Simple Explanation:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, quite often I hear from mostly fundamentalist non Catholics missionary that Catholics misunderstand or misinterpret Matthew 16:18: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church." They generally will allude to term "Rock" used by Jesus for Simon was “Petros” a Greek word meaning a little stone, a pebble. Evangelical Christians say that Jesus was only making a contrast, Jesus was really saying that he himself would be the foundation, and he was emphasizing that Simon Peter was not remotely qualified to lead the Church.
It happened again yesterday as I was on my way home from work; listening to Catholic Radio during the Apologetic hour with Dr. Karl Keating on Catholic Answers Live. It's a show where people call in to ask questions about the Christian faith. It is broadcasted between 3 PM to 5 PM weekdays on 12:30 AM or in certain areas at 12:60 AM. Anyhow, back to the questions. Someone called staying that they were approached by a Non Catholic minister at a local WalMart with some anti Catholic tracts. This missionary was handing out these pamphlets and was quite adamant about finding faults or flaws in the Catholic faith and immediately focused his attention on why Catholics misunderstand Matthew 16:18.
Well my friends let me explain to you how one should approach a question that fundamentalist non Catholics do not understand themselves. First, we must understand that Jesus spoke Aramaic the language Jesus and the apostles and all the Jews in Palestine spoke, it was their common language. "We know that Jesus spoke Aramaic because some of his words are preserved for us in the Gospels. Look at Matthew 27:46, where he says from the cross "Eli, Eli Lama Sabachthani"? That isn't Greek; It's Aramaic and it means, " My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Anyhow, so Jesus in Matthew 16:18 called Simon "Cepha" in Aramaic which is a transliteration and rendered as Kephas in its Hellenistic form. And what does Kepha mean? It means a Rock, the same as petra, it does not mean a little stone or pebble. So, what Jesus said to Simon in Matthew was "You are Kepha, and on this kepha I will build my Church". (Dr. Karl Keating)
Now, the argument is that in Greek; why it was translated to Petros which means stone or pebble? Petros is a male noun and provided Simon was a male they had to use Petros, but in actuality they should have used Petra which translates as the "Rock" big bolder or large stone. "You have masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. The Greek word Petra as stated above is feminine. You can use it in the second half of Matthew 16:18 without any trouble, But you can't use it as Simon's new name, because you can't give a man a feminine name - at least back then you couldn't. You have to change the ending of the noun to make it masculine. When you do that, you get Petros.” (Dr. Karl Keating)
I hope this will help you answer this question, if ever asked by our other brothers and sisters in Christ. I will be back with some more short explanation about the Catholic faith. Stay safe, love Jesus Christ and his Church that he founded on earth and asked Peter to lead. Stay bless in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Reference: Peter the Rock http://www.catholic.com/ by Dr. Karl Keating.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, quite often I hear from mostly fundamentalist non Catholics missionary that Catholics misunderstand or misinterpret Matthew 16:18: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church." They generally will allude to term "Rock" used by Jesus for Simon was “Petros” a Greek word meaning a little stone, a pebble. Evangelical Christians say that Jesus was only making a contrast, Jesus was really saying that he himself would be the foundation, and he was emphasizing that Simon Peter was not remotely qualified to lead the Church.
It happened again yesterday as I was on my way home from work; listening to Catholic Radio during the Apologetic hour with Dr. Karl Keating on Catholic Answers Live. It's a show where people call in to ask questions about the Christian faith. It is broadcasted between 3 PM to 5 PM weekdays on 12:30 AM or in certain areas at 12:60 AM. Anyhow, back to the questions. Someone called staying that they were approached by a Non Catholic minister at a local WalMart with some anti Catholic tracts. This missionary was handing out these pamphlets and was quite adamant about finding faults or flaws in the Catholic faith and immediately focused his attention on why Catholics misunderstand Matthew 16:18.
Well my friends let me explain to you how one should approach a question that fundamentalist non Catholics do not understand themselves. First, we must understand that Jesus spoke Aramaic the language Jesus and the apostles and all the Jews in Palestine spoke, it was their common language. "We know that Jesus spoke Aramaic because some of his words are preserved for us in the Gospels. Look at Matthew 27:46, where he says from the cross "Eli, Eli Lama Sabachthani"? That isn't Greek; It's Aramaic and it means, " My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Anyhow, so Jesus in Matthew 16:18 called Simon "Cepha" in Aramaic which is a transliteration and rendered as Kephas in its Hellenistic form. And what does Kepha mean? It means a Rock, the same as petra, it does not mean a little stone or pebble. So, what Jesus said to Simon in Matthew was "You are Kepha, and on this kepha I will build my Church". (Dr. Karl Keating)
Now, the argument is that in Greek; why it was translated to Petros which means stone or pebble? Petros is a male noun and provided Simon was a male they had to use Petros, but in actuality they should have used Petra which translates as the "Rock" big bolder or large stone. "You have masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. The Greek word Petra as stated above is feminine. You can use it in the second half of Matthew 16:18 without any trouble, But you can't use it as Simon's new name, because you can't give a man a feminine name - at least back then you couldn't. You have to change the ending of the noun to make it masculine. When you do that, you get Petros.” (Dr. Karl Keating)
I hope this will help you answer this question, if ever asked by our other brothers and sisters in Christ. I will be back with some more short explanation about the Catholic faith. Stay safe, love Jesus Christ and his Church that he founded on earth and asked Peter to lead. Stay bless in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Reference: Peter the Rock http://www.catholic.com/ by Dr. Karl Keating.
