Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

“And Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be propitious to You. Lord, this shall never be unto you.” To whom He said, “Get behind Me, Satan; you are a stumbling-block unto Me; for you mind not the things of God but the things of men.” Since Jesus had begun to show unto His disciples that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things, Peter up to this point learned the beginnings of those things which were shown. But since he thought that the sufferings were unworthy of Christ the Son of the living God, and below the dignity of the Father who had revealed to him so great things about Christ,— for the things that concerned His coming suffering had not been revealed to him—on this account he took Him, and as one forgetful of the honour due to the Christ, and that the Son of the living God neither does nor says anything worthy of rebuke, he began to rebuke Him; and as to one who needed propitiation—for he did not yet know that “God had set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood,” he said, “God be propitious to you, O Lord.” Approving his purpose, indeed, but rebuking his ignorance, because of the purpose being right, He says to him, “Get behind Me,” as to one who, by reason of the things of which he was ignorant and spoke not rightly, had abandoned the following of Jesus; but because of his ignorance, as to one who had something antagonistic to the things of God, He said, “Satan,” which in the Hebrew means “adversary.” But, if Peter had not spoken from ignorance, nor rebuked the Son of the living God, saying unto Him, “God be propitious to you, Lord, this shall never be unto You,” Christ would not have said to him, “Get behind Me,” as to one who had given up being behind Him and following Him; nor would He have said as to one who had spoken things adverse to what He had said, “Satan.” But now Satan prevailed over him who had followed Jesus and was going behind Him, to turn aside from following Him and from being behind the Son of God, and to make him, by reason of the words which he spoke in ignorance, worthy of being called “Satan” and a stumbling-block to the Son of God, and “as not minding the things of God but the things of men.” But that Peter was formerly behind the Son of God, before he committed this sin, is manifest from the words, “Come ye behind Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”