Lukas 9:20-21

9:20 Then ¹  he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter ²  answered, ³  “The Christ ⁴  of God.” 9:21 But he forcefully commanded ⁵  them not to tell this to anyone, ⁶ 

[9:20]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[9:20]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:20]  ³ tn Grk “Peter answering, said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Peter answered.”

[9:20]  ⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[9:20]  sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.

[9:21]  ⁵ tn The combination of the participle and verb ἐπιτιμήσας and παρήγγειλεν (epitimhsa" and parhngeilen, “commanding, he ordered”) is a hendiadys that makes the instruction emphatic.

[9:21]  ⁶ sn No explanation for the command not to tell this to anyone is given, but the central section of Luke, chapters 9-19, appears to reveal a reason. The disciples needed to understand who the Messiah really was and exactly what he would do before they were ready to proclaim Jesus as such. But they and the people had an expectation that needed some instruction to be correct.