Peter Says Who Jesus Is

Around the region of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples who people were saying he was. They told him the different ideas they had heard. Some people said John the Baptiser. Others said Elijah. Others thought he was one of the prophets.

Then Jesus asked the disciples what they themselves believed. Peter answered that Jesus is the Christ. In Matthew's account, Peter also says Jesus is the Son of the living God. Jesus told Peter that this truth had been revealed to him by the Father in heaven.

Matthew then records special words for Peter. Jesus spoke about Peter and the rock, said he would build his assembly, and said the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. He also spoke of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. After that, Jesus commanded the disciples not to tell others yet that he was the Christ.

From then on, Jesus began to teach them something they had not expected. He said he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised. This was the path set before him.

Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. But Jesus turned and strongly rebuked Peter. He said Peter was not thinking in God's way, but in a merely human way. The disciples were learning that confessing who Jesus is also means listening to what he says about his mission.