The received rebuke is ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ: “Go behind me, Satan.” The critical text omits “behind me” and reads simply, “Go, Satan.” Both dismiss the tempter. The received form gives the direction of his place.
“Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” — Matthew 4:10
At Matthew 16:23 Jesus says to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Critics see the wilderness form as assimilation to that later rebuke. The early support for the shorter command, including Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, gives the argument weight.
But Matthew has reason to link the scenes. In the wilderness Satan offers a crown without the cross. At Caesarea Philippi Peter resists the cross after confessing the King. Jesus answers the temptation with the same command: behind me. The disciple must follow; the adversary must not lead.
Justin Martyr knew the longer wilderness rebuke early, and the wider Greek transmission carries it. A phrase that appears in both scenes could be copied into one; it could also be removed from one by a scribe who suspected repetition.
“Behind me” is not a charm. Christ defeats temptation by faithful obedience to the written Word. The phrase locates Satan’s proposal: it belongs behind the Son’s path, rejected and passed.
The rebuke also prepares the call of disciples later in the chapter. Jesus says, “Follow me.” Peter will hear both summons and correction. The rightful place behind Christ is discipleship; Satan’s attempt to direct Christ receives expulsion.
The critical text still speaks with force, and no one should claim it welcomes Satan. The question is the full force Matthew recorded. The longer reading is old, broad, thematically joined to the Gospel, and easy to shorten once its parallel raised suspicion.
Christ does not bargain after the third temptation. He sends Satan behind him and then names the worship due to God alone. The received command belongs to that finality.
The parallel at chapter 16 also keeps the two speakers distinct. Peter is not transformed into Satan, and Satan is not invited into discipleship. Peter voices an adversarial proposal when he urges a kingdom without the cross, so Christ sends that proposal to the place already assigned in the wilderness. The repeated phrase binds temptations together while the contexts govern its force.
The omission is particularly easy at the level of sense. “Go, Satan” is a complete and forceful command. A reader does not pause over missing grammar, and a copyist who knows the later “behind me” may even suspect the words if they appear in his exemplar. A shorter reading can thus survive precisely because it is excellent Greek and sound theology.
The full rebuke also answers the first temptation’s question of sonship. The Son does not prove himself by grasping, spectacle, or compromise. He remains before the Father in worship and obedience. Satan belongs behind that road; Christ will not step behind the tempter’s shortcut.
Sources and further reading
- Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:1–11; 16:21–26.
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, references to the temptation.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 4:10.