The identity of Peter the rock, Jesus
the rock of the Church, and the Rock of Revelation involve an intricate paronomasia.
When Jesus enters the regions of Caesarea Philippi with His disciples, the
historical identity of the name change of the place from Baal Hermon and Baal
Gad, to Paneas, to Caesarea, and most recently to Caesarea Philippi, its
historical religious background may have stirred a question of name
identification in the mind of Jesus. Here the idols of Canaanite Baal Hermon
and Baal Gad have been worshipped in the Old Testament period, an ancient grove
had been dedicated to the Greek rustic god Pan in the Hellenistic period, and
perhaps now He and the apostles are walking past a temple dedicated to Roman
Caesar Augustus, revered as a god. Most prominent features of the place are a
towering massive rock formation and a deep cavern with a seemingly bottomless pit
of water that flows out of the cave and supplies the springs of the Jordan
River.
In this picturesque geological
landscape, this history of varied nomenclature, and this environment of pagan
sanctuaries and temples, Jesus asks His disciples, “Whom do men say that I am
the Son of man am?” (Mt 16:13). After a variety of responses naming John the Baptist
and some of the prophets of the Old Testament, He asks the disciples about His
identity, testing them, “But whom say ye that I am?” (16:15).
Divinely inspired, peter proclaims: “Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:16). In response to Peter’s answer
Jesus calls him “blessed” because this was not a mortal inference but a spiritual
revelation, saying “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven” (16:17). The
patronymic Bar-jona, “son of Jona,” used only here, lends an air of solemnity
on this revelatory occasion. On another solemn occasion when Andrew reveals the
Messias as the Christ to his brother Simon, Jesus says: “Thou art Simon the son
of Jona” (Jn 1:42).
This personal revelation from the
Father to Peter rejects in sum al Canaanite idols, Greek pagan gods of the
countryside, and Roman pretenders to be gods. Boldly Peter declares Jesus as
the Messiah, the Son of the True and Living God. Jesus responds to Peter: “And
I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (16:18).
When Jesus first meets Simon, He
changes his name to peter, saying, “Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt
be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone” (Jn 1:42). Both the
Aramaic and the Greek names mean “rock” so by assigning this name change Jesus
inspires the impulsive peter to be firm. On this occasion Jesus says, “and upon
this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16:18). The close collocation between
Peter and the rock would suggest that Jesus will build His Church on Peter, but
there is no Greek linguistic equivalence between the rock of Peter and the rock
upon which He will build His church. The rock (petros [πετρος]) of Peter is a masculine singular concrete
noun, meaning a small rock like those used by soldiers or shepherds in a sling.
The rock of the church [petra [πετρα]) is a feminine
singular abstraction of the noun “rock,” meaning, in contrast, a rocky peak,
ridge, or mass of rock, or bedrock. The two nouns do not carry equivalent
meanings.
The feminization of a concrete noun
always connotes an abstraction. A concrete noun is identified through the five senses:
one can touch it, see it, hear it, maybe even smell it or taste it. Neither
Peter, the pebble, nor the rock of Peter is an abstraction. If Jesus means to
say that Peter is the rock of the church, He could easily say it in the Greek,
peeing to the same masculine gender: επι
τουτο τω
πετρω (epi touto to petro). Since the feminization
of “rock” can’t refer to Peter nor a literal massive rock formation like Mt.
Hermon, the context logically requires that the abstract metaphor refers back
to revelation.
The context of the passage is
decisive. The feminization or abstraction of the rock of the church refers
linguistically back to the divine revelation that Peter receives when he says
to Jesus, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16), and Jesus
responds, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). The Greek word for revelation
αποκαλυψις (apokalypsis), is a feminine abstract noun
that means “unveiling, uncovering, revealing, revelation” and refers especially
to the mysteries of God. Here is Peter’s personal revelation from God the
father that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It is the universal
requirement of every person who desires to come to know the Father and the Son
and their divine workings to gain that personal revelation.
The concept of divine revelation is a
foundational and eternal principle upon which the church is built. It has
prominently existed from the time God has spoken to Adam and will continue to
the end of time, coming from God or Christ through the operations of the Spirit
of God: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit
seracheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor 2:9-10). What mortal
eyes have not seen nor ears have heard and what has not been captured by the
imaginations of the heart, God manifests through revelation by the Holy Spirit
who reveals even the mysteries of God to every person who lacks wisdom: “If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering” (Jas 1;5-6). Thus the abstract noun of revelation bespeaks a
metaphor: the rock is revelation and the point of commonality is Jesus.
It is through the rock of revelation that
Peter declares the reality of Christ, the Son of the Living God, but Jesus
points to Himself as the cornerstone of the church. The word “my” in the
statement “I will build my church” (Mt 16;18), a first person possessive
adjective, leaves no question as to whose church it is: The Church of Jesus
Christ. Peter himself identifies Jesus as the rock of the church, “the head of
the corner.” He testifies publically to the leaders of the Jews when they ask
Him by whose power and by what name he and John heal the lame man: “Be it known
unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth
this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at ought
of your builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved” (Ac 4:10-12).
Peter rejects the claim that the church
is built on him. If the church is built on Peter, it is his church, and if
others become the chief apostles, should then arguments arise as to whether the
church should be called the church of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas? Paul
inveighs against it: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions
among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the sane mind and in the
same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by then
which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this
I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of
Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were
ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor 1:10-13). Therefore, the rock of the
church will be built not on the frailty of a human but on God, the Rock of Ages
or the Rock of our Salvation, as Samuel calls him: “The Lord liveth; and
blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation” (2 Sam
22:47).
While the position of Peter as the
stone and the senior apostle is secure in the foundation of the church, Jesus
is the head of the corner. Paul states, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of
God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Eph 2:19-20). As the leading
apostle Peter receives from Jesus the power of the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:19). With these keys securely
in place, Peter and the apostles have the power to continue the work of the
kingdom of heaven on earth after the mortal ministry of Jesus. (Norbert H. O’
Duckwitz, “Peter and the Rock,” The Infinite Exchange: Cruces and Insights
in the Gospels [2021], 71-75)
