Mark 8:31-33

³¹ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

³² He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

³³ But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Also found in Matthew 16:21-23 and Luke 9:22.

must (v.31) — “must” is dei “it is necessary in the nature of the case. The word points to the inevitableness and rationale of the Cross. Since God is love and man is a sinner, He will provide a salvation for him. But since He is also just, it is necessary in the nature of the case, for Him to die on the Cross and thus pay the penalty that would satisfy the demands of that justice which required that sin be paid for. — Wuest, page 167.

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rejected (v.31) = lit. “to reject one after having put a person to the test for the purpose of approving him, that person not meeting the specifications set down.” The religious leaders of Israel put Jesus to the test for the purpose of approving Him as Messiah, for they were looking for their Messiah. But He did not meet their specifications. He was not the kind of a Messiah the Jews wanted. They wanted a military leader who would liberate them from the yoke of Rome, not a Savior would would free them from their bondage to sin. Peter in his first letter (1 Peter 2:7 — same Greek word, “disallowed”) speaks of the same thing. The article appears before each word, elders, chief priests, and scribes, saddling each … with his separate responsibility. The announcement of His resurrection made no impression upon the disciples, as their future behavior at that event clearly shows. — Wuest, pages 167-168.

spoke (v.32) — tense indicates continuous action. He repeatedly told them.

openly (v.32) = plainly, unmistakably — plain speech as opposed to the hints and veiled allusions He had been giving (for example, Mark 2:20).

took (v.32) — the idea is that Peter took Jesus off to the side and held Him so that they would be facing each other.

Jesus has spoken plainly, so Peter wasn’t confused. He wasn’t looking for more information — he was opposing.

turned around and looked at the disciples (v.33) — Peter had taken the Lord aside and turned Him so they were face to face. But when the Lord heard what Peter had to say, He turned and faced the other disciples before responding. The others must have overheard or been otherwise aware of what Peter had said.

rebuke (v.33) — the same word used in verse 32 for Peter’s statement to the Lord. It refers to a rebuke that doesn’t not bring the person rebuked to see his sin. It wasn’t a rebuke that convicted. Or course not, in the case of Peter’s rebuke of the Lord because the Lord had done nothing wrong. In the case of the Lord’s rebuke of Peter, Peter hadn’t yet realized the wrong he had done.

Get thee behind me Satan (v.33) — It was an agonizing cry, for Jesus recognized a repetition of the temptation of Satan when the latter said to Him, after he had shown Him the great Roman empire, “These things, all of them, I will give to you, if having fallen down, you will worship me” (Matthew 4:9). This is the order of the words in the Greek text. Notice the bargaining power of the Devil. It was a temptation to go around the Cross and receive the rulership of the world empire from the hands of Satan, the price, the worship of him. Here was Satan again, using the foremost of the disciples, to tempt our Lord to go around the Cross. It is the opinion of the present writer that our Lord did not call Peter, Satan, but that, recognizing the source, He spoke directly to the tempter, including Peter in the rebuke. Since Satan is incorrigible, he could not be brought to repentance, and epitimao [the word for an ineffective rebuke] is most fitting here. Or Lord, in His utterance, brands Peter’s words as Satanic. — Wuest, pages 169-170.

mindful (v.33) = to be of one’s party to side with him, to direct one’s mind to a thing, to seek or strive for. Paul used the word in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in  you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”