And Simon Peter answered and said
Either of his own accord, and for himself, being a warm, zealous,
and forward man; one that dearly loved Christ, truly believed in
him, and was ready to make a confession of him; or, as the mouth
of the rest, in their name, and with their consent; or, at least,
as full well knowing the sentiments of their minds. Thou art
Christ, the Son of the living God: a short, but a very full
confession of faith, containing the following articles: as that
there is a God, that there is but one God; that he is the living
God, has life in himself, is the fountain of life to others, and
by this is distinguishable from the idols of the Gentiles: that
Jesus is the Christ, the Christ of God, the true Messiah, that
was promised by God, prophesied of by all the prophets, from the
beginning of the world, and expected by the people of God: a
character that includes all his offices, of prophet, priest, and
king, to which he is anointed by God; and that this Messiah was
not a mere man, but a divine person, the Son of God; not by
creation, as angels and men are, nor by adoption, as saints, nor
by office, as magistrates, but by nature, being his own Son, his
proper Son, the only begotten of the Father, of the same nature
with him, being one with him, and equal to him. This confession,
as it is uniform, and all of a piece, and consistent with itself,
and is what all the disciples of Christ agreed in, so it greatly
exceeds the most that can be made of the different sentiments of
the people put together. They took him, one and all, to be but a
mere man; their most exalted thoughts of him rose no higher: but
in this he is acknowledged to be the Son of God, a phrase
expressive of his divine nature, and distinct personality: they
thought him to be a dead man brought to life; but here he is
called the Son of the living God, as having the same life in him
the Father has: they indeed judged him to be a prophet, but not
that prophet that was to come, superior to all prophets; but here
he is owned to be the Christ, which not only takes in his
prophetic office in a higher sense than they understood it, but
all his other offices, and declares him to be the promised
Messiah; which they who thought, and spoke the most honourably of
him, could not allow of.