Mark 8:33

33 But turning round and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Adversary," He said, "for your thoughts are not God's thoughts, but men's."

Mark 8:33 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 8:33

But when he had turned about
Upon Peter, and showed quick resentment at what he said:

and looked on his disciples;
he cast his eye toward, them at the same time, and expressed to them the same displeasure in his countenance, they being of the same mind:

he rebuked Peter, saying, get thee behind me, Satan: for thou
savourest not the things that be of God;
things which were according to the will of God, as the sufferings of Christ were: they were according to the determinate counsel of his will; what he had determined in his purposes and council should be; and what he had declared in the Scriptures of truth, the revelation of his will, would be; and in which, according to them, he should have a great concern himself, ( Isaiah 53:6 Isaiah 53:10 ) , and whereby all his divine perfections would be glorified, and therefore may well be said to be the things of God; and which ought to be savoured, minded, and attended to, as things of the greatest moment and importance: and which, though the apostle had often read of in the books of the Old Testament; yet either had not a clear understanding of them, as being the will of God; or however, they were greatly out of his view at this time, his mind being possessed with notions of a temporal kingdom, and of worldly honour and grandeur: wherefore it follows,

but the things that be of men;
as were the notions of Christ's being a temporal prince, that would set up a worldly kingdom, and deliver the Jews from the Roman yoke, and make his subjects happy, with an affluence of all worldly things; and particularly his favourites, as the disciples were: these were schemes of men's devising, and were suited to the corrupt nature, and carnal inclinations of men; and these things at present too much possessed Peter's mind: wherefore the Lord rebuked him in a very severe, though just manner; being touched in his most tender part, and dissuaded from that which his heart was set upon, and he came into the world for; whose keen resentment is seen by using a phrase he never did but to the devil himself, ( Matthew 4:10 ) ; (See Gill on Matthew 16:23).

Mark 8:33 In-Context

31 And now for the first time He told them, "The Son of Man must endure much suffering, and be rejected by the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and after two days rise to life."

32 This He told them plainly; whereupon Peter took Him and began to remonstrate with Him.

33 But turning round and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Adversary," He said, "for your thoughts are not God's thoughts, but men's."

34 Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.

35 For whoever is bent on securing his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, will secure it.