This v. involves a wordplay: “Thou
art Πετρος Petros,
and upon this πετρα petra I will build my church.” The question is, does “this
rock” refer to Peter, and if not, to what does it refer? The majority of
ancient commentators were of the view that it did not refer to Peter (the other
options being Peter’s confession, Christ himself, or the apostles as a whole);
most modern commentators are of the view that it does. LDS generally follow
Joseph Smith in seeking “this rock” as referring to “revelation”; but note that
either interpretation works well from an LDS perspective. If the referent were
Peter, as preeminent among the apostles, then the thought is essentially the
same as Eph. 2:20, where the foundation is taken as the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Cf. also Rev. 21:24.
Therefore, the sectarian debate on this point between Catholics and some conservative
Protestants need not concern LDS. Our sole interest should be to understand the
Savior’s meaning here. The answer to the question will depend on how much
weight we determine to give to the switch in gender in the wordplay from the
masculine Πετρος Petros to the feminine πετρα petra. If we view the switch as
significant, then, “this πετρα petra” probably does not refer to Peter, but to
something more conceptual. In this case, the referent is probably to be found
in the immediately preceding sentence:
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood have not revealed [απεκαλυψεν apekalupsen] it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven [hath revealed it unto thee].
This is a common construction in
Greek, where the third clause is elliptical; the verb from the second clause
must be supplied in the third. Since the dominant idea in this sentence is αποκαλυψις apokalypsis
“revelation,” that would certainly be a possible referent. On the other hand,
this is a nuanced reading based on a subtlety of the GR text. If the saying has
an Aramaic background (as the parallelism might suggest), then the same word
was probably used in both positions (Kepha and kepha); in this
case, the reference would be to Peter. Further, it may be that the distinction
is gender is not to be taken as significant because Πετρος Petros
is the proper name of a man and therefore must be masculine in any event. The distinction
could be lexical, with Πετρος petros meaning “small stone, pebble,” and πετρα petra
meaning “large stone, formation, bedrock” but whether this distinction was intended
here is uncertain. (Kevin L. Barney, “The Gospel According to St. Matthew,” in Footnotes
to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints, ed. Kevin L. Barney, 2 vols. [2007],
1:87-88 n. L)
