In Scripture, St Peter is given several different "titles" or roles, all of which derive their unique position from their relation to Christ. The first one is the title of "Rock", which name Peter was given by Jesus. Jesus named him "Kepha" (Jn 1:42), which is Aramaic for "Rock" and is translated into Greek as "Petros", from which name we get "Peter". This title is significant for two reasons, which become apparent when we look at the circumstances of this renaming. Matt 16:13-18 give us the details of this event: "When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples…'But who do you say I am?' Simon Peter said in reply, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.' Jesus said to him in reply, 'Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah. For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter (Rock) and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Many Protestant maintain that the Rock that Jesus is talking about here is not Peter, but rather his inspired confession. They would say that "Petros" really means "little rock" and "Petra", the rock on which the Church would be built, means boulder or cliff, so they couldn't be the same.Textually, though, this isn't tenable for a number of reasons. First, the Aramaic word translated was Kepha, which just means "Rock" in Aramaic. The Gospel of John explicitly tells us that this is the name given to Peter by Jesus. The Aramaic word for "little rock" is "evna", so such an interpretation doesn't make any sense with what the Gospel tells us. When it was translated into Greek, it was written "Petros", which is the masculine form of the word "Petra", meaning rock. It is only appropriate that since Peter was a man he was not called "Petra". Second, the only reference to any rock in the text is to Peter. Christ didn't say anything about Peter's confession being a rock and him also being a rock and then left us to figure out which one he was referring to. The only thing called "Rock" in the text is Peter. The Protestant interpretation would have Scripture read: "And I say to you, you are the little rock, and on this projecting large Rock of Revelation I will build my Church." Clearly, not only does that sentence not make sense, it reads a great deal into the text that isn't there. The bottom line is that Christ only called one thing a Rock, and that was Peter. So the first significant thing to realize is that Jesus gave Peter the title of "the Rock", and promised to build an everlasting Church on that rock.
The second significant thing is to realize why Peter's identification as "the Rock" is important. It is important because "the Rock" is a title and role of Christ as Lord. 1 Cor 10:4 tells us "…for they all drank from a spiritual Rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ". The Bible tells us more about Christ as a Rock: "Come to him, the living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God…For it says in Scripture: 'Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame'." (1 Pt 2:4, 6) So Jesus is identified by Peter as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, which identifies him as the cornerstone on which the edifice of faith shall be built. 1 Cor 3:11 further makes this explicit: "For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ."
Jesus is very clearly identified as the Rock, the cornerstone, the foundation on which the faith is built. In Matt 16 we see him very clearly delegating this exalted role to Peter: "You are the Rock, and on this Rock I will build my Church." It is Christ's Church, not Peter's, and it is Christ who builds it, not Peter. Yet Peter has become, by the grace of God, the one who bears the very role and authority of Christ himself, and it is through him and his successors after him that the Church Jesus built and swore to protect maintains its stability. As Hebrews 12:28 tells us: "Therefore, we who are receiving the unshakeable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe." We have received the unshakeable kingdom, and it is the Church. It is unshakeable because it has a sure foundation: Jesus Christ working through the ministry of Peter the Rock.
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