Luke 9:20

Speaking for the other disciples Peter answered that Jesus was the Messiah whom God had sent (Psalms 2:2; Daniel 9:26; cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-16). In saying this Peter rejected the notion that Jesus was just a prophet, even one of the greatest prophets. This is how Moslems view Jesus today. Rather he believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.

It is not difficult to know just what Peter’s concept of the Messiah was when he made this confession of faith. When Peter’s brother first invited him to come and see Jesus, Andrew referred to Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:41). However, most of the Jews of Peter’s day believed that the Messiah would be a descendant of David who would overthrow the Romans and establish the kingdom of God on earth. They did not view Him as deity. Matthew recorded Peter’s full confession including, "the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). This is a clear statement of Jesus’ deity. Why did Luke not include that phrase since it would have clarified what Peter meant? Probably he did not see that as necessary since the title "Christ" had become synonymous with a divine Messiah among Gentiles to whom Luke (and Mark) wrote (cf. 1 John 5:1). Thus Luke appears to have assumed that his readers would understand Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah as a confession of His deity.