“Get Behind Me, Satan”: Jesus Rebukes Peter

Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ and Jesus’ revelation that He would build His Church occurred sometime in the summer or early fall of A.D. 30.

Knowing that less than a year remained in His earthly ministry, Jesus began to focus more intensely on preparing His disciples for the responsibilities they would assume after His departure. They would need to transition from followers and students to leaders and teachers. 

His focus now included speaking more openly about the suffering and violent death He would soon face. 

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21). 

But instead of seeking to understand and accept what his Master was telling him, Peter responded in a way that revealed how much he still had to learn.

Peter “corrects” the Christ

Notice how Peter responded: “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’” (verse 22, emphasis added throughout). 

The Greek word translated “rebuke” describes far more than a gentle objection. It means to admonish or correct sharply. 

Pause and consider the audacity of what Peter was doing. He wasn’t merely questioning Jesus or struggling to understand His words. Peter was telling Jesus Christ that He was wrong. 

Thankfully, Jesus was extremely patient with Peter and continued working with him to get him to the place he needed to be. After more than two years with Jesus, Peter had become thoroughly convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was not only the prophesied Messiah—the fulfillment of scores of Old Testament prophecies—but also the “Son of the living God” (verse 16).

Despite knowing who Jesus was, Peter still presumed to correct Him. 

The words “this shall not happen to You” weren’t a plea for Jesus to avoid this fate or a sincere request for clarification. Peter was flatly rejecting what Jesus had just told him. 

He wasn’t merely disturbed by His Master’s words—he disagreed with them. In Peter’s mind, on this matter, Jesus was wrong and he was right. 

Jesus’ shocking response

There were times when Jesus gently corrected mistaken ideas or simply let them pass. But the presumption to correct Him demanded a firm response, especially when it was from a man Jesus was preparing to become a leading figure in His Church. 

That Church would be built on unwavering submission to Jesus Christ as its Head. It could not be led by men who presumed to elevate their own judgment above His and, in effect, tell Him, “You are wrong.”

Peter’s stunningly arrogant error demanded an immediate and forceful correction. 

Jesus turned toward Peter and responded with a rebuke every bit as forceful as Peter’s presumption was audacious: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (verse 23).

These words undoubtedly shook Peter to his core. Usually quick to speak, a seemingly deflated Peter stood silent before his Master. We can only imagine the stunned silence that fell over the group. 

Why “get behind Me, Satan”?

Jesus’ words, “Get behind Me, Satan,” did not mean that Peter was Satan or that Satan had possessed Peter. Nor was Jesus implying that Peter had fully adopted Satan’s thinking. Rather, Jesus was calling Peter out for momentarily allowing himself to tap into Satan’s wavelength—his way of thinking. 

Nearly 30 years after this event, Paul explained how Satan influences human beings: “You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). 

Satan primarily influences humanity through attitudes, thoughts and feelings. Just as the air around us can carry harmful agents we unknowingly breathe in, Satan’s way of thinking permeates the world around us. Unless we consciously resist it, we can easily absorb his attitudes and begin reflecting his mindset. 

Though Peter didn’t realize it, at this moment he was unwittingly tuning in to Satan’s spiritual wavelength. How was Peter displaying satanically influenced thought? 

• By rebuking Jesus Christ, Peter was essentially saying, I know better than You. Satan’s rebellion against God was rooted in the audacious idea that he was better qualified to lead than God (Isaiah 14:13-14). Peter’s attempt to correct Jesus reflected that same basic attitude of arrogance and self-will. 
• By disagreeing with Jesus Christ and claiming that what He said would never happen, Peter was essentially saying, God is wrong. Thousands of years earlier, Satan, speaking as a serpent, made the same basic claim to Eve: “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). In other words, what God told you was wrong.
• By declaring that Christ would not die, Peter was unknowingly opposing a crucial step in God’s plan of salvation. Had Christ not suffered and died as He foretold, there could have been no sacrifice for sin and no redemption for mankind. 

Jesus understood that this was a momentary lapse on Peter’s part, but He also recognized the spiritual danger of allowing even the slightest trace of Satan’s thinking to take hold. Left unchecked, tuning in to this wavelength could have led Peter completely astray. 

Jesus corrected Peter in the most startling and forceful way possible. Instead of simply telling him he was misguided, Christ confronted Peter with the sobering reality that, in that moment, his thinking aligned more with Satan’s than with God’s. 

Peter needed to be reminded of a disciple’s proper place—not elevating his own judgment above his Master’s, but humbly following wherever He leads. 

Jesus uses a teaching opportunity

Jesus was a master at turning circumstances and situations into teaching moments, and this was no different. He didn’t just call out Peter’s momentary lapse and move on. He used it to teach Peter and the other disciples the mindset and approach He expected them to develop. 

Jesus offered an incredible example of how to both firmly and lovingly correct. Jesus didn’t just leave it at how Peter’s thinking and approach were dead wrong; He immediately pivoted to the higher standard that both Peter and the others needed to adopt. 

Turning to the group, Jesus broke the tense and awkward silence: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (verse 24). 

In that previous moment of weakness, Peter was not denying himself—He was denying Jesus’ words. He was not following Jesus, he was disagreeing with Him.

Instead of tuning in to Satan’s thinking, driven by self-determination, self-will and self-preservation, Peter and the other disciples needed to develop the depth of humility to fully submit themselves to the will of their Master, Jesus Christ. 

Those who deny their own will and submit to and follow Jesus Christ will never challenge Him, never disagree with Him and certainly never presume to correct Him. They will recognize that this proclivity to resist is rooted in the thinking and mindset of Satan, and they will fight that proclivity with all their might. 

On the human level, the proclivity to resist God’s will is called “the carnal mind” (Romans 8:7). We all have it, and we all must dedicate ourselves to fighting it. 

Peter—a work in progress

Though Peter probably learned much from this incident, he didn’t immediately achieve the standard Jesus was teaching. Less than a year later, when Jesus’ words were being fulfilled and a mob came to arrest Him, Peter drew his sword and attempted to stop them (John 18:10-11). 

Peter and the others still expected Christ to establish the Kingdom at that time and struggled to understand that He first had to suffer and die.

Thankfully, Jesus was extremely patient with Peter and continued working with him to get him to the place he needed to be. After receiving God’s Spirit at Pentecost, Peter matured into a man and leader who truly practiced Christ’s command to “deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 

In fact, the elderly and spiritually seasoned Peter urged Christians to grow in these areas (1 Peter 4:1-2, 19; 5:6-7) and to remain sober and vigilant against Satan’s influence (1 Peter 5:8-9). He also came to fully understand that Christ’s suffering and death were essential to God’s plan (1 Peter 3:18). 

Peter wrote from personal experience, having learned these lessons through years of correction and spiritual growth. He serves as an example of a man who struggled with self-will and stumbled into Satan’s wavelength, but accepted correction, matured spiritually and helped others do the same. 

Like Peter, we must learn to deny our self-will, trust our Master’s judgment and always . . .

Walk as He walked.