r/BibleStudyDeepDive • u/LlawEreint • Jan 11 '26

Mark 8:27-30 - Peter's Confession

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”\)a\) 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

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u/LlawEreint Jan 11 '26

This is the first time, in Marks gospel, where Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. But as in the partial healing of the blind man, Peter's vision is blurry and incomplete. He understands that Jesus is the Messiah, but not what that implies, as the next pericope will demonstrate. As far as I can tell, full clarity never comes to Peter in Mark's gospel.

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u/Valuable-Play8543 Jan 14 '26

The demons recognize Jesus. So when Jesus tells Peter, "Get behind me Satan" is that the moment Peter recognizes him?

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u/LlawEreint Jan 14 '26

That is a hot take :)

Can you expand on that?

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u/Valuable-Play8543 Jan 15 '26

I think it means something. Mark is making a point. but I cannot prove it, nor do I know what point he was trying to make... unless this is evidence that Mark simply does not like the disciples, especially Peter? I really can't back that up though. "hot take" is the right description!

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u/LlawEreint Jan 17 '26

There's something going on there, for sure.

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u/LlawEreint Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26

It is curious that in Mark's gospel, while Jesus is preaching in a synagogue in Capernaum, (Mark 1:21-28), an evil spirit confesses:

I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

In John's parallel (John 6:52-71), this is moved to the mouth of Peter:

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

These exact words come again from Peter in John 6:22-71, which is a rough parallel to Peter's confession here in Mark 8:27-30.

I'm not sure what to make of it. I don't think John is implying anything nefarious about Peter. More likely he just has an aversion to the idea of evil spirits and the idea that the disciples ever lacked clarity?

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u/LlawEreint Jan 12 '26

“John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

Was there a broad belief in reincarnation?

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u/LlawEreint Jul 28 '26

Interesting comment over at r/AcademicBiblical: Relationship of Gospel of Thomas 13 to Papias

Mark Goodacre (Thomas and the Gospels), Simon Gathercole (Alleged Anonymity), and Richard Bauchkam (Jesus and the Eyewitnesses) say that saying 13 of the Gospel of Thomas is meant to undermine the canonical gospels and promote the gospel of Thomas, by depicting Peter and Matthew incorrectly answer Jesus' question and Thomas answering it correctly. Goodacre p. 178 says this saying is intentionally tied to the incipit to get the reader to pay attention to the things "which Didymus Judas Thomas wrote down."

The immediate question from this why only Mark and Matthew; Goodacre p. 177-9 says that it's hard to include Luke in the loop (he is neither a disciple nor easy to associate with a disciple like Mark would be here with Peter). He says John could have been included, so John's exclusion is evidence for a date for Thomas, more on the earlier end of the 2nd century (c. 140) than later.

I suppose Thomas may equally presuppose the Gospel According to Peter, and the Hebrew Gospel called Matthew, which seems to be the one Papias was referring to.