[small voice in the wilderness]

Petra is a feminine noun that refers to a mass of rock. Matthew 7:24,25 uses petra to refer to the bedrock upon which a wise man built his house. Petra is also found later in Matthew's Gospel in reference to Jesus' tomb, which workers had carved out of solid rock. (Matt. 27:60). Petro obviously is masculine and refers to a boulder, detached stone, or small stone that can be picked up and thrown.

Could have been translated "You are Stone, and upon this bedrock I will build My church."

Paul also refers to Christ by the Greek word Petra. He wrote of Christ as "a rock (petra) of offense" over which the Jews had stumbled. (Rom. 9:33). The spiritual rock (petra) encountered by Israel in the wilderness is identified as Christ. (1 Cor. 10:4).

Does this help?

[Mad Dawg]

Yeah. We’ve been over that.

The problem is, Did Jesus (and Whatsisname, Peter) use Greek or Aramaic when they chatted over a breakfast of fish?

(Doesn’t that sound GOOD? Fresh fish for breakfast? Wow!)

That’s the real issue, and probably why no certain answer can be reached. It sure seems from John 1:42 that the guy was addressed as Cephas. And that would certainly make room for the conjecture that PetrOS was used because OS sounds like a masculine ending in Greekk while USUALLY -A is a feminine ending.

But all it does is make room. We don’t have the Cliff notes. As I understand it they were burned when the Muslims got Alexandria ....

Darn.