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Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Posted: August 22nd, 2012, 2:33 pm
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?

Re: Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Posted: August 23rd, 2012, 11:00 am
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

Re: Matthew 16:18 πἑτρος, πἑτρα

Posted: August 23rd, 2012, 11:27 am
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.