Peter the Rock

Some Protestants argue that in Matthew 16:18 Jesus contrasted Simon, a "pebble" (*Petros*), with the "rock" (*petra*) on which he would build his Church. In the Greek of the New Testament the two words were synonyms, and in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, he called Simon *Kepha* and said he would build his Church on this *kepha*. Jesus equated Peter with the rock.

The objection

A common argument runs like this: in Greek, petra means a large rock and Petros a small stone or pebble, so in Matthew 16:18 Jesus was contrasting Simon with the rock, which is Jesus himself, and showing that Simon was unqualified to be the foundation.

The Greek

This is false. As Greek scholars admit, including non-Catholics such as Evangelical scholar D. A. Carson, petros and petra were synonyms in first-century Greek. The "small stone / large rock" distinction appears in some ancient Attic Greek poetry centuries before Christ. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, where both words simply meant "rock." Had Jesus meant a small stone, the word would have been lithos.

Behind the Greek to the Aramaic

Jesus, the apostles and the Jews of Palestine spoke Aramaic. Most of the New Testament was written in Greek, the common language of the Mediterranean world. Many hold, following records kept by Eusebius, that Matthew was written in Aramaic and soon translated into Greek; the Aramaic original is lost.

Some of Jesus' Aramaic words survive, such as his cry from the cross, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani (Matthew 27:46). Paul's letters preserve Simon's new name in its Aramaic form eight times (four in Galatians, four in 1 Corinthians): Cephas, from Kepha, which means rock, not pebble. Jesus said, in effect, "You are Kepha, and on this kepha I will build my Church." He equated Simon with the rock. Some modern translations render it "You are Rock, and upon this rock," and French has always used one word, pierre, for both.

Why not Petra in Greek?

Greek nouns have gender. Petra is feminine and works in the second half of the verse, but a man could not be given a feminine name. Changing the ending to the masculine gives Petros, an existing word meaning rock. That loses part of the wordplay, but it was the best Greek could do.

The context

The structure of Matthew 16:15-19 rules out downplaying Peter. After Peter confesses who Jesus is, Jesus answers with a threefold blessing on Peter, including the keys of the kingdom. He does not call him an insignificant pebble. Giving the keys echoes, almost verbatim, Isaiah 22:22, where the king appoints a chief steward over his house with great authority, a father to the household (Isaiah 22:21). Jesus installs Peter as chief steward under the King of kings to lead the flock (John 21:15-17). As the steward's authority passed from man to man with the keys, Peter's authority has passed down for 2,000 years through the papacy.

The lesson

Any literate Catholic can learn to defend the faith with some study. Not knowing an answer is no reason to doubt the faith: the answer can be found if we look for it.