16:22 rebuke him. It is surprising that Peter could make such a remarkable (even Spirit-inspired) confession of Jesus as both Messiah and Son of God, then almost immediately deny Christ’s Word! Jesus recognized that this was really Satan speaking through Peter (Matthew 16:23)—not in the sense of Satanic possession, but rather Satanic persuasion. The natural man almost instinctively recoils against the idea of the atoning death and resurrection of Christ, and Satan bitterly resists it.