Replies

[ The key given St. Peter is given not him personally but to the future Church that Christ intended to build, and that Church, He said, shall not fail. So here you go, words of Christ against your spin. ]

Having so much faith in Peter overlooks that his name is Simon Barjona.. Jesus called him a Rock not some English personal name.. And then miss what calling him a rock meant.. while they both were standing by a structure made of rock upon rock.. with a cornerstone that was also a rock..

It seems many have missed this metaphor..
Jesus must be saying to himself you buy them books and they eat the pages..
Some of them.. Who then is the cornerstone Jesus or Peter?..

miss what calling him a rock meant.

You mean, the rock is really the faith of Peter, not Peter as a person. This is a possible, even patristic interpretation of the episode. However, let us not look at the renaming alone. St. Peter is also given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and the power to bind and loose, later given the rest of the Apostles. His weaknesses Christ saw, right in the keys episode and another time at the Last Supper. But after Peter's betrayal the charge to feed the sheep is repeated three times; at the Last Supper Christ prays for Peter personally and asks him to convert his brethren. Which he does, as we read in Acts. Taken together, these scriptures do not allow any trivilaization of the renaming episode, and instead place it on the same level as the other epochal renamings in the Old Testament, of Abram and of Jacob.

God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is the Rock. Peter and Paul were both Jews - they would not have missed that point.

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he. – Deu 32:1-4

For who [is] God, save the LORD? and who [is] a rock, save our God? – 2 Sam 22:32

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: - Matt 7:4

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. – 1 Cor 10:1-4

Unto you therefore which believe [he is] precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, [even to them] which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. – 1 Peter 2:7-8

Keeping that in mind, the following passage refers to God’s revelation (the work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal) - first given to Peter, as the Rock upon which Christ will build His church (emphasis mine):

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matt 16:16-18

And then miss what calling him a rock meant.. while they both were standing by a structure made of rock upon rock..

FWIW, from the Roman Catholic catechism:

424 Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church.

I think the RCC is able to interpret things so uniquely because they fill a human need. It is our nature to suspect a free gift. We look for the "secret handshake", or the deed we must do, or the unstated price that must be paid. We just can't believe a free gift is free, so when GOD gives us a free gift of GRACE and all we have to do is have FAITH in JESUS we look for the the hidden "kicker".