Peter is the spokesman now: "Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God" (Su ei ho Christos ho huios tou theou tou
z(936e)tos). It was a noble confession, but not a new claim by
Jesus. Peter had made it before ( Joh 6:69 ) when the multitude
deserted Jesus in Capernaum. Since the early ministry (John 4)
Jesus had avoided the word Messiah because of its political
meaning to the people. But now Peter plainly calls Jesus the
Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the God the living one
(note the four Greek articles). This great confession of Peter
means that he and the other disciples believe in Jesus as the
Messiah and are still true to him in spite of the defection of
the Galilean populace (John 6).