‘Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God”.'
Peter's reply was forthright, typical of the man. ‘To whom shall we go?' As a consequence of the teaching of Jesus they had recognised the inadequacy of other teachers and their message. Where else then could they turn? They accepted that eternal life could only be received through what He was and what He was teaching them.
While they did not yet fully understand everything, the faith of eleven of the twelve was real and was growing. They had recognised that Jesus was unique in His relationship with the Father, was the promised One (no matter what the title) and was able to offer them eternal life. That was enough for them.
‘The Holy One of God.' The title here is ‘The Holy One of God' in the most ancient manuscripts and is almost certainly correct. Later additions and changes were made in order to harmonise with the other Gospels. But ‘the Holy One of God' says all that needs to be said. The idea was Messianic. In Psalms 16 God ‘Holy One' is mentioned and that Psalm was seen by the Jews as connected with the Messiah (compare Acts 2:22), And this was a different incident from any mentioned in the other Gospels. Peter's reply emphasises that they have recognised the uniqueness of Jesus. Jesus no doubt challenged this belief a number of times, and there is no reason to suppose that this is the same incident as that at Caesarea Philippi.