of heaven with a zeal beyond the others, he is deservedly entrusted more than the others with the keys of the heavenly kingdom. This was so it might be clear to all that without that confession and faith, no one can enter the kingdom of heaven. By the “keys of the kingdom,” He means discernmentⁱ and power: power, by which he binds and looses; and discernment, by which he separates the worthy from the unworthy.

It follows, And whatever you shall bind; that is, whoever you judge unworthy of forgiveness while he lives, shall be judged unworthy by God. And whatever you shall loose; that is, whoever you judge worthy to be forgiven while he lives, shall obtain forgiveness for his sins from God.

Origen of Alexandria: See how great the power of that rock is upon which the Church is built, that its judgments are to remain firm as though God Himself gave judgment through it.

St. John Chrysostom: See how Christ leads Peter to a high understanding of his role. The things He promises to give him here belong to God alone: namely, to forgive sins and to make the Church immovable amidst the storms of so many persecutions and trials.

Rabanus Maurus: But this power of binding and loosing, though it seems given by the Lord to Peter alone, is indeed also given to the other Apostlesⁱ and is even now in the bishops and presbyters in every Church. But Peter received the keys of the kingdom of heaven in a special way, and a supremacy of judicial power, so that all the faithful throughout the world might understand that all who in any way separate themselves from the unity of the faith, or from communion with him, can neither be loosed from the bonds of sin nor enter the gate of the heavenly kingdom.

Glossa Ordinaria: This power was entrusted specially to Peter, so that by this we might be invited to unity. For this reason, He appointed him the head of the Apostles, so that the Church might have one principal vicar of Christ to whom the different members of the Church could turn if they ever had dissensions among them.⁸

But if there were many heads in the Church, the bond of unity would be broken. Some say that the words “on earth” denote that power was not given to men to bind and loose the dead, but only the living; for he who would loose the dead would do this not on earth, but after his life on earth.

Second Council of Constantinople (Concil. Con. ii. Collat. 8): How is it that some presume to say that these things are said only of the living? Do they not know that the sentence of anathema is nothing other than separation? Those who are guilty of grievous faults are to be avoided, whether they are among the living or not, for it is always necessary to flee from the wicked. Moreover, various letters have been read from Augustine of blessed memory, who was of great renown among the African bishops, which affirmedⁱ that heretics ought to be anathematized even after death. Other African bishops have also preserved such an ecclesiastical tradition. And the Holy Roman Church has also anathematized some bishops after death, even though no accusation had been brought against their faith during their lifetime.ⁱ

St. Jerome: Bishops and presbyters, not understanding this passage, assume for themselves something of the lofty pretensions of the Pharisees. They suppose that they may either condemn the innocent or absolve the guilty, whereas what will be inquired into before the Lord will be not the sentence of the priests, but the life of the one being judged.

We read in Leviticus about the lepers, how they are commanded to show themselves to the priests. If they have leprosy, they are then made unclean by the priest; not that the priest makes them leprous and unclean, but that the priest has knowledge of what is and is not leprosy, and can discern who is clean and who is unclean. In the same way, then, as the priest there makes the leper unclean, here the bishop or presbyter does not bind or loose those who are without sin or guilt. Rather, in discharging his function, when he has heard the varieties of their sins, he knows who is to be bound and who is to be loosed.

Origen of Alexandria: Therefore, let the one who binds or looses another be without blame, so that he may be found worthy to bind or loose in heaven. Moreover, to him who is able by his virtues to shut the gates of hell, the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given as a reward. For when someone has begun to practice any kind of virtue, it, as it were, opens itself before him—with the Lord opening it through His grace—so that the same virtue is found to be both the gate and the key of the gate. But it may be that each virtue is itself the kingdom of heaven.

1. non occ.
2. Hom., liv
3. ap. Anselm
4. non occ.
5. de Cons. Ev., ii, 53
6. Retract., i, 21
7. interlin.
8. ap. Anselm