When Jesus posed this question to Peter, the disciple replied:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 16:16

That response earned Peter an A+.

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 16:17

“Who do you say that I am?”

That question implicitly sits before every one of us, Christians and non-Christians alike. I pray that your answer is worthy of a similar grade.

Peter’s reply to the Lord is the Christian profession of faith. Ultimately, this is the only question – and the only answer – that matter.

As we see in the Lord’s appraisal of Peter’s response, this truth was not revealed by man, but by God. Jesus confirms that this revelation is a gift – something substantiated throughout the New Testament, such as in Ephesians 2:8:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

But it is also a gift that we must choose to accept. How? By getting an A+ on the one-question pop quiz. By being obedient to the Lord’s teaching that we humble ourselves, love others and share our faith.

For as His chosen, we are given the free will to make choices of our own. Our faith manifests in the choices we make; in our works. Though Romans 3:28 affirms that “a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law,” James 2:17 cautions “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

There are good works, bad works and dead works (see The Significance of ‘Works’ and ‘Faith’ in Christianity). Those works reflect the choices we make. Unfortunately, not one of us makes good choices 100% of the time.

We all stumble. Peter, in fact, pretty much stumbled his way through the Gospels. Just five verses after getting it absolutely right, Peter is rebuked by Jesus, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23) – this following the disciple’s failure to comprehend the Lord’s declaration that He must suffer and die.

Most are familiar with Peter’s three-time denial of Jesus prior to His crucifixion. Many also have read about Peter’s wavering faith as he stepped out of the boat to join Jesus for a stroll on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 14:30), his foot-in-mouth episode on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:4), and his refusal to allow Jesus to wash his feet (John 13:8). Peter was far from perfect. He was, like us, human, often speaking before thinking. Yet it was Peter who was chosen by Jesus as the de facto leader of the disciples, and to tend and “feed My sheep” (John 21:17).

Jesus loves the imperfect, the humble, the meek. He died on the cross so that we, the imperfect, could live in His presence for all eternity. All we have to do is get that one question right.