Matthew 16:23

Evidently Jesus turned to confront Peter face to face. "Get behind me, Satan" probably means, Do not stand in my way as a stumbling block. Jesus had used similar language when rebuking Satan himself (Matthew 4:10). "Satan" means "adversary." Jesus viewed Peter’s comment as coming from Satan ultimately.

"It does not matter how one interprets the rebuke to Peter. Jesus’ main point is one that demands a response from his audience. Whether he said, ’Get out of my sight!’ [NIV], ’Get behind me!’ [AV], or ’Follow after me!’ [Note: Footnote: Gundry, Matthew . . ., p. 338.] , he intended to focus his attention on the necessity of unconditional obedience in discipleship." [Note: Dennis C. Stoutenburg, "’Out of my sight!’, ’Get behind me!’, or ’Follow after me!’: There Is No Choice in God’s Kingdom," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 36:1 (March 1993):178.]

Jesus had recently called Peter a rock. Now He called him a different type of rock, a rock that causes someone to stumble (Gr. skandalon). Satan had offered Jesus messiahship without suffering (Matthew 4:8-9), and now Peter was suggesting the same thing. These were both appeals to Jesus’ humanity. The idea of a suffering Messiah caused Peter to stumble here, and after Jesus’ resurrection the same concept caused many Jews to stumble (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23).

Peter was not thinking God’s thoughts but man’s. When he confessed that Jesus was the Messiah earlier (Matthew 16:16), he was thinking God’s thoughts. Now he was not only thinking without regard to revelation but in opposition to revelation, as Satan does. The contrast between Matthew 16:13-20 and Matthew 16:21-23 clearly shows that the disciples’ understanding was a matter of growth. As they accepted what they came to understand progressively by divine illumination, their faith also grew.