this kepha’), since the word was used both for a name and for a
‘rock’ … The Greek makes the distinction between petros and petra
simply because it is trying to preserve the pun, and in Greek the
feminine petra could not very well serve as a masculine name.”²
If Christ had intended to characterize St. Peter as a “little stone”––as
distinct from a “massive rock”––he could have chosen other more suitable
words to signify such a contrast, such as evna in Aramaic, meaning “little
stone.” Likewise, had St. Matthew really wanted to record in his Gospel
that St. Peter was only a “little stone” the more preferable and common
word to use would have been lithos, which means “stone of virtually any
size.”
Fourth objection: “Admittedly, St. Peter is given the keys of the
kingdom of heaven by Christ but didn’t Christ also give the power to
bind and loose to the other Apostles as well in Matthew 18?”
Our Lord gives to St. Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven in St.
Matthew 16:19:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.”
This bestowal of the keys is made solely to St. Peter as the word here for
“you” in the Greek is the singular dative form soi, and the verbs “bind”
and “loose” are the singular forms as well.
2
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Volume 8 (Matthew, Mark, Luke), Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984, p. 368.
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