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Jesus didn’t speak Greek, but Aramaic.

This statement is false, and the Gospels of the New Testament say so, as does Paul in his epistles (1 Cor. 11:24,25) and in his account to Like (Acts 9:4-6,11-12).

John 1:42 in the AV English translation is as follows (Jesus exact words in red, John's in black):

"And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, 'Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas', which is by interpretation, 'A stone'."

Likewise, in Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation, it is:

et adduxit eum ad Iesum intuitus autem eum Iesus dixit tu es Simon filius Iohanna tu vocaberis Cephas quod interpretatur Petrus

But in the Textus Receptus, not itself a translation, it is:

και ηγαγεν αυτον προς τον ιησουν εμβλεψας δε αυτω ο ιησους ειπεν συ ει σιμων ο υιος ιωνα συ κληθηση κηφας ο ερμηνευεται πετρος.

In the Greek, speaking the common language to his disciples, Jesus spoke both Koine and Chaldean in this literal exact quote of what He said. Nevertheless, the diminutive name he gave Simon is masculine in whatever language you want it. In Aramaic, it is:

Strong's Number H3710
כּף
kêph
Brown, Driver, Briggs' DB Definition:
כּ1) rock, hollow of a rock
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H3721

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Strong's Number G2786
Κηφᾶς

Kēphas
kay-fas'
Strong's Definition:
Of Chaldee origin (compare [H3710]); the Rock; Cephas
(that is, Kepha), surname of Peter: - Cephas.

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Strong's NumberG2786
Κηφᾶς
Kēphas
Thayer Definition:
Cephas = "stone"
1) another name for the apostle Peter
Part of Speech: noun proper masculine

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So why does the Greek render the first Kepha as Petros and the second as petra, instead of using the same word for both?

Your suggestion is also impudent, for you seek to change both the original Scripture and its import by grammatically changing the meaning of what Jesus said to Simon Bar Jonah in month Sivan of A. D. 32, when He had given him the sobriquet Kephas/Petros at Bethabara, about two and a half years earlier.

Since then, He and the companions had been calling him "Peter" or "Cephas" all along. Your Matthew 16:18 passage described the interchange with Jesus and His disciples as they were standing on the huge rock escarpment at Caesarea. The passage is translated in "The Gospels: A Precise Translation" by Fred Wittman:

15 He says to them,
But yourselves, Whom are you& saying that I am?
16 Then Simon Peter answered and said,
You yourself are continuously The Christ, The Son of The Absolutely Living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said to him,
You$ are continuously a blessed one, Simon Bar Jonah; because flesh and blood
did not reveal this to you, but My Father, namely The One In The Heavens.
18 Now I myself also say to you$,
"You$ yourself are Peter and upon this rock ledge I will build my church. And Hell's gates shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give to you$ the keys to the Kingdom of the Heavens. And what thing ever you$ bind upon the Earth shall be a bound thing in The Heavens. And what thing ever you$ loose upon the Earth shall be a loosed thing in The Heavens."

Note: $ = singular & = plural

========

Because petra is of the feminine gender, and you wouldn’t give a feminine name to a man; hence, the masculine gender of the term petra was used for Peter’s name.

No, my FRiend. Would Jesus be so imprecise as to fool us? NO! Koine is a very precise language, much more so than English, and he used it exactly so that only a determined miscreant would misinterpret it to sustain his own non-Biblical narrative.

Now, what is going on here is that Jesus is establishing for all time, first with His students, a grasp of His eternal role; that is, what His relationship to them is, and what his relationship in The Godhead is. That is what they are to learn, to believe, to teach, and to preach about Him and His rock-like stability, going forward.

"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. 10:4 AV).

The inspired words put into Simon's heart and mouth by God are:

"You yourself are continuously The Christ, The Son of The Absolutely Living God."

That is the immovable, unchangeable, foundational proclamation that is to be the entire trust of His organization that He is in the process of creating. This deliberately came from Above. It is not a human imagination by which Jesus the Messiah's status is announced, but it is rather a spiritual message honoring Him from another man's lips. It is this word of acknowledgement and praise by which Jesus' reputation must be proclaimed. It is necessarily a Scripturally authorized and required commendation:

"Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips" (Prov. 27:2AV).

But of far greater import, it is the confession of an unreservedly trusting heart that marks the salvation of a soul from hellfire:

"And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37 AV).

The durability of Peter's statement of a spiritual truth is compared by Jesus to the miles-long rock outcropping upon which they are standing, which in the Koine Greek is the feminine noun, πετρα, petra in the nominative singular feminine. It is NOT πετροσ, petros, which no Koine-literate reader or hearer would ever be confused by what Jesus is saying.

But, just in case, He takes the trouble to say in the presence of everyone, "You, Simon Bar Jonah, are obdurate, hard to teach, strong, non-compliant, domineering, hasty, and (at times) perfidious. That is why I've gotten everyone to call you "Rocky" because of the conflict in characteristics. That's not the view I want the public to think of My Church. It has to be stable and regal, not inscrutable and unreliable.

Make no mistake: what you said is genuine, solid truth, but it didn't just occur to you out of your creativity; nor much less, out of obsequiousness. It was given to you by My Father, and you're the perfect one to say it, because it is indeed unlikely, far from the captain-of-the-ship figure you would like to project on the rest of my disciples, that you would be the one to say it.

So what I'm going to say is in a little figurative-literal metaphor, like the story I explained to y'all back last year in Adar when we were up on the mountain, about a man who ought to build his house on a stratum of geological granite so the it will survive any storm. That was a parable, too, and so is this. I'm building My Church on Myself as The Rock and on My everlasting never-failing reputation as the Only Begotten Son of God Whose Promises are true and eternal, reliable to the death and beyond, to seek and save the lost sheep of Israel.

Now, don't y'all forget that. I'm going to give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, the earthly charge of screening applicants to the visible church on earth to everyone of my spiritual disciples--and even to you, "Peter", even to you, as slow a disciple as you are.

But remember, anything you want to make a rule about, just make sure that it is a rule that has already been approved and put in place in The Heavens, OK?"

Have you got this, US? You wanted Jesus to say,

"Thou art Kepha, and upon this Kepha I will build my Church",

didn't you? To make the Scripture fit your impertinent, wrong narrative, eh?

Well, I'm not buying it, though you might get some people logically and spiritually disadvantaged. If I find one of your "converts," I'll be helping him/her see reality and able to distinguish between metaphors and concrete (oops!) unyielding rock-solid reality.

And it would have been Kephas (masculine), not Kepha.

wOW!

Correction:

"It is NOT ~~πετροσ~~ πετρος, petros, . . ."

Jesus didn’t speak Greek, but Aramaic.

I just betcha that He could speak them ALL if He wanted.

I go as far to say He could speak TONGUES if He wanted!!

1 Corinthians 14:2 NIV

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.

Nevertheless, the diminutive name he gave Simon is masculine in whatever language you want it.

He GAVE Simon??

Is Peter the 'rock'?

NIV Matthew 4:18-19
18. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

NIV Matthew 8:14
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.

NIV Matthew 10:1-2
1. He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

NIV Matthew 14:28-31
28. "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29. "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
30. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

NIV Matthew 15:13-16
13. He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
14. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
15. Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16. "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.

As you can see, Simon was already known as 'Peter'

BEFORE the following verses came along.....

NIV Matthew 16:13-18
13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17. Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
18. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

19. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

NIV 1 Corinthians 10:4
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

NIV Luke 6:48
He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

NIV Romans 9:33
As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

NIV 1 Peter 2:4-8
4. As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5. you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
7. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, "
8. and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.

But, since there WAS no NT at the time Christ spoke to Peter, just what DID Peter and the rest of the Disciples know about ROCKS???

NIV Genesis 49:24-25
24. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25. because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.

NIV Numbers 20:8
"Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."

NIV Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

NIV Deuteronomy 32:15
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior.

NIV Deuteronomy 32:18
You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

NIV Deuteronomy 32:30-31
30. How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
31. For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.

NIV 1 Samuel 2:2
"There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

NIV 2 Samuel 22:2-3
2. He said: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
3. my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior-- from violent men you save me.

NIV 2 Samuel 22:32
For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

NIV 2 Samuel 22:47
"The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!

NIV 2 Samuel 23:3-4
3. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: `When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God,
4. he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.'

NIV Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

NIV Psalms 18:31
For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

NIV Psalms 18:46
The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!

NIV Psalms 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

NIV Psalms 28:1

To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.

NIV Psalms 31:2-3
2. Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
3. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

NIV Psalms 42:9
I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"

NIV Psalms 62:2
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

NIV Psalms 62:6
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

NIV Psalms 62:7
My salvation and my honor depend on God ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

NIV Psalms 71:3
Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

NIV Psalms 78:35
They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

NIV Psalms 89:26
He will call out to me, `You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.'

NIV Psalms 92:14-15
14. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
15. proclaiming, "The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."

NIV Psalms 95:1
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

NIV Psalms 144:1
Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

NIV Isaiah 17:10
You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.

NIV Isaiah 26:4
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

NIV Isaiah 30:29
And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

NIV Isaiah 44:8
Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."

NIV Habakkuk 1:12
O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.

.....No other rock.............

And now you know the Biblical position!