<p>16:13&nbsp;<i>Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi</i>- Again we get the impression that the Lord was working to educate the disciples according to some kind of program. He surely would have loved to ask them this question earlier, but He waited for some reason until they were in Caesarea Philippi. What that reason was isn't clear. Perhaps He wanted to wait until they were back in Jewish territory after their excursion into Gentile territory, the purpose of which had been to get away from the spotlight of publicity and teach the disciples. And like a good teacher, now the Lord tested their apprehension of His teaching.</p>
<p><i>He asked his disciples, saying</i>-&nbsp;<i>Erotao</i>&nbsp;can mean to pray, to entreat, to ask for something- rather than to casually enquire about an opinion held. He asked the question seeking a positive answer; He was indirectly asking them to believe in Him as God's Son.</p>
<p><i>Whom do men say</i>- This was to pave the way for His more significant, personal question: Whom do&nbsp;<i>you</i>&nbsp;say I am? (:15). &quot;Say&quot; translates&nbsp;<i>lego</i>&nbsp;which more specifically means to speak rather than 'to believe' or 'to understand'. He wanted to know the words of men&rsquo;s' actual lips about Him- which again hints that the disciples were not with the Lord all the time. They were often with people when the Lord wasn't present. Psychologically, considering others' views of Christ helps us better understand where we personally stand regarding Him- indeed, this is true generally in terms of self-understanding. Hence the Lord firstly asks whom others thought Him to be, rather than simply asking the disciples whether they believed in Him as the Son of God.</p>
<p><i>That the Son of Man is?</i>- This is how the Lord saw Himself. Twice in Mark, Jesus is addressed as &quot;Messiah&quot; but He replies by calling Himself &quot;the Son of man&quot; (Mk. 8:29-31; 14:61,62). If this was His preferred self-perception, should it not be how we perceive Him? AV &quot;That I the Son of Man am&quot; is good translation but it remains an awkward phrase, until we perceive that the Lord is juxtaposing His humanity as &quot;son of Man&quot; and His Divine aspect, as the 'I am', the revelation of Yahweh in human flesh (see on :17&nbsp;<i>Simon Barjona)</i>. Often we encounter this in the New Testament, especially in John's Gospel. The most highly exalted language about the Lord is to be found nearby to other statements of His absolute and total humanity. The Lord's words here lay the ground for His question to the disciples as to whom they thought Him to be. He has led up to that question by describing Himself as &quot;the Son of Man&quot;. This was His preferred self-perception. Peter's response: &quot;The Son of the living God&quot; was therefore especially gratifying to the Lord, because Peter didn't merely repeat the Lord's own phrase &quot;the Son of Man&quot;. Peter shows that he perceived the Divine side to Jesus, despite His evident humanity. Perhaps Peter was joining in the implied dialogue set up by the Lord juxtaposing His humanity (&quot;son of Man&quot;) and Divine side (&quot;I... am&quot;) in the phrase &quot;I the Son of Man am&quot;. The Lord says that He is &quot;Son of Man&quot;, and asks the disciples whom they think He is- and Peter gives the other side of the story, by saying that He is &quot;Son of... God&quot;. Perhaps Peter was responding to the Lord's hint at this when He asks &quot;Whom do you say that&nbsp;<i>I am?</i>&quot; (:15), for this could have been heard as an allusion to the Yahweh Name. We see this kind of dialogue (&quot;banter&quot; would not be too coarse a word) going on in the Lord's conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4. And He seeks to lead us in such dialogue, speaking personally to us through His word and life experiences, as we respond in the words of prayer and life decisions made for and to Him.</p>
<p>Another possibility is to translate the phrase: &ldquo;Who do men say that I am? The Son of man?&rdquo;. This would be tantamount to asking the disciples whether people generally believed He was Messiah. As made clear at the end of chapter 12 and throughout chapter 13, the Lord knew full well that the majority did not accept Him as that, because they had effectively rejected John's message about Him. The crowds had simply liked his hard line about sin and his invitation to recognize human sinfulness. They had not gone further in accepting the solution he had proposed, which was acceptance of Jesus as Messiah. The Lord knew full well the answer to His question, but He wanted the disciples to consider it in order to elicit from them the recognition that John's ministry had not been accepted by Israel, and that their belief in Him as Messiah left them standing with their backs to the Jewish world. Compromise with that world, intellectual or social, was impossible.</p>