And there doesn’t seem to be any other rock, any petra present. Not only does that not make sense - but Jesus doesn’t say “other” - he says ταύτῃ, this rock. ” The episode would not make any sense if Jesus had said, “I rename you Peter, a steadfast Rock and on this (other) rock I will build my Church.” And Jesus in turn confesses Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Jesus had asked the disciples who they said he was: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, some other prophet? And in one of the most dramatic moments of the Gospel, Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. There are several reasons why this argument doesn’t work. Therefore clearly, Jesus wasn’t referring to the same rock in both cases, so the argument goes. A petros is a small rock or a piece of rock a petra is the bedrock or a massive rock formation. Not only are the two words different, but they are different genders - Petros is masculine and petra is feminine - and they have supposedly, according to the Protestant argument, different meanings in Greek. You are Peter ( Πέτρος, Petros) and upon this Rock (πέτρα, petra) I will build my Church. Now, the common anti-Catholic refutation of this is thus (first put forward by Luther himself): the Evangelist uses different words in the Greek for Peter and Rock. “You are Rock, and on this Rock I will build my Church.” That’s the proper way to understand the statement, had it been spoken in English. The name “Peter” - Petros in Greek, Petrus in Latin - translates as “Rock.” Jesus is giving Simon a new name, Peter or Rock, in reference to his firmness or steadfastness.Īnd on this Rock I will build my Church. Second, and more important: the wordplay. So there can be no question that Jesus is speaking to Peter and to Peter alone here not to all the Apostles not to all Christians. But back to the point: Jesus addresses Peter in the singular you - the King James’ Thou art Peter actually preserves the important distinction. The distinction between the second-person singular and plural personal pronouns has died out in modern English technically, the singular personal pronouns ( thou, thy, thee) have died out and been replaced by the plural ( ye, your, you). Now, the first thing to note about this is that Jesus addresses Peter in the second person singular: that is, he says you and not y’all. Kagō de soi legō hoti su ei Petros, kai epi tautē tē petra oikodomēsō mou tēn ekklēsian, kai pulai hadou ou katischusousin autēs.Īnd one more time, all together: this time cribbed so you can understand it. Here it is transliterated into Roman characters: If you do, I am delighted - but I’m here to make this as simple as possible.

Now, I don’t expect my readers to have a lot of Greek. Let’s look at the Greek, especially of the critical verse 18 (Greek text from NA27 see also, in English, BibleGateway, Bible.CC, New Advent): And they never were, until the time of Luther. But with even a basic understanding of the ancient languages, the wordplay that Jesus and the Evangelist were implementing here becomes clear: These verses cannot be interpreted any other way but as an explicit declaration of Peter’s authority. This is also a favorite passage of anti-Catholics to pick apart. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Peter as the leading Apostle, who would become the bishop of Rome - whom we would eventually refer to as the first pope - is the verses of Matthew 16:17-19:Īnd Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. One of the Roman Catholic Church’s chief scriptural supports for the authority of St.

Ancient words rock version