“But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.'”
Matthew 16:23
In this series, we’re seeking to understand how to take up our cross and follow Christ. To begin, results from a survey I recently conducted anecdotally indicate the highest percentage of people think most Christians believe taking up their cross and following Christ is evidenced by surrendering to Him time, treasure, and talent. However, at the same time, the highest percentage agreed that the greatest challenge to accomplishing surrender was busyness.
Combining the two results shows most Christians’ apparent dilemma: A reluctance to surrender to Christ (because of busyness), the very thing we believe surrendering most expresses: taking up our cross and following Him.
Next, I provided one possible solution to this dilemma: Teach, model, and train true living, which is realized by learning to die. I said the practical way to learn to die was correct thinking—reordering our desires. However, we are immediately confronted by the reality (having diverse and conflicting thoughts and desires) that our thinking and desires need some guidance. What guides them? The gospel.
How does the gospel guide us? It says, “There is joy despite pain and life through death.”
How can this even be close to being possible? The paradox seems self-defeating.
Jesus gives us a clue in Matthew 16:23. The context is that Christ had just told His disciples that He would suffer and die in Jerusalem and be raised on the third day. Practically, this makes no sense to the disciples, as their expectation of the Messiah was the opposite of Christ’s words. Thus, Peter pulls Jesus aside, “rebukes” Him, and says, “God forbid it.” Christ responds to Peter’s rebuke with a rebuke and redirection. First, He calls Peter Satan, a sure tip-off that things are not going well for Peter. Then, Christ explains his prophetic and ominous statement. Three observations worth noting:
- Temptation to Sin: Jesus calls Peter a stumbling block.
- Faulty Thinking: Jesus condemns Peter’s thinking.
- The Things of God: Jesus differentiates between God’s interests and man’s.
Temptation to Sin
Christ uses the Greek word skandalon (σκανδαλον) to describe Peter’s actions. Skandalon can mean enticing apostasy or temptation to sin (BDAG, 926). In other words, Christ calling Peter Satan was timely, as Peter needed a frame of reference for what was to come. It was also appropriate because his actions eerily echoed someone else behind his words.
Tying this back to the Garden of Eden, Satan succeeded in having the first Adam do the very thing Peter attempted upon Christ (the second Adam-1 Cor. 15:45-58). Thus, Christ would not stand one second for this. Peter is called Satan, told to get behind Him (out of the way of God’s mission), and then he is redirected, leading to the second observation.
Faulty Thinking
What makes humans unique among all creation is that we are made in God’s image. As image-bearers, we have at least rational, functional, and relational capacities for expressing God’s image. Christ chose to use the rational aspect of our humanity to redirect Peter. In a phrase, Peter’s reasoning was faulty.
Here, Christ uses the Greek word phroneo (φρονέω), which means to “set one’s mind on” (BDAG, 1065). In other words, when Christ said, “You are not setting your mind,” He gave Peter the first redirection step. Interestingly, this word is used twenty-five other times in the New Testament, the majority (found in Romans and Philippians) by the apostle Paul. In both Romans and Philippians, Paul seeks to bring unity by focusing on Christ (Rom. 15:5; Phil. 2:5). Thus, the first step for Peter and all Christ’s followers to “take up our cross and follow Him” is to get their minds right. The following observations guide us in that endeavor.
The Things of God
Christ differentiates between Peter’s mind being on God and man. In other words, flesh and spirit or worldly and godly. By drawing a hard line, Christ is informing Peter—and us today—that (1) not only can we think thoughts contrary to God, but (2) we need to redirect our contrary thoughts back to God. It’s not about (1) suppressing or (2) expressing our thoughts but reordering them according to God’s way.
Thus, Augustine, writing at the turn of the 5th Century after observing the Visigoth’s sack of Rome, would say, “Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord…The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, “Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” (The City of God, 444).
Peter’s thoughts—or loves—were not rightly ordered. He needed a reordering. He needed to know that God’s way—the gospel way—is dying to live and joy in the pain of life. Thus, the gospel—possible by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection—aligns our thoughts with God’s. We see, although paradoxically, that to live, my mind must learn to think more about dying as the doorway to life.
Still, how do we find joy in the pain of life? How can the gospel reorder our thoughts—as discussed in this article—and motivate them?
We’ll explore that next time.
— April 17, 2024