Mark 8.27-30:
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (28) And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” (29) And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” (30) And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. (ESV)
The gospel accounts do not particularly show the disciples going around and doing great things. Jesus sent them on a preaching tour and they experienced success, but for the most part they were not highly successful “doers” or “workers” during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. I emphasize this because to have a right relationship with Jesus and to be born again, it doesn’t come down to good works and personal righteousness. It comes down to faith in Jesus Christ. Believing that he is who he says he is. He affirmed that he is the Christ, the Son of God. And so the question is, “do we believe it?”
At the point in time of the verses above, Jesus had not overtly revealed to the crowds that he is the Christ. And so there were various speculations and theories as to who Jesus really is. And as Jesus posed this question to his disciples, Peter, demonstrating that he is the real leader among the disciples, answers the question immediately. Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Christ. Why did he confess this? Because he truly believed it. Peter’s confession was a demonstration of his faith. Not brought about by good works, but by believing in Jesus, the Christ.
If we were to keep on reading we would see that Peter didn’t understand all things. In verse 33 Jesus rebuked Peter because Peter would have interfered with God’s plan of redemption, if he could have. But this shows that we do not have to possess complete knowledge and understanding of all things pertaining to Jesus to be rightly related to him. But we do have to “believe”, or spoken another way, “have faith” in Jesus as the Christ.