What Did Jesus Mean When He Said to Peter ‘Get Behind Me Satan’?

In the Gospel of Matthew (16:21-23), Jesus tells his disciples that he will soon suffer and be killed. In response to this news, Peter starts to protest and says that such an event will never happen. In response, Jesus says to Peter: “Peter, Satan get behind me!” Your thoughts are satanic, not divine.

Was Peter possessed? Is it possible that the leader of the apostles was so influenced by the enemy that Jesus rebuked him?

When we read the word “devil,” most of us are used to thinking of a specific person or spirit.
“Get behind me, devil!” what does it mean?

Immediately after hearing this word, images come to mind of a fallen angel, once named Lucifer, who rebelled against God, took a third of the angels of heaven with him, and was finally cast down to earth.

He is the creature we think of in the Garden of Eden, the one who, in the form of a serpent, tricked Eve into rebelling against God’s command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Others, however, may have flashbacks to The Exorcist, with all the pea soup spitting and head spinning scenes.

What many fail to realize is that the use of the title “Hasathan” in the Bible does not necessarily refer to a specific spiritual being, such as Lucifer. For example, the book of Job refers to a being that is often translated as “Satan” and is always capitalized (Job 1 and 2).

Such a translation is misleading. In the Hebrew text, the prefix “ha” in “hasatan” becomes meaningless if it refers to a specific person, since it literally means “it.” For example, I don’t call my colleague Shelley “Anne Shelley”. This will get me at least a few weird looks. I simply call her Shelly.

However, when the Bible uses the title “Hasathan,” translations, mostly influenced by their own theology, translate it as a proper name and call it “Satan.” This ignores the fact that almost everywhere else the title is used, it is not referring to a specific person, but rather a title or description for anyone who seeks to obstruct God’s will, including humans. , is used.

David replied: “What does this have to do with you, O sons of Syria? What right do you have to interfere? Is anyone being executed in Israel today? Don’t I know that today I am king over Israel?” So the king said to Shami: “You will not die.” And the king promised him with an oath (2 Samuel 19:21-22).

Saul’s grandson also came down to meet the king. From the day the king left until the day he returned in good health, he had not taken care of his feet, had not cut his mustache, and had ironed his clothes (2 Samuel 19:22-24).

But now the Lord my God has given me peace from all sides and there is no enmity or calamity…Then God raised enmity against Solomon, Hadad of Edom, from the royal family of Edom (1 Kings 5:4; 11:14).

It simply means “enemy”. However, because we tend to interpret the Bible through our theological lens, instead of letting the Bible shape our theology, we develop well-intentioned but misleading ways of interpreting what we read in the Bible.

The church has developed a false understanding of the title “enemy” and assigned it to a specific spirit, and this is simply not true. So how does this affect Jesus’ rebuke of Peter?

Context of Matthew 16:23 in the Bible and “Get behind me, Satan!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter: “Peter, Satan stand behind me!” You are a stumbling block for me; Because in your thoughts you do not think about the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23).

In Matthew 16, Jesus tells his disciples what awaits him when he goes to Jerusalem. He is to suffer at the hands of the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, and eventually be executed. The apostles were amazed by this thought! They had traveled throughout Israel with Jesus.

They witnessed miracles; The dead were raised, the lepers were healed, the blind saw again. How could their Master, whom they knew to be the Messiah, go to Jerusalem, the heart of Judaism, and be killed for such wonderful works?

Peter probably thought to himself: “No! I won’t let this happen to my master!”

So, Peter went to Jesus and told him that he would never allow such a thing to happen. Peter’s intention was good, but he did not know what he was saying. As well-meaning as he was, he was obstructing God’s will—Christ’s original mission—and that is why Jesus uttered the famous rebuke: “Peter, get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

Considering what we discussed earlier about the use of the title “Hassathan,” does it really make sense that Peter was possessed or possessed by Satan? at all Peter’s feelings had affected him. He wanted to defend his master against his enemies.

Under normal circumstances, dealing with a purely human friend, this might be considered respectable. But Jesus was no ordinary man. He is the God-man, the divine embodiment of the Logos in flesh. His mission required suffering and dying. If he didn’t, everything would remain exactly as it is.

Man remains separated from God and salvation becomes unattainable. Everything depended on Jesus fulfilling his mission, which included his own death. And Peter was trying to prevent it.

Notice what Jesus says immediately after rebuking Peter. He tells her that he is thinking on the wrong level. He only cares about the human issue of protecting his master. Peter has lost his divine vision. In his desire to prevent those who want to kill his master, he is not reflecting God’s concerns, but is threatening God’s will with his zeal.

Therefore, it makes sense that Jesus calls Peter “Hassathan” in this case, because if Peter had gone along with his demands, he would surely have been an enemy. Jesus’ rebuke here is a wake-up call for Peter to set his priorities straight and correct his thinking. We can be enemies of God’s will as much as Peter.

What does this mean?

How many times have you acted against the word of God? How many times have you lied, cheated, hated someone, gossiped, or felt sorry for another person or theirs? None of us can claim to be completely free from doing such things in our lives.

Today in the article : What Did Jesus Mean When He Said to Peter ‘Get Behind Me Satan’? We reviewed useful information about the Bible and the way of Jesus. If you wish, you can view other articles of Ali Vahidi about Christianity