Peter’s Other Confession
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
John 6:68, 69
Peter’s confession in Matthew 16 is familiar, but this other confession is equally important. Jesus had preached His crowd away, down to the irreducible minimum, the twelve disciples. He asked them, “Will ye also go away?”
Peter’s answer moves through three stages. It is cumulative and rises from a good reason for believing on Christ through a better reason to the climax of conviction. It is first a matter of alternatives: “To whom shall we go?” It is Christ-or else. “What other road could we take?” If Jesus does not have the answer, who does?
Then his words: “Never man spake like this man.” He has words of eternal life. They sprout, they germinate, they grow. God speaks when Christ speaks, for Christ is God.
And the glorious climax: “We have come to believe and still believe, we have come to know and still know, that you are the Holy One of God.” There is no other way like His. There are no other words like His. There is no other One like Him.