Was Peter the "Rock"?

Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

Matthew 16:14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it."

The Greek word for Peter is petros, meaning "a pebble." The Greek word for rock is petra, meaning "a massive rock" such as bedrock. Jesus is the Rock, petra. Everyone who receives this revelation from the Father like Peter received it—that Jesus is the Son of God (Lord and Savior)—becomes a part of His Church.

Christ used the word petra when He told the parable of the man building a house upon a rock to illustrate its size.

Matthew 7:24-25 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock (petra). And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock (petra)."

The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is the foundation upon which we build our lives:

1 Cor. 3:11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The apostle Peter also informed up that every believer is a "stone" and that Jesus Christ is the "cornerstone" or foundation.

1 Peter 2:4-6 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed."

Every believer is a stone in Christ’s Church. Peter was not the rock, but just one of many who are a part of this spiritual house of worship.

Since when did I say that we couldn't pray for each other. The Catholic reliance on Mary's "intercession" for them is a totally different ball game.

I pray daily for those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. I am not interceeding for them, I am simply praying for them because of the burden on my heart for them.

My point was that I don't pray to Mary to in turn "step in" for me between me and God or Jesus. I can pray directly to God and Jesus because the Bible specifically says so.

Jesus is specifically spelled out as the one we are to take our prayers to and give the glory to, not Mary or anyone else.

What amazes me is that so many people will read into the Bible what they want it to mean, instead of taking it at face value. Why would God give us his word and then expect us to have to jump through hoops to understand it? The answer is - he doesn't. Read what it says. I understand clarifications of the language, but don't read into what you want it to say.

Simply put - nowhere in the Bible does it say to worship/pray to/ask for favors or grace from Mary. That is a far cry from simply asking others to pray for you.

OK, I'll grant you the Greek. Let's look at it more closely:

Mt 16:18
And so I say to you, you are "Rock", and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

Since the New Testament was written in the Greek language, it is right to begin the consideration of this critical passage in the language in which it was written:

kago de soi lego oti su ei Petros kai
I also And to you say - You are Peter and

epi taute te petra oikodomeso mou ten ekklesian;
on this - rock I will build of me the church;

Two observation must be made on the Greek and the Latin translations of Matthew 16:18. Note in the Greek that the name of Peter is Petros, and the word for rock is petra. In Latin the name of Peter is Petrus and the word for rock is petra. This follows from the demands of the respective languages. Nouns in these languages, unlike English, have gender: some are masculine (e.g., -os or -us ending to words); some are feminine (e.g., -a or -am ending to words). The word for a rock in both languages is, of its nature, feminine; Peter, being a male, could not take a feminine ending to his name. It would be like calling him "Rockette" instead of "Rocky." Quite a difference! Hence it is only the demands of language that the gender of the words is different.
(from Paul Flanagan and Robert Schihl)

You also should continue onto the following verses:

Mt 16:19-20
I will give you (singular) the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Why would Jesus go through this conversation with Peter if he was only telling Peter that he was a little pebble? Why would he give an insignificant little pebble the keys to the kingdom of heaven? It doesn't make sense.

Why also even bother to change Simon's name to Peter? Because Jesus Christ was making a profound statement: You are Rock, and on this Rock I will build my church.

The early church fathers also acknowledged Peter's Primacy ... Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Clement to James, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Cyril of Jerusalum, Jerome, and many, many others ... all before 400 A.D. There was little or no dispute about Mt 16:18 prior to the Protestant Reformation.

Jesus renamed Simon bar-Jonah for a purpose. The literalness of the play on words--a linguistic pun--is made clear. A pun is a pun because of the literalness of the play on words. This was precisely what Jesus was saying. "You are Rocky and on this rock I will build my church."

God bless.

Many people who do not share the Catholic Christian faith life have difficulty with the appearance that in their prayers, Catholics appear to pray to the Saints, to Mary, as one prays to God. This "praying to" appears to them to indicate a worship of the Saint as if giving to the Saint or Mary what is due to God alone.

However, earliest Christianity has always defined prayer as conversation, as in conversation with God. Conversation, as any other act of communication ( e.g., talking, conversation, yelling, etc.), requires a sign of the direction of the communication: one talks to someone, communicates with someone, prays to someone, converses with someone, yells at someone, etc. Hence, praying to God, a Saint, the Virgin Mary indicates simply the direction of prayer communication. It is more a matter of grammar and understanding communication than acknowledging the worship of the receiver.

From the earliest of Church Councils the distinction was made between worship and honor. Catholics believe that worship is due to God alone. Catholics honor those saints who have gone before us as a sign of faith and victory in living the Christian life. So no, we do not pray TO saints or Mary, but WITH the saints in heaven and WITH Mary, the Mother of God. We also pray directly TO God, our Father.

As I said in an earlier post, Protestant Christians have a misunderstanding about Catholic Christians. One Catholic writer explained that Catholics believe that there is a hierarchy, or order, of Christian truths. I would like to take the liberty of quoting from the book Catholic and Christian because it helps non-Catholic Christians understand a bit better about Catholic beliefs.

Practically speaking, this (the hierarchy of truths) means that the beliefs that are most important to Catholics are truths such as the divinity of Jesus, the necessity of his death on the cross for our salvation, the reality and power of the Holy Spirit, and so on. Here Catholics find common ground of understanding and cooperation with other Christians, because Catholics and most other Christians usually agree on the most central and basic doctrines of Christianity. However, Catholics believe that there are othe Christian truths, such as those concerning Mary, the saints, purgatory, and so on, that are indeed true, but not central points of the Gospel message. It is important for both Catholics and other Christians to recognize this distinction. Sometimes Catholics are guilty of viewing and talking about Mary, the saints, purgatory, and similar beliefs as if they were the most important Christian truths. This often produces an unnecessary obstacle to unity with other Christians. ... On the other hand, sometimes other Christians focus unduly on Catholic beliefs about Mary, the sints, purgatory, indulgences, and the like (often rejecting them in a one-sided way, even when they have some basis in the Bible) in order to portray Catholics as "un-Christian", or to accuse the Catholic church of distorting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What I think this means is that Catholics and other Christians agree on the main tenets of Christianity. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God; that Jesus died for our sins and our salvation; that he rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of our Father; and that he will come again in Glory to judge the living and the dead. Catholics and other Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, that God is One in Three (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). I think that this is a good basis for discussion, provided that we debate as brothers and sisters, and not as enemies.

God bless.

Funny that a man speaking Herbrew or Aramaic would suddenly throw in a Greek word. As Arsenio would say, "Hmmmmmmmmmm!!!???"

Funny how Arsenio is a Greek word? Hmmmmm??

By the way Campion, Jesus did spend his young life in Egypt and in Egypt of that time if you wanted to make a living as a carpenter you spoke Greek. Even the Jews of Alexandria no longer could speak Hebrew, they had become so assimilated. The miracle of the Septuagent translations from Hebrew to Greek is recalled. In addition Jesus lived near Greek settlements in Judea and many Synogogues of this time had Greek and Hebrew inscriptions.

Jesus very certainly spoke enough Greek to say petros (as Peter is called in Greek). Even the Orthodox Greek Christian Church (which is the nearest to the Apostolic tradition) and no lover of the Vatican accepts Jesus said this to Peter.

By the way, if St. Paul was the one that spread the faith to the gentiles what did Peter do? Peter backed Paul and allowed him to do so. But that is just my guess.

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