Peter – rock
Matthew 16:18 - http://bible.cc/matthew/16-18.htm
Jesus said that Peter was *petros*(masculine) and that on this *petra*(feminine) He would build His church.
Greek: 4074 Pétros (a masculine noun) – properly, a stone (pebble), such as a small rock found along a pathway. 4074 /Pétros (”small stone”) then stands in contrast to 4073 /pétra (”cliff, boulder,” Abbott-Smith).
“4074 (Pétros) is an isolated rock and 4073 (pétra) is a cliff” (TDNT, 3, 100). “4074 (Pétros) always means a stone . . . such as a man may throw, . . . versus 4073 (pétra), a projecting rock, cliff” (S. Zodhiates, Dict).
4073 pétra (a feminine noun) – “a mass of connected rock,” which is distinct from 4074 (Pétros) which is “a detached stone or boulder” (A-S). 4073 (pétra) is a “solid or native rock, rising up through the earth” (Souter) – a huge mass of rock (a boulder), such as a projecting cliff.
4073 (petra) is “a projecting rock, cliff (feminine noun) . . . 4074 (petros, the masculine form) however is a stone . . . such as a man might throw” (S. Zodhiates, Dict).
It’s also a strange way to word the sentence that He would call Peter a rock and say that on this I will build my church instead of *on you* as would be grammatically correct in talking to a person.
There is no support from the original Greek that Peter was to be the rock on which Jesus said he would build His church. The nouns are not the same, one being masculine and the other being feminine. They denote different objects.
Also, here, Paul identifies who petra is, and that is Christ. This link takes you to the Greek.
http://biblehub.com/text/1_corinthians/10-4.htm
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
http://biblehub.com/text/romans/9-33.htm
Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock (petra) of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
http://biblehub.com/text/1_peter/2-8.htm
1 Peter 2:1-8 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling, and a rock (petra) of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
All occurrences of *petra* in the Greek.
I have never understood how a reasonably educated human being could look at the full context of Matthew 16, along with the rest of the Bible, and conclude that God is going to build anything, much less an Eternal Church, on Peter. You have to really butcher the text to drag that out, breaking all sorts of grammatical rules. And just a couple of verses later, Peter, “the rock”, gets rebuked by Jesus for channeling the enemy’s plans to stop Jesus from his mission!
Peter was an essential part of the spread of the Gospel, but he is not and will never be - the Son of God, the Lamb, the Last Adam, the Word, our Savior, the Alpha & Omega, Head of the Body of Christ, or even the Rock.
One of the keys to unlocking the verse is the emphatic “this”. Its almost like Jesus is pointing to himself as in:
Destroy THIS temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19)
THIS is that bread which came down from heaven. (John 6:58)
Jesus is not talking about the temple, manna, or even Peter, Jesus is referring to himself, or more precisely in this case, Peter’s confession of Jesus. Note that the religious misunderstood Jesus in the other two cases.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. — Psalm 119:30 always gives me hope for the confused and lost, since even the simple can understand God’s Word when they open their eyes and ears.
Thanks for continuing to type the Truth. Peter’s own testimony in his letter should put this idea to bed. And I would add his Holy Spirit inspired message in Acts 4:8-12. Both should trigger some serious spiritual reflection. God’s Word does not contradict itself when rightly divided.
In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. - 2 Corinthians 13:1