Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
Jonathan Robie
Posts: 4165
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I'm on a business trip, without access to my books, and I don't BDAG or Louw&Nida on my computer. I'm trying to understand this verse:
Matthew 16:18 wrote:κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν
I would have thought ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ must refer to Πέτρος, I don't see any other antecedent in view. I would have thought the change in gender was simply because the name of a man would be in a masculine form, and that this is sufficient to explain the difference in the two words.

Many interpreters say roughly that Πέτρος refers to a stone, not a rock, and that πέτρᾳ refers to bedrock. I've also seen the claim that both words have a wide range of meanings, and in the Hellenistic era πέτρᾳ means bedrock and πἑτρος is no longer really used to refer to a stone.

Can anyone help me sort this out while I sit here without my books?
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
ed krentz
Posts: 70
Joined: February 22nd, 2012, 5:34 pm
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Post by ed krentz »

Jonathon, this is a play off Isaiah 51:2ff. There Abraham and Sarah are the rock from which Israel, God’s ekklesia is hewn. Peter if the counterpart to Abraham in Matthew (see Matt 1:1-2). Petra clearly refers to Peter. Ed Krentz
Edgar Krentz
Prof. Emeritus of NT
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Ken M. Penner
Posts: 881
Joined: May 12th, 2011, 7:50 am
Location: Antigonish, NS, Canada
Contact:

Re: Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Post by Ken M. Penner »

ed krentz wrote:Jonathon, this is a play off Isaiah 51:2ff. There Abraham and Sarah are the rock from which Israel, God’s ekklesia is hewn.
Πετρα does appear in 51:1, but it is worth noting that no form of the noun εκκλησια appears anywhere in Greek Isaiah.
Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
General Editor, Lexham English Septuagint
Co-Editor, Online Critical Pseudepigrapha pseudepigrapha.org
Post Reply

Return to “New Testament”