The Meaning of Matthew 16:15 Explained

Matthew 16:15

KJV: He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

YLT: He saith to them, 'And ye -- who do ye say me to be?'

Darby: He says to them, But ye, who do ye say that I am?

ASV: He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

He saith  unto them,  But  whom  say  ye  that I  am? 

What does Matthew 16:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 16:13-20 - "the Son Of The Living God"
The shadows of Calvary were beginning to gather and the Lord desired to prepare His friends for all that it stood for. His questions elicited Peter's magnificent confession.
Notice the date of the Church. It was still future when He spoke. I will build. The materials may have been prepared beforehand, but the actual building began at our Lord's resurrection. He is the Architect. Through the centuries He has been building, and if we are in His Church today, we are there because He excavated us out of the first Adam, and placed us in the very position we now occupy. The foundations of that Church were not in the Apostle (Petros) but in his confession (petra)of the divine sonship of Jesus. See John 5:18. Its impregnability is attested, for the Lord Himself defends it. See Revelation 2:1. The gates of Hades, that is, the unseen world, include all the principalities and powers that are allied against God's people. They cannot prevail, Ephesians 6:12. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 16

1  The Pharisees require a sign
5  Jesus warns his disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees
13  The people's opinion of Jesus,
16  and Peter's confession of him
21  Jesus foretells his death;
23  reproves Peter for dissuading him from it;
24  and admonishes those who will follow him, to bear the cross

Greek Commentary for Matthew 16:15

But who say ye that I am? [μεις δε τινα με λεγετε ειναι]
This is what matters and what Jesus wanted to hear. Note emphatic position of hūmeis “But you, who say ye that I am?” [source]
Thou art the Christ []
Compare on Matthew 1:1. Note the emphatic and definite force of the article in Peter's confession, and also the emphatic position of the pronoun ( οὺ , thou ): “Thou art the anointed, the Son of the God, the living.” [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 16:15

Luke 9:20 The Christ of God []
Each evangelist gives Peter's confession differently. Matthew, The Christ, the Son of the living God. Mark, The Christ. See on Matthew 16:15. On Christ, see on Matthew 1:1. [source]
John 1:51 Son of man []
See on Luke 6:22. Notice the titles successively applied to our Lord in this chapter: the greater Successor of the Baptist, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Israel. These were all given by others. The title Son of man He applies to Himself. In John's Gospel, as in the Synoptists, this phrase is used only by Christ in speaking of Himself; and elsewhere only in Acts 7:56, where the name is applied to Him by Stephen. It occurs less frequently in John than in the Synoptists, being found in Matthew thirty times, in Mark thirteen, and in John twelve. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Jesus' use of the term here is explained in two ways. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
I. That He borrows the title from the Old Testament to designate Himself either: (a ) as a prophet, as in Ezekiel 2:1-3; Ezekiel 3:1, etc.; or (b ) as the Messiah, as prefigured in Daniel 7:13. This prophecy of Daniel had obtained such wide currency that the Messiah was called Anani, or the man of the clouds. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(a.) This is untenable, because in Ezekiel, as everywhere in the Old Testament, the phrase Son of man, or Sons of men, is used to describe man under his human limitations, as weak, fallible, and incompetent by himself to be a divine agent. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
(b.) The allusion to Daniel's prophecy is admitted; but Jesus does not mean to say, “I am the Messiah who is prefigured by Daniel.” A political meaning attached in popular conception to the term Messiah; and it is noticeable throughout John's Gospel that Jesus carefully avoids using that term before the people, but expresses the thing itself by circumlocution, in order to avoid the complication which the popular understanding would have introduced into his work. See John 8:24, John 8:25; John 10:24, John 10:25. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Moreover, the phrase Son of man was not generally applied to the Messiah. On the contrary, John 5:27and John 12:34show that it was set off against that term. Compare Matthew 16:13, Matthew 16:15. Son of God is the Messianic title, which, with one exception, appears in confessions (John 1:34, John 1:49; John 11:27; John 20:31). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In Daniel the reference is exclusively to the final stage of human affairs. The point is the final establishment of the divine kingdom. Moreover, Daniel does not say “the Son of man,” but “one like a Son of man.” Compare Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14, where also the article is omitted. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
II. The second, and correct explanation is that the phrase Son of man is the expression of Christ's self-consciousness as being related to humanity as a whole: denoting His real participation in human nature, and designating Himself as the representative man. It thus corresponds with the passage in Daniel, where the earthly kingdoms are represented by beasts, but the divine kingdom by a Son of man. Hence, too, the word ἄνθρωπος is purposely used (see on a man, John 1:30, and compare John 8:40). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
While the human element was thus emphasized in the phrase, the consciousness of Jesus, as thus expressed, did not exclude His divine nature and claims, but rather regarded these through the medium of His humanity. He showed Himself divine in being thus profoundly human. Hence two aspects of the phrase appear in John, as in the Synoptists. The one regards His earthly life and work, and involves His being despised; His accommodation to the conditions of human life; the partial veiling of His divine nature; the loving character of His mission; His liability to misinterpretation; and His outlook upon a consummation of agony. On the other hand, He is possessed of supreme authority; He is about His Father's work; He reveals glimpses of His divine nature through His humanity; His presence and mission entail serious responsibility upon those to whom He appeals; and He foresees a consummation of glory no less than of agony. See Matthew 8:20; Matthew 11:19; Matthew 12:8, Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:37; Matthew 16:13; Matthew 20:18; Matthew 26:64; Mark 8:31, Mark 8:38; Mark 14:21; Luke 9:26, Luke 9:58; Luke 12:8; Luke 17:22; Luke 19:10; Luke 22:69. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The other aspect is related to the future. He has visions of another life of glory and dominion; though present in the flesh, His coming is still future, and will be followed by a judgment which is committed to Him, and by the final glory of His redeemed in His heavenly kingdom. See Matthew 10:23; Matthew 13:40sqq.; Matthew 16:27sqq.; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 24:27, Matthew 24:37, Matthew 24:44; Matthew 25:31sqq.; Mark 13:26; Luke 6:22; Luke 17:24, Luke 17:30; Luke 18:8; Luke 21:27. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

John 17:6 I manifested [επανερωσα]
First aorist active indicative of πανεροω — phaneroō (from πανερος — phaneros manifest). Another word for claiming successful accomplishment of his task as in John 17:4 with εδοχασα — edoxasa and in John 17:26 with εγνωρισα — egnōrisa Whom Accusative case after εδωκας — edōkas not attracted to case of antecedent Jesus regards the apostles as the Father‘s gift to him. Recall the night of prayer before he chose them. They have kept Perfect active indicative, late Koiné form for the third plural instead of the usual τετηρηκασιν — tetērēkasin Jesus claims loyalty and fidelity in these men with the one exception of Judas (John 17:12). He does not claim perfection for them, but they have at least held on to the message of the Father in spite of doubt and wavering (John 6:67-71; Matthew 16:15-20). [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 16:15 mean?

He says to them You but whom Me do you pronounce to be
Λέγει αὐτοῖς Ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι

Λέγει  He  says 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
αὐτοῖς  to  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
τίνα  whom 
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: τίς  
Sense: who, which, what.
με  Me 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐγώ  
Sense: I, me, my.
λέγετε  do  you  pronounce 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
εἶναι  to  be 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.

What are the major concepts related to Matthew 16:15?

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