The Ultimate Question

Peter offers the great confession that Jesus is the Christ. This passage functions as the pinnacle of the Gospel up to this point. Jesus instructs the disciples to tell no one about this revelation because they still have much to learn about the nature of Christ's true role as God's Messiah. Jesus informs them for the first time that He is not only Messiah, but a suffering Messiah Who is to fulfill the Old Testament promise of death and resurrection at the hands of His own people. This is a revelation that would have utterly shocked them. This is a wonderful passage showing the foundation upon which Christ would build His Church -- the confession of Jesus as God's Messiah.