Luke 9:18

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

18 ¹Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

Luke 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 9:18

And it came to pass, as he was alone praying
To his God and Father, for himself as man, and mediator; for the success of his Gospel, and the increase of his interest; and for his disciples, that they might have a clearer revelation of him; and which they had, as appears in their after confession of him by Peter, as the mouth of them all. The place where he now retired for private devotion, was somewhere in the coasts of Caesarea Philippi; for he was now gone from the desert of Bethsaida, as appears from ( Matthew 16:13 ) and when he is said to be alone, the meaning is, that he was retired from the multitude, but not from his disciples; for it follows,

his disciples were with him,
in this solitary place:

and he asked them,
being with them alone;

saying, Whom say the people that I am?
what are the sentiments of the common people, or of the people in general concerning me? The Alexandrian copy, and the Arabic version read, "men", as in ( Matthew 16:13 ) . (See Gill on Matthew 16:13).

Luke 9:18 In-Context

16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

19 And they answered, "John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen."

20 Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 18-20, see Matthew 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-29