"Of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved." Many people will find this an extraordinary claim and others will find it arrogant. In the historical circumstances, however, for Peter it was neither extraordinary nor arrogant. His experience of Jesus, especially in the Resurrection, had led him to this affirmation. Within the tradition of his Jewish faith and culture, he was affirming that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Many people do not know Jesus or accept him so that, in fact, they seek salvation of some kind apart from Jesus, in many different religions. Many others, whether they profess any religion or not, seek some form of salvation in one of the many "-isms" which promise experiences of blessedness or solutions to the world's problems: hedonism, humanism, capitalism, communism, consumerism, and so on. Behind all these, there lies the desire of the human heart for happiness, especially happiness in this world. Jesus, however, took a different path, the path of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit."