[BibChr]

Actually, I've studied the issue for decades. Yours is pretty much a dead position. What we have is a Greek Gospel of Matthew. That is the only canonical version, and it does not read for the most part like "translation" Greek. And certainly, for the Christian, no exegesis can be based on a putative text or a hypothetical original (what Jesus supposedly "would have said in Aramaic), when the God-breathed and authoritative version we have is in Greek.

Glad I could help.

Dan

[Gophack]

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.