When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. 18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.
Jesus brings His disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi, about twenty miles north of the Sea of Galilee. This was a largely Gentile area associated with Roman power and the worship of pagan gods, especially the god Pan. Away from the crowds and His opponents, Jesus asks His disciples what people are saying about Him.
The answers show that the people recognize something extraordinary in Jesus. Some identify Him with John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another prophet (v. 14). These figures were honored as servants of God who called His people to repentance and proclaimed His word. The answers are therefore respectful, but they remain incomplete. The people recognize Jesus as a prophet, but they do not recognize His full identity.
Jesus then makes the question personal: “But who do you say that I am?” (v. 15). The question is addressed to all the disciples. They have heard His teaching, witnessed His miracles, and seen His authority over sickness, sin, nature, and the powers of evil. Peter answers on their behalf: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).
“Messiah” means “Anointed One.” In Israel, priests and kings were anointed when they were appointed to serve God and His people. God had promised David that his royal house and kingdom would endure (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Even after David’s kingdom collapsed, Israel continued to await the promised descendant of David through whom God would restore His people. Peter declares that Jesus is this promised Messiah.
Yet Peter says more. Jesus is “the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Israel’s kings could be called sons of God because they were chosen to serve Him, but Jesus is the Son in a unique and immeasurably greater sense. He does not merely speak for God as one prophet among others. He is the eternal Son of God made man, who has come from the Father. In a region marked by the worship of pagan gods, Peter confesses Jesus as the Son of the God who truly lives and gives life.
Jesus responds, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah” (v. 17). Peter has reached the correct answer, but Jesus immediately explains how he came to know it: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father” (v. 17). “Flesh and blood” is an ancient expression for human beings in their natural weakness and limitations. Peter did not discover Jesus’ full identity through human intelligence or personal experience alone. The Father enabled Peter to recognize that Jesus, whom he knew as a man, is the Messiah and the eternal Son of God.
This does not mean that faith is opposed to reason or disconnected from what Peter has seen. Jesus’ words and deeds have given the disciples abundant reasons to believe. Nevertheless, those signs do not force faith upon them. Many people have witnessed the same signs and reached incomplete conclusions. The Father’s grace enables Peter to understand what the signs reveal and to respond with faith.
Something similar occurs when Saint Paul describes how God “was pleased to reveal his Son” to him (Galatians 1:15–16). Faith is a genuine human response, but it begins with God’s grace. God takes the initiative by revealing His Son, opening the human mind and heart to receive the truth, and enabling the believer to confess it. As Saint Paul writes, “For from him and through him and for him are all things” (Romans 11:36).
The revelation Peter receives also brings a responsibility. Jesus says, “you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (v. 18). Jesus gives Simon a new name connected with his new mission. In the Aramaic language Jesus ordinarily spoke, the same word, kepha, would have been used for both Peter and rock.
The Church belongs to Jesus Christ, for He calls it “my church” and declares, “I will build” it (v. 18). Peter is the rock because Christ appoints him to serve as the visible foundation of unity for the community Christ Himself establishes. Peter’s authority therefore flows from and depends entirely upon Christ and is ordered toward preserving and proclaiming the faith revealed by the Father.
Jesus promises that “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (v. 18). The netherworld refers to the realm of the dead. Its gates represent the power of death to hold the dead within its realm. Yet death cannot imprison those who belong to Christ. Although they undergo bodily death, they remain united to Him and will share in His Resurrection. Jesus does not promise that His Church will be spared persecution, suffering, or human failure. He promises that death and the powers opposed to God will never overcome the Church He builds. Christ will pass through death and rise again, and His risen life will sustain His Church.
Jesus then gives Peter “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” (v. 19). The Old Testament background appears in Isaiah 22:19–23, where God entrusts the key of the house of David to Eliakim, the chief steward who exercises authority under the king: “what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open” (Isaiah 22:22). Jesus is the promised King from the house of David. By giving Peter the keys, He appoints him to serve as chief steward in His kingdom.
To bind and loose were Jewish expressions for exercising authority within a religious community. To bind meant to declare that a teaching or moral obligation must be observed; to loose meant to declare that something was permitted or that an obligation did not apply. The expressions could also refer to admitting someone to the community, excluding someone who persisted in serious wrongdoing, and restoring someone who repented. Jesus therefore entrusts Peter with responsibility for teaching, governing the community, and making judgments concerning its life and discipline. Jesus later shares the authority to bind and loose with the other disciples (Matthew 18:18), but here the keys are entrusted personally to Peter. The Church therefore recognizes in this passage the foundation of Peter’s distinctive pastoral office, continued by his successors, the bishops of Rome.
Jesus finally orders the disciples not to tell anyone that He is the Messiah (v. 20). They have correctly confessed who He is, but they do not yet fully understand how He will accomplish His mission. Many expected a Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel’s political power. Jesus will instead conquer humanity’s deeper enemies—sin and death—through His suffering, death, and Resurrection. Immediately after this passage, He begins to teach His disciples about the cross (Matthew 16:21).
Heavenly Father, reveal Your Son more deeply to us. Strengthen the faith You have given us so that we may confess Jesus Christ faithfully, follow Him along the way of the cross, and remain united to the Church He builds. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Matthew 16:13–20 and notes on Matthew 16:13–20; Isaiah 22:19–23; Romans 11:33–36; Galatians 1:15–16.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Pages 35–36, notes on Matthew 16:13–20.
- Casciaro, José María, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. Pages 103–105, note on Matthew 16:13–20.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. Pages 659–660, paragraph 105.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, Richard J. Clifford, Carol J. Dempsey, Eileen M. Schuller, Thomas D. Stegman, and Ronald D. Witherup, eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. Pages 941–942.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, OP, and Donald Senior, CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully revised ed. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022. Pages 1205–1206.
- Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010. Pages 205–210.
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