“But [Jesus] turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
- Matthew 16:23, KJV
Imagine the look of hurt in Peter’s eyes, the one who has been affectionately called “The Rock” by His Master for nearly three years now, the look of confusion and frustration and pain as the man he considered one of his best friends, His Lord and Savior, called him “Satan.” Peter had been zealous for the cause, excitedly following Christ where no others dared to tread – and now, just a short time before he would “lose” Him to death, Jesus calls him a devil? Rebukes him harshly in front of the other disciples? What was going on here? Perhaps the meaning is more clear when we read the verses before it. Jesus, in verse 21, tells the disciples that He will go to Jerusalem, suffer cruel injustices, be brutally murdered, and on the third day, He will come back to life. But Peter couldn’t get past the “brutally murdered” part of the story, and protests in verse 22:
“God would never let this happen to you, Lord!” (Cont. English Version)
“That must never happen to you!” (Good News Bible)
“No one will harm you as long as I am on hand to fight!” (Andy Edington paraphrase)
The King James Version of this verse says that Peter took him and began to rebuke him. That word rebuke in the Webster’s 1828 means, “to chide; to reprove; to reprehend for a fault; to check by reproof; to check or restrain; to chasten; to punish; to afflict for correction.” So it would appear that Peter laid his hands on the Savior in angry desperation, demanding that the King of Kings quit this nonsense about dying, that He turn aside from this path He was on, that He come up with a different plan. That response is what our Savior is responding to in verse 23. He’s responding to Peter’s demand for a comfortable life, for an easy way to glory, for a way to serve God that is painless. He is responding to Peter’s attempt to talk Him out of taking the dangerous path required to follow God.
On some level, Peter’s response makes sense to us, though. After all, haven’t we all had friends we’ve tried to talk out of dangerous behaviors? We are simply concerned for their well-being, or so we say. And, in some instances, when the dangerous activity is sinful or is otherwise not God’s best for them, this is wise. However, when a friend comes to tell us that God is calling them to be a missionary in a part of the world where following Christ is illegal and martyrdom a real possibility, when a friend tells us that they are going to witness to a particularly violent person in their neighborhood … What is our response? Do we try to talk them out of it? Do we worry? Do we stand in their way? Do we take them and begin to rebuke them, like Peter did? Jesus tells us that is sin, that is siding with the enemy. When we try to talk people into being more cautious in their faith, when we try to convince them to take a less-risky path than the one God has called them to, Jesus says we are flat out tempting them to sin (GW translation of this verse). We are hindering the plan of God for their lives. We are standing in His way. If we try to talk people out of the radical plan of God for them, we are hindering their destiny with Christ, and we are hindering our own, as Matthew 18:6 tells us that anyone who offends one of His “little ones,” or as the Strong’s has it, trips them up, causes them to stumble, entices them to sin as they are following after Christ would be better off with a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the sea. God takes this very seriously, and so should we. We cannot encourage people to pursue ordinary lives instead of the extraordinary lives God created them for, cannot afford to so idolize comfort to the point where we will stand in the way of their radical devotion to Christ, cannot afford to even harbor thoughts of this nature, as they will only harden our hearts to what God would do in and through us.
Looking at this verse from multiple translations, I want to share with you what God thinks of this comfort-free pursuit of an “easy” walk with God.
- The Bible in Basic English tells us that this kind of thinking is dangerous.
- Andy Edington’s Word Made Fresh paraphrase says this kind of thinking and interfering with another’s pursuit of God’s will for their lives is violent, evil, and self-destructive.
- Ben Campbell Johnson’s paraphrase says that it shows how insensitive we are to God’s way of doing things.
- The Contemporary English Version says that it proves we “think like everyone else and not like God.”
- The Darby translation says such thinking/behavior is offensive to God, and the DRB adds that it is scandalous for any believer to respond that way to the plan of God.
- The message suggests that it is prideful to think and speak this way to other believers (or even to ourselves!), for we are only showing that we have “no idea how God works” and yet we are trying to usurp His decisions.
- The ERV says that when we are being this resistant to God’s plan, when we are standing in the way of it, we “are not helping” the Gospel to go forth, that we “don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important.” We have given in to people pleasing.
Can you not see how dangerous this is? And yet, can you not also see how often we are guilty of the same sin? God moves on our hearts to do something, and we resist. “Oh, Lord, I couldn’t do that. Do you know what they would think of me? Do you know what they would say? I could lose my job, my boyfriend/girlfriend, my (fill in the blank).” We dig in our heels and cross our arms, and in true two-year-old style, refuse to do it. When our friends or family come to us with news of what God wants them to do next, we try to rationalize with them about all the reasons they shouldn’t follow God’s leading to do this, because it just isn’t “practical.” We are thinking like the world thinks when we do that, precisely what Romans 12:1-2 tell us not to do. It’s wrong! We are hindering the plan of God with these stupid, prideful, and defiant attitudes and actions! And why would we want to do that? Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that His plans for us are for our good and not evil, to give us hope and an expected end – what more could we ask for? True, following God may not be easy. It may not be painless. It may require everything we have on this side of eternity, including our human lives – but what is that to lose in face of eternity with Christ? Jim Elliot once wrote that, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” This must be our attitude as we follow Christ. Our destiny in Christ depends on it.
So, how does Jesus tell us to get there? How does He instruct us to correct our thinking and align with even the most radical of God’s plans and purposes for our lives?
It’s simple. The Kleist and Lilly translation of the New Testament begins verse 23 with “Back to your place; follow me.” Jesus tells us to go back to our place, to submit, to remember that HE is Lord, that HE is the Author and Finisher of our Faith, that HE is our Judge – not us - and to follow Him again with joy. He tells us to quit trying to control everything, to let HIM who knows the end from the beginning call the shots in our life. In the Message paraphrase, the next few verses of the story go like this. Jesus says:
Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?
Do you see? Cautioning people to live more “practical” lives and pursue more “comfort” is not God-honoring at all. Pursuing that ourselves is equally destructive and foolish. We must allow Jesus to lead us – even when it requires us to give up everything that is comfortable and practical in this life.
Furthermore, in the King James Version, part of what Jesus finds wanting in Peter’s response is that he did not “savour” the things of God. I looked up that word in the Strong’s concordance, and these are some of the other words listed to describe this idea in the original language: “to exercise the mind, that is to entertain or have a sentiment or opinion; by implication to be (mentally) disposed (more or less earnestly in a certain direction); intensively to interest oneself in (with concern or obedience): - set the affection on, …” So, if we don’t want to hinder the plan of God in our lives and the lives of others, if we don’t want to get in the way, it requires that we exercise our minds, entertain ourselves, get emotional over, and base our opinions on the Scriptures and the things of God. We must intensively interest ourselves with the Word with concern and obedience. We must set our affection on nothing but God and His way of doing things. This is what will open the door for the plan of God to come to pass in our lives with greater freedom. This is what will glorify God the most in our lives. Are you willing to make the adjustment? To turn from the things you normally go to for your entertainment (television, video games, etc.), for your intellectual stimulation (i.e. the news, the academic circles of your society), for affection (pets, people, whatever else) – for the purpose of intensively interesting yourself in the Word, to the point of concern and obedience? I pray you are. I pray that you will not hinder the plan of God in your life anymore, and I ask you to pray the same for me.
For those of you who would like to the see the verse in all the different translations I quoted and more, here’s part of my personal study on this verse:
Matthew 16:23
- (N. Berkeley) But, turning around, He said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan, you are a snare for Me; for you are not taking the divine view, but man’s.”
- (Phillips) Then Jesus turned round and said to Peter, “Out of my way, Satan! … You stand right in my path, Peter, when you look at things from man’s point of view and not from God’s.”
- (Voice) Get away from Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block before Me! You are not thinking about God’s story – you are thinking about some distorted story of fallen, broken people.
- (BBE) But he, turning to Peter, said, Get out of my way, Satan: you are a danger to me because your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men.
- (CEV) Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Satan, get away from me! You’re in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God.”
- (Darby) But turning round, he said to Peter, Get away behind me, Satan; thou art an offence to me, for thy mind is not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men.
- (DRB) Who turning, said to Peter: Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.
- (GNB) Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don’t come from God, but from human nature.”
- (GW) But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get out of my way, Satan! You are tempting me to sin. You aren’t thinking the way God thinks but the way humans think.”
- (ERV) Then Jesus said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important.”
- (Edington) “Don’t tempt me, Peter. This is the way of violence and evil and is self-destructive. You are talking like an ordinary man and not as one who is beginning to draw near to God.”
- (Lily and Kleist) But he turned on Peter with the words: “Back to your place; follow me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you do not take God’s view of things, but men’s.”
- (LB) Jesus turned on Peter and said, “Get away from me, you Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are thinking merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.”
- (Message) But Jesus didn’t swerve. “Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works.”
- (Ben Campbelle Johnson) Then Jesus turned and addressed Peter sternly, “Get away from me, you devil! Your denials offend me because they show how insensitive you are to God’s way. You are responding from a human perspective.”
- (NT in Plain English) Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking something which might cause me to sin. You are not thinking the way that God thinks, but as man thinks.”
- (KJV) But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
o “Savourest” in the Strong’s means: “to exercise the mind, that is to entertain or have a sentiment or opinion; by implication to be (mentally) disposed (more or less earnestly in a certain direction); intensively to interest oneself in (with concern or obedience): - set the affection on, (be) care (-ful), (be like-, + be of one, + be of the same, + let this) mind (-ed), regard, savour, think.”
- (WNT – e-sword) But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Adversary; you are a hindrance to me, because your thoughts are not God’s thoughts, but man’s.”
- (YLT) and he having turned, said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, adversary! Thou art a stumbling-block to me, for thou dost not mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
- (ESV) But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
- (Common English) But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
- (Amplified) But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
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