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He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
Luke 9:20 · New King James Version
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.
  • BSB “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “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 16:15–17He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
  • John 7:41Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee?
  • John 4:42They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
  • John 6:68–69Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
  • John 4:29“Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
  • John 1:49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
  • John 20:31but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
  • Acts 9:22But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ.
  • Mark 8:29He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
  • John 1:41He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ ).
  • Acts 17:3explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
  • John 11:27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
  • Mark 14:61But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
  • 1 Jn 5:1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.
  • Matt 5:47If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
  • Acts 8:36As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
  • Matt 22:42saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.”
  • Luke 22:67“If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you won’t believe,
  • Matt 26:63But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Luke videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Luke 9:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LukeMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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.