Peter = rock?
Matthew 16:18 - http://bible.cc/matthew/16-18.htm
Jesus said that Peter was *petros*(masculine) and that on this *petra*(feminine) He would build His church.
Greek: 4074 Pétros (a masculine noun) – properly, a stone (pebble), such as a small rock found along a pathway. 4074 /Pétros (”small stone”) then stands in contrast to 4073 /pétra (”cliff, boulder,” Abbott-Smith).
“4074 (Pétros) is an isolated rock and 4073 (pétra) is a cliff” (TDNT, 3, 100). “4074 (Pétros) always means a stone . . . such as a man may throw, . . . versus 4073 (pétra), a projecting rock, cliff” (S. Zodhiates, Dict).
4073 pétra (a feminine noun) – “a mass of connected rock,” which is distinct from 4074 (Pétros) which is “a detached stone or boulder” (A-S). 4073 (pétra) is a “solid or native rock, rising up through the earth” (Souter) – a huge mass of rock (a boulder), such as a projecting cliff.
4073 (petra) is “a projecting rock, cliff (feminine noun) . . . 4074 (petros, the masculine form) however is a stone . . . such as a man might throw” (S. Zodhiates, Dict).
It’s also a strange way to word the sentence that He would call Peter a rock and say that on this I will build my church instead of *on you* as would be grammatically correct in talking to a person.
There is no support from the original Greek that Peter was to be the rock on which Jesus said he would build His church. The nouns are not the same, one being masculine and the other being feminine. They denote different objects.
Thanks, ‘mom’...I like the way to think...and post :)
In Matthew 16:18 there is the Greek play upon the words, “thou art Peter [Greek, “petros” — literally ‘a little rock]’, and upon this rock [Greek, “Petra”] I will build my church.” He does not promise to build His church upon Peter, but upon Himself, as Peter is careful to tell us in 1 Peter 2:4-9. See Peter’s words in this passage, quoted below, again from Douay-Rheims…
1 Peter 2:4-9 DRB “Unto whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen and made honourable by God: (5) Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (6) Wherefore it is said in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him shall not be confounded. (7) To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner: (8) And a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set. (9) But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”
It is obvious from this that Peter himself testifies to the fact that Jesus, is Himself the the Chief Corner Stone on which the ecclesia, the called ones, as living stones are built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, etc. It is also obvious that Peter considers himself just to be one of the living stones built up on the Chief Corner Stone, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Take a class in LOGIC!
Why on Earth Would Jesus need to say, after the “Peter you are Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church” -—
“Whatever you loose on Earth Will be loosed in Heaven” ??
“Whatever you bind on Earth Will be bound in Heaven” ??
Why would Jesus say:
“Whatever Jesus binds on Earth will be bound in Heaven”?
Why would Jesus say:
“Whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven”???
You who think Jesus was referring to HIMSELF and NOT Peter as the ROCK upon which he will build HIS Church are really ridiculous.
This position is absurd in the extreme, and violates every rule of logic and communication and common sense.
You diminish your own credibility with such absurd claims.