ROCKY GREEK

#koine #greek #greeknewtestament

Matthew 16:17 - 18 is further proof Jesus and some if not all of his disciples were bilingual in Greek and Aramaic or at least knew some Greek.

Now Simon Peter Bar Jonas had a first name that means He has heard in Hebrew and Aramaic but in the New Testament  he is also referred to as Peter / Petros and Cephas "rock". This could just be a translation of his Aramaic nickname but wait Jesus says

"and I to you say that you are ROCK and upon this rock I will build for me the assembly of people (for a religious or political purpose) and gates of underworld/death/ not they will overpower that (rock).

Note Matthew uses Petros not Cephas !

Some Koine experts think petra (feminine) meant big rock or rocky ledge.

Others think Peter was a short guy and there's a pun on peeble versus big rock but that pun only works if you know Greek!

So I'm thinking maybe both Jewish and Greek fishermen sailed on the Sea of Galilee and the reason he's Simon PETER is that he was known as "ROCK" to distinguish him from other Simons and ... oh no sh sound in Greek Greeks would have heard Shim'on or Shemayon as Simo(n) meaning flatfaced or snub nosed sometimes. Petro(s) the Rock was probably his preferred name. Maybe he just liked the sound of it?

Next week less linguistics and a bit more about the Son of man and other aspects of this section of Chapter 16.