Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal;
Peter speaks at a low point. The crowd Jesus fed has thinned. Many followers have walked away. Jesus turns to the twelve — the disciples closest to Him — and asks if they will go too. His answer is not an argument but a question thrown back — and it settles where his heart is.
The same words emptied the room and held the few who stayed. One writer traces both results to the Lord's warnings, and to the will of those who walked out:
So the Lord's warnings hasten the departure of unbelievers. At the same time they bind the faithful more closely to Himself, and bring out their sense of what He is to their souls. The cause lay in their own will, which gave Satan power… The freer they are, the more they are bound. He alone is worthy.
Peter's question has a precise shape. He does not ask about a destination:
Peter did not say, Lord, where shall we go, but "Lord, to whom shall we go?" The Lord Himself, in all His attractiveness, filled Peter's vision. His words, words of eternal life, held his heart. Others might value the loaves and fishes, but Simon Peter prized the words of eternal life, infinite in spiritual value. Peter was learning in the company of his Lord that His words were the expression of Himself.
Peter's question came from more than loyalty. One writer traces it to conscience:
You get this desire of conscience here in Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" When the sifting comes, nothing else could replace Christ. There is nothing else that can. They knew that if they had not Christ there was nothing left. The heart and the conscience want Him, and that is eternal life. I might have every thought right as to truth without this. There is no true work where this is not done in the conscience. The heart is drawn to Jesus because the soul sees who He is.
Peter does not say Jesus has a message. He says Jesus has words. That plural carries weight for how Scripture itself came to us:
All writings are made up of words, and if these writings are inspired, the words are inspired. Many call this "verbal inspiration." Other passages also stress the importance of "words." Peter said, "To whom shall we go? You have the words (Greek: rhemata) of eternal life," John 6:68 — and we find those words in the Gospels.
Walking away from Jesus did not leave those disciples with nothing. It left them with everything except the one thing:
The Lord's teaching has exposed the unbelief of the flesh. It has also confirmed the faith of true believers. If such leave Him they might still keep an outward religion, present ease and honour in this world. But for ever they would leave behind life — eternal life — and all the heavenly and eternal blessing to which eternal life must lead.
Peter had no better grasp of the hard saying than the people who left. He stayed on a different basis:
It is not that Peter understood the Lord's position much better than those who withdrew. Much in His teaching puzzled him and disappointed his own expectations. But he at least recognised the good Shepherd's voice, and so clung to Him through all. He felt that there was no other in the universe of God to whom his heart could rightly turn.
One writer pairs what Christ has with what Christ is, and finds in the two everything a soul needs:
He saw in some measure what He was and what He had. What He is forms the immovable resting-place of our souls as we rest in Him and His work. What He has becomes the everlasting supply to our souls in their many needs. Get into your hearts those blessed words, "You have," and "You are." Then all the need of your soul will find its full answer in Christ. He loves to give what He is and what He has to the longing heart.
- Whom, tested. The Lord's hardest words hastened the unbelievers out. The same words bound the real disciples closer to Him.
- Whom, not where. Peter asks about a Person, not a destination — the Lord Himself, not the loaves and fishes, filled his vision.
- Whom, in conscience. Peter's certainty came from conscience. Nothing else could replace Christ. A person can hold every right thought about truth and still lack this.
- Whom, in His words. Peter clung to words, not to a vague message. If the writings are inspired, the words themselves are inspired.
- Whom, at cost. Those who left kept their outward religion, ease and honour. They lost eternal life and everything it leads to.
and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God.
A crowd of followers has just walked away from Jesus, and He asks the twelve — His closest disciples — if they want to leave too. Peter answers for them all, naming two things: what Christ has, and what Christ is.
One writer names the difference between the two kinds of followers this moment exposed.
It is one thing to claim to be a disciple of Christ. It is quite another to take a firm stand in public for His name, fully identified with a rejected Lord. It is one thing for people to flock to Christ for the benefits He gives. It is quite another to hold on to Him in the face of the world's scorn and contempt. Preaching the cross very quickly thins the ranks of those who only profess.
Older English Bibles read "the Christ, the Son of the living God" here. The earliest manuscripts give another title, and one writer asks where Peter may have found it.
Peter's reply was ready at once... The words of Christ had sunk deep into his soul. He had felt their power... And he was sure of the truth about Christ's person. He was the Holy One of God. Psalm 16:10 had spoken of God's Holy One. Was Peter thinking of that, when calling Him here, not "the Christ, the Son of the living God," but, as the best manuscripts read, "the Holy One of God"?
A demon had used this same title of Jesus. One writer shows why it means something completely different on Peter's lips.
Peter confesses Christ in the very same terms the demon used, but with the demon it was awful alarm... If we knew our Lord Jesus only as the gracious One, something would still be missing for our souls. He is the One who never allowed evil of any kind — He always refused it. And that is my comfort: the One who loves me best is the One who sees me through and through... But Peter shows the simplicity and growth of faith. He does not tremble. He does not grow weak. He does not go along with those who had left. Instead he confesses that Jesus is the Holy One of God at the very moment he says, "We have believed, and have come to know." There was no flinching and no hiding. There was no danger that this Holy One would find something in them that would make Him cast them out of His presence.
The tense of Peter's verbs carries weight.
Note the force of the perfect tense: "We have been believing." They had formed the habit in their hearts of thinking this of Him. For the disciples it was not a matter of mere opinion, and opinion has no lasting certainty... A necessary part of it is knowledge of the truth. The Apostle Paul says some are always learning but never reach it (2 Tim. 3:7).
Peter did not stay because he had grasped everything Jesus said.
It does not appear at all that Peter had understood what Jesus said. He did not know how to accept the sufferings of his Master... Still, the root was there with Peter. The need to have eternal life had woken up in him. He knew that this life was found only in Jesus, and that Jesus was the One sent by God, come from God. Jesus had the words of eternal life.
Peter says two things about Christ, and each one meets a different need.
He saw in some measure what He was and what He had. What He is forms the immovable resting-place of our souls as we rest in Him and His work. What He has becomes the everlasting supply to our souls in their many needs. Get into your hearts those blessed words, "You have," and "You are," and all the need of your soul will find its full answer in Christ.
Peter said "we." The Lord's reply showed that the word covered more than Peter knew.
So the Lord's warnings speed up the departure of unbelievers. At the same time they bind the faithful more closely to Himself, and bring out their sense of what He is to their souls... Yet the Lord does not hesitate to tell the twelve that one of them would betray Him — even while one confessed for all that He was the Holy One of God.
- Sifting. The same hard words that emptied the crowd bound the real disciples closer to Christ.
- Holding. Peter stayed without understanding it all. His need for eternal life was awake, and only Jesus met it.
- Believing. The perfect tense marks a settled habit of heart, not an opinion — and knowledge of the truth belongs to it.
- Holiness. A demon used this title in alarm. Peter uses it with none. The One who sees us through and through is the One who loves us best.
- Resting. "You have" supplies every need. "You are" is where the soul rests. Yet one confession spoken for all could not make every one of the twelve real.