Huiou Theou #16
The reality here is well explained by Fr John Echert:
Answer by Fr. John Echert (EWTN) on 07-19-2003
Extract:
The original Aramaic name given to Simon by our Lord was “Cepha” which means rock. The Greek equivalent is “Petra” but since this is a feminine noun in Greek, it is rendered with the masculine ending as “Petros” in the New Testament. Contrary to what some non-Catholics claim, the use of “Petros” does not manifest an intention to regard Peter as a small stone rather than a rock but is simply done in accord with the rules of grammar and convention in the Greek. Such is obvious when we consider that the actual name given him by the Lord, “Cepha,” admits of NO such distinction between a small stone and large rock.
[My emphasis].
Fr. Echert is on solid ground with respect to Cepha and Petros. His conclusion is fine. However, your own statement is rather imprecise as an apologetic. You might want to consider the fact that in Matthew 16:18 both a masculine form (Petros) and a non-masucline form (Petra) are both being used to refer to the same man.
If, as an apologetic, it were strictly a masculine and feminine issue; then the word “Petros” would have been used twice. Anyone who actually studies the Greek, and looks at the grammar will eventually realize that Peter is spoken of as “masculine” in the first part, and “feminine” in the second part of the sentence. The common apologetic idea that a man “can not” be spoken of using the feminine form of “rock” simply isn’t true. For whether a person argues that the second “petra” means Peter, or Jesus himself, or all the twelve, or pick any male you want; the fact remains that the second use of the word “rock” is still feminine but still refers to men.
biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/16-18.htm
The issue which would be good for you to consider carefully is that collective nouns are always derived from the feminine in Greek; so whenever a collective is spoken of; even if the ‘thing’ is male; the collective form of the word can still be female.
In the passage of Matthew, Jesus can be understood to be referencing a collection of rocks in the second part of the sentence, while still using the grammar to single out ONE of those rocks. That’s why he uses the feminine. There is no equivalent grammar in English, so I would need to use a circumlocution to emphasize what Jesus said. I think a more precise, but perhaps awkward translation would be something like:
Matthew 16:18 but, I also say to you, "You are Rock, and on this very-same rock [out of many], I will build my [very-own] congregation, and Hade’s gates will not be strong under it.
Sometimes people want to translate “You are Rocky, and on this very-same rock…” in order to show a distinction of words with the same meaning; but that’s a bit forced kind of translation because “Rocky” is name calling, and name calling would typically be in a different declension (vocative) than is actually found in the Greek. I mean when Paul says to the high priest,“You white washed wall” – he actually says “Whitey!” (name calling).
Why Jesus doesn’t use the vocative, I don’t know. But he doesn’t, so translating “Rocky” would be going beyond what can be really found in the Greek.
Note: Congregation is typically understood as church, so “I will build my very-own church” is just as precise as translation as what I did.
The key to grasp is that when a definite article is used in a place where it does not translate into English as “the”; that’s typically an intensifier. eg: “The” means “very” or “Very-same” or “very-own” etc. When there is a combination of words “This the”, in Greek, what the author is doing is breaking up the following word from collective usage and letting the reader know that he means a particular item from within a group or amalgam.
For example, water is a collective. Saying “this the water”, would generally indicate a portion of water from a pool or perhaps one glass of water among many. “this the day” would indicate a particular day from some epoch or era. That’s the kind of idea that Jesus is alluding to: Peter, son of Abraham, a stone among many; Upon you, Peter, I will build my church (and not necessarily the others.)
In the case of Matthew 16:18, as you have noted, Peter is the first to be chosen; and is the leader of the rest. That’s a very good explanation of what is implied by Jesus noticing that there are other stones besides Peter, but still choosing to single him out alone from all the rest in this one passage.
It’s not that Jesus will not also use the other apostles as building stones later, for Revelation has a description of the temple which tells us that the other apostles were also used; rather, Jesus is preferring Peter here, explicitly over and above the rest of the group of all possible “stones.”
There is no reason for Jesus to have used “Petra” otherwise. The sentence could have been constructed with a Generic “you”, eg “and upon you I will build my very church.”
By going out of his way to reference the idea of rock a second time, (and in the feminine), Jesus is showing and emphasizing that Peter is chosen and preferred.
He is “first” among his brothers.
