“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
- KJV He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.
- NKJV He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
- NASB And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
- NLT Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus asks the disciples directly who they say He is, and Peter confesses, "The Christ of God." This is the pivotal confession of Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.
Overview
Jesus presses past public opinion to demand a personal answer from His followers. Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed of God, marks a turning point in Luke's Gospel. It is the bedrock truth of the faith, that Jesus is the promised Messiah, though the disciples have yet to grasp the kind of Messiah He will be.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Matt 16:15–17“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”
- John 7:41Others declared, “This is the Christ.” But still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee?
- John 4:42They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”
- John 6:68–69Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
- John 4:29“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
- John 1:49“Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
- John 20:31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
- Acts 9:22But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
- Mark 8:29“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
- John 1:41He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).
- Acts 17:3explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.
- John 11:27“Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
- Mark 14:61But Jesus remained silent and made no reply. Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
- 1 Jn 5:1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.
- Matt 5:47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?
- Acts 8:36As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
- Matt 22:42“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” “David’s,” they answered.
- Luke 22:67“If You are the Christ, tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe.
- Matt 26:63But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 9:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.