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1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening, you say 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.'

3 And in the morning 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering.' Oh you hypocrites! You can predict the weather so why can't you understand the signs of the times?”

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”

14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

This is typified by the ESV and other study bibles because of the wording “…and tempting, desired him…” This places the desire to perform the test on the back of the pharisees, and further characterizes their desire to do so as a desire to tempt Jesus – perhaps in the manner that Satan was said to tempt Jesus in the desert. The problem here is that the Jews were ordered to test prophets and it was expressly their purview to test and find out who was and was not sent by God. Instead, Jesus uses this opportunity to charazterize the pharisees as a 'wicked and adulterous generation,' but the most striking feature is that he does state that they will be shown the sign of Jonah – a sign which was never given, despite his claim, because Jesus did not appear to the pharisees after his resurrection.

One possible counter here is that in v.2 Jesus points out that the pharisees are not cognizant of “the signs of the times”. Given that it is not elucidated here it likely refers to the obvious situation of Roman-occupied Judea. This would imply that God is upset with the nation of Israel, or that it is about to be destroyed as in previous times – and therefore likely for similar reasons. This is reminiscent of a presuppositionalist line of reasoning – Jesus merely tears down their worldview without providing a credible alternative (instead of providing a sign, as requested).

Jesus is clear here that he is not talking about actual leaven, yeast or bread (v.11). To what then is Jesus referring? v.12 only says the apostles understood, but the meaning is not revealed. Actually this is not a difficult problem so let's examine what happened. When the apostles crossed the river they were hungry because they did not have bread. Jesus then informs them not to accept the “leaven of the Pharisees”. This happens directly after Jesus denies the requirement to give a sign (see above; Deu 18:21 “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’—”).

Therefore, what Jesus is actually saying is that the test that is prescribed in Deuteronomy, and in fact the authority of the chazal, the sanhedrin or the priesthood to apply such a test, is worthless. In it's place is the mircale given by Christianity of multiplication of loaves. In this case, it seems to be a kind of panacea or placebo given to the disciples to make them stop thinking about Jesus' failure to give a sign prior to their crossing of the river; whence they brought no bread, implying (from the exodus) that they had crossed the river in haste, to get away from the pharisees. This is the typology of the bread given by the Hebrew Scriptures, and do not fail to consider the manna given by God in the desert; this will play into the next section.

The next section continues this theme by continuing to cast the pharisees (i.e. what we would call orthodox judaism today) as being alien to God, and comparing them with satan. The comparison occurrs here between the apostles, who answer what the people (i.e. the Jews at the time) think about Jesus – the answer being something in-line with the prophecies over the messiah. I.E. that he might be Elijah, Jeremiah, or John the Baptist. But when Simon Peter answers that Jesus is “the Christ, the son of the living god” – a term which in and of itself is problematic because it is more a Greek concept of divinity than Jewish – Jesus rewards him by saying this knowledge “comes from God” and does not come from man.

The key implication being that the pharisees' knowledge is of man, while the knowledge that “Jesus is God” comes from God.

Verse 18 and 19 typify the faith, and v.20-21 institute a kind of realization that once one realizes that Jesus is God, he is worthy to understand that Jesus died for their sins. Thus we see the locus of the stepwise introduction of the core Christian belief which, while initialy overlaid upon Judaism, comes to replace it. v.18 in particular is obvious now that when Jesus said Peter-Rock he is referring to the faith Peter has over and above his knowledge of Judaism. So that when Peter finally confronts Jesus in v.22 that his plan to die is not what was spoken of by the prophets at all, he is rebuked as being a type of Satan(!!) – the implication, of course, is the continuance of the idea that the pharisaic (i.e. orthodox jewish) interpretation of scripture is Satanic, and must be disregarded and replaced by a sort of divine faith from god – a typology of the “ingratiation of the Holy Spirit” if you will. v.24 drives this point home; to follow Jesus one must “deny himself” – and simply “take up the cross” and follow Jesus.

The point of Matthew 16 is very clear! You're not allowed to so much as look for verification that Jesus is who he claimed to be – to do so is satanic! In direct contradiction to the word of God. This brings to light the stunning true meaning of v.25 and 26; the life one loses is the life offered by following the Law “I urge you to choose life, so that you and your children may live,” and the gaining of the world refers to the land of Israel; for if one should live and gain the land of Israel by the word of God and his propghets, he will be lost to Jesus, and vice-versa.

This is a tacit prophecy that Jesus will return in their lifetime, which he did not. It follows as a promise of reassurance to the previous section, that by leaving their Judaism behind they are doing God's will. One may only be corrupted in this manner if one is unaware of God's eternal promises in the scriptures, or his eternal nature; for this is why God will not change his mind; he is not bound by time such that one generation's proclamation will differ from another within a covenant– as any such covenant represents the eternal will of God.