<p>16:17- see on 13:11.</p>
<p><i>And Jesus answered and said to him: Blessed are you</i>- The Lord is thrilled that although John's teaching about Him as Son of God had generally been ignored or rejected (see on :14), Peter had grasped it. He had earlier explained that although the preaching of the word by John had generally not brought forth a permanent response in Israel, the disciples were &quot;blessed&quot; because they&nbsp;<i>did</i>&nbsp;understand (13:16). The idea of being &quot;blessed&quot; with an understanding suggests that the understanding was a blessing given- see later in this verse on&nbsp;<i>not revealed</i>.</p>
<p><i>Simon Bar-Jonah</i>- Simon, son of John. The Lord is contrasting Peter's natural origins, speaking of Peter's old name and his natural father, with Peter's high spiritual status as one of the few who perceived the Lord as being the Son of God. This juxtaposition of the natural and spiritual sides in a person is exactly what the Lord had just done with regards to Himself- see on 16:13&nbsp;<i>The Son of Man</i>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><i>For flesh and blood has not revealed it to you-&nbsp;</i>The correct understanding of the Lord was a &quot;blessing&quot;, something given. Earlier the Lord had taught that the Father through Himself had chosen to &quot;reveal&quot; Himself [s.w.] to the spiritually immature disciples (&quot;babes&quot;), and not to the Jewish religious leaders who studied every letter of the Old Testament from dawn to dusk (Mt. 11:25,27). John's equivalent of this is his record of the Lord's comment that the Jews generally did not believe because Isaiah had prophesied that the &quot;arm of the Lord&quot; had to be &quot;revealed&quot; [s.w.] to people, and it was revealed only to a few (Jn. 12:37,38). And our spiritual birth is not of &quot;flesh and blood&quot; but by the sovereign will of God for us (Jn. 1:13). Paul surely has all this in mind when he writes that the things of God &quot;are revealed unto us by His spirit&quot; (1 Cor. 2:10 cp. Gal. 3:23; Phil. 3:15). Faith in Christ therefore requires 'revelation' from God. There was an element to which the disciples, and all of us who have truly responded to the word of Christ, have chosen to do that, and this is pleasing to the Lord. But if that was where the story ended, then salvation would be a matter of human works and intellectual tenacity and correctness in interpretation. Grace would be out of the equation, and God would face off against man over an open Bible which man must correctly interpret and live by if he is to be saved. The will of the Father for human salvation, and the depth of human moral and intellectual weakness, is such that this cannot be the way to salvation. Paul in Romans starts talking about predestination and election in the context of demonstrating that salvation is by grace, and therefore such metaprinciples exist- so that human works and correctness of understanding is only&nbsp;<i>part&nbsp;</i>of the final, invisible equation which finds its sum in human salvation. And so it has to be so that there is&nbsp;<i>some</i>&nbsp;element of God revealing Truth to us, blessing us with that revelation. Hence the Lord tells Peter that it is God's grace in revelation, His 'blessing', rather than &quot;flesh and blood&quot; which has revealed this to Peter. And yet the Lord says this against the backdrop of having spoken about the mixture of flesh and spirit in human salvation- see on&nbsp;<i>Simon Barjona</i>&nbsp;and on 16:13&nbsp;<i>The Son of Man</i>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><i>But my Father who is in Heaven</i>- Luke's equivalent seems to be that the Father which is in Heaven gives the Spirit to His children (Mt. 7:11 cp. Lk. 11:13). Again, the emphasis is on God's part- our part is to request and then to be receptive and responsive.</p>