The Meaning of Matthew 16:28 Explained

Matthew 16:28

KJV: Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

YLT: Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in his reign.'

Darby: Verily I say unto you, There are some of those standing here that shall not taste of death at all until they shall have seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

ASV: Verily I say unto you, there are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Verily  I say  unto you,  There be  some  standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  of death,  till  they see  the Son  of man  coming  in  his  kingdom. 

What does Matthew 16:28 Mean?

Study Notes

his kingdom
.

Verse Meaning

Jesus proceeded to reveal the kingdom to His inner circle of disciples to strengthen their faith and to prepare them for the trials of their faith that lay ahead of them.
Jesus revealed next that some of the disciples whom He addressed would not die until they saw Him coming in His kingdom. This prediction may at first appear to be very similar to the one in Matthew 10:23. However, that verse refers to something else, namely, Jesus" reunion with His disciples following their preaching tour in Galilee.
This verse ( Matthew 16:28) cannot mean that Jesus returned to set up the messianic kingdom during the lifetime of these disciples since that did not happen. Neither does it mean that Jesus had already set up the kingdom when He spoke these words, as some writers have believed. [1] What Jesus predicted would happen in the future rules this out. Some interpreters have taken Jesus" words as a reference to His resurrection and ascension. However, Jesus spoke of those events elsewhere as His departure, not His coming ( John 16:7). Moreover such a view interprets the kingdom in a heavenly sense rather than in the earthly sense in which the Old Testament writers consistently spoke of it.
Most amillennial and some premillennial interpreters confuse the eternal heavenly rule of God with the millennial earthly rule of Messiah. Some take the kingdom as entirely heavenly, and others take it as both heavenly and earthly. Among the latter group are those who believe the kingdom is operating in a heavenly form now but will become an earthly kingdom later. A popular name for this view is the "now, not yet" view. This view often involves confusing the church with the kingdom. [2] This is the view that progressive dispensationalists hold as well.
Other interpreters believe that Jesus was speaking about the day of Pentecost. [3] However the Son of Man did not come then. The Holy Spirit did. Furthermore the kingdom did not begin then. The church did. Still others hold that the destruction of Jerusalem is in view. [4] The only link with that event is judgment.
Jesus appears to have been predicting the preview of His coming to establish His kingdom that He gave Peter, James , and John in the Transfiguration ( Matthew 17:1-8). [5] The Transfiguration follows this prediction immediately in all three of the Gospels that record it (cf. Mark 9:1-8; Luke 9:27-36). Moreover Matthew ,, Mark , and Luke all linked Jesus" prediction and the Transfiguration with connectives. Matthew and Mark used "and" (Gr. de) while Luke used "and ... it came about" (Gr. egeneto de). Peter, one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration, interpreted it as a preview of the kingdom ( 2 Peter 1:16-18). Finally Jesus" "truly I say to you" or "I tell you the truth" ( Matthew 16:28) separates His prediction of the establishment of the kingdom ( Matthew 16:27) from His prediction of the vision of the kingdom ( Matthew 16:28). Jesus" reference to some not tasting death until they saw the kingdom may seem strange at first, but in the context Jesus had been speaking of dying ( Matthew 16:24-26).
Jesus had just announced that He was going to build His church ( Matthew 16:18), so what would happen to the promised kingdom? Here He clarified that the kingdom would still come (cf. Matthew 6:10).

Context Summary

Matthew 16:21-28 - Bear The Cross For Jesus
The gospel has two parts: Jesus is the Christ; and the Christ must suffer, if He shall enter His glory. Our Lord made sure of the first, before He held to the second. There had been veiled hints of His death before, as in John 2:19; Matthew 9:15; Matthew 12:40; but henceforth it was taught without a veil. The Cross had always cast its shadow over our Lord's path. He did not die as the martyr on whom death comes unexpectedly, but He stepped from the throne and became incarnate that He might die. Notice that solemn must, Matthew 16:21.
How soon Peter fell from his high estate! Beware! The voice that bids us spare ourselves is Satan's. Self-pleasing ends in destruction. Self-denial and self-sacrifice are the divine path to life. Let us be more eager to lose ourselves than to find ourselves; more set on the cross than on the glory; more eager to promote the well-being of others than our own. We do not choose or make our cross; Christ gives each a little bit of His true Cross to bear as He pleases. [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 16:28

Some of them that stand here [τινες των οδε εστωτων]
A crux interpretum in reality. Does Jesus refer to the Transfiguration, the Resurrection of Jesus, the great Day of Pentecost, the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Second Coming and Judgment? We do not know, only that Jesus was certain of his final victory which would be typified and symbolized in various ways. The apocalyptic eschatological symbolism employed by Jesus here does not dominate his teaching. He used it at times to picture the triumph of the kingdom, not to set forth the full teaching about it. The kingdom of God was already in the hearts of men. There would be climaxes and consummations. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 16:28

Mark 8:28 And they told him [οι δε ειπαν]
They knew only too well. See note on Matthew 16:14, Matthew 16:28 for discussion. [source]
Luke 9:27 Till they see [εως αν ιδωσιν]
Second aorist active subjunctive with εως — heōs and αν — an referring to the future, an idiomatic construction. So in Mark 9:1; Matthew 16:28. In all three passages “shall not taste of death” Mark speaks of the kingdom of God as “come” Matthew as “coming” (ερχομενον — erchomenon) referring to the Son of man, while Luke has neither form. See Matthew and Mark for discussion of the theories of interpretation of this difficult passage. The Transfiguration follows in a week and may be the first fulfilment in the mind of Jesus. It may also symbolically point to the second coming. [source]
John 8:52 Now we know [νυν εγνωκαμεν]
Perfect active indicative of γινωσκω — ginōskō state of completion, “Now since such talk we have come to certain knowledge that thou hast a demon” (John 8:48). Is dead Second aorist active indicative of αποτνησκω — apothnēskō “Abraham died.” And thou sayest Adversative use of και — kai “and yet.” Emphatic position of συ — su (thou). Same condition quoted as in John 8:51. He shall never taste of death Same emphatic negative with subjunctive as in John 8:51, but γευσηται — geusētai (first aorist middle subjunctive of γευω — geuō with genitive case τανατου — thanatou (death). Another Hebraism for dying like τεωρησηι — theōrēsēi (see) in John 8:51. Used in Hebrews 2:9 of the death of Jesus and in Synoptics (Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). It occurs in the Talmud, but not in the O.T. The Pharisees thus did not misquote Jesus, though they misunderstood him. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 16:28 mean?

Truly I say to you - there are some of those here standing who no not shall taste of death until - they have seen the Son - of Man coming in the kingdom of Him
Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι εἰσίν τινες τῶν ὧδε ἑστώτων οἵτινες οὐ μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου ἕως ἂν ἴδωσιν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ

Ἀμὴν  Truly 
Parse: Hebrew Word
Root: ἀμήν  
Sense: firm.
λέγω  I  say 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
ὑμῖν  to  you 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 2nd Person Plural
Root: σύ  
Sense: you.
ὅτι  - 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
εἰσίν  there  are 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
τινες  some 
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: τὶς  
Sense: a certain, a certain one.
τῶν  of  those 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ὧδε  here 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ὧδε  
Sense: here, to this place, etc.
ἑστώτων  standing 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Active, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: ἵστημι  
Sense: to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set.
οὐ  no 
Parse: Adverb
Root: οὐ  
Sense: no, not; in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer.
γεύσωνται  shall  taste 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Middle, 3rd Person Plural
Root: γεύομαι  
Sense: to taste, to try the flavour of.
θανάτου  of  death 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: θάνατος 
Sense: the death of the body.
ἕως  until 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ἕως  
Sense: till, until.
ἂν  - 
Parse: Particle
Root: ἄν  
Sense: has no exact English equivalent, see definitions under AV.
ἴδωσιν  they  have  seen 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: εἶδον 
Sense: to see with the eyes.
Υἱὸν  Son 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: υἱός  
Sense: a son.
τοῦ  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀνθρώπου  of  Man 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: ἄνθρωπος  
Sense: a human being, whether male or female.
ἐρχόμενον  coming 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: ἔρχομαι  
Sense: to come.
βασιλείᾳ  kingdom 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: βασιλεία  
Sense: royal power, kingship, dominion, rule.
αὐτοῦ  of  Him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.