Bible Study - July/August 2002

His parents called him Simon, but we usually call him Peter. Involved in the laborious work of fishing on the Sea of Galilee, he became a disciple of John the Baptist and later of Jesus of Nazareth. Although his name was Simon, Jesus gave him a new name. In Aramaic the new name was “Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone” (John 1:42), and in Greek petros, “a piece of stone” (Matt. 16:18), which we have anglicized as Peter.

Interestingly, given the importance of names in Scripture, and particularly names specially given, it is worth noting that, with only one exception, Jesus thereafter always referred to him as “Simon.” Yet Peter in his first epistle wrote that both Jesus and ourselves are stones and rocks.

A variety of words
In English we have words such as bedrock, boulder, rock, stone, and pebble, and on occasion we use some of these words interchangeably. We also have a number of words for specialty rocks, such as gem, diamond, onyx, ruby, and others. There exists in both Hebrew and Greek a similar range of words, and they are worth at least a cursory study.

The key words in both original languages are those for a rock (something immovable) and for a stone (something small enough to be moved). In Hebrew these words are tsuwr and eben, respectively, and these correspond to the Greek petra and lithos. An interesting illustration of the semantic ranges occurs in Matthew 27:60, where we read that Jesus was laid in Joseph’s tomb which was hewn out of the rock ( petra), and a large stone (lithos) was rolled against its entrance.

Petros is a variation of the Greek petra, and there appear to be two reasons for this minor difference. First, petra is a feminine word and thus would be inappropriate as a man’s name. Second, whereas petra refers to an immovable rock, petros would indicate a boulder chipped off such a rock. Simon Peter, therefore, was a stone based upon the true rock foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How stones were used
To a fisherman like Simon, being called a stone might have seemed negative, as we are all aware of who wins when a boat meets stones. But stones had many useful purposes for fishermen during the period.

Large stones were used to build the piers, docks, and breakwaters around the Sea of Galilee, and upon the docks they were used as mooring points for the boats. Stones in the ten to twenty pound range had holes drilled through the middle; ropes were tied through the holes, and were then used as anchors. Smaller stones also had holes drilled through them and were used as sinkers for the fishing nets[1]. Simon probably took the name change as a compliment even apart from any scriptural symbolism.

Jesus’ one use of “Peter”
According to Luke’s record in 22:31-34, immediately after the institution of the Lord’s supper, and before they left for the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus turned and said “Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Notice that, as elsewhere, Jesus referred to him as “Simon.” After Simon Peter replied that he was ready to even die for the Lord if necessary, Jesus said to him, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know me.” Why is this the one place, besides when Jesus made the name change in the first place (John 1) and later reiterated it (Matt. 16), that Jesus referred to him as “Peter”?

We can be sure, as we so often are when dealing with other events in Christ’s life, that he had the words of scripture in mind. In this case he had in mind Amos 9:9, where, regarding the judgment upon Israel we read, “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” When sifting we shake a grate or a sieve so that the smaller things fall through and the larger ones remain. Only in a perfectly built sieve are all the holes identical, so that we don’t lose anything that should remain. When God does His sifting of the nations, including Israel, His sieve will be perfect. There will be no double standard with people of identical characters being treated differently because of an imperfect judge.

Amos mentions the assurance that “shall not the least grain fall,” according to the KJV. The Hebrew word translated here as “least grain” is tserore, which refers to a small stone, and which in the NIV is translated as “pebble.” Jesus’ point in using the name Peter on that fateful night seems to have been an emphatic reminder that if not even a small pebble will fall through by mistake, surely a large stone like Simon Peter will not possibly be lost.

Peter’s epistles
Years later, Peter wrote that Jesus is a living stone, and so are we (I Peter 2:4,5). He thus extended the symbolism of his own name change by Jesus back to both Jesus and to us! Stones were the most common building material of the day, and it was the building material for the temple. We must remember that we are being built up together into a new temple with Christ as our foundation and chief cornerstone.

In verse 6, Peter explicitly related this aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ, quoting from Isaiah’s mention of the Christ as the chief cornerstone (Isa. 28:16). The chief cornerstone lays out the orientation of the building and is vitally important. If it is imperfect, then the remainder of the building will be out of alignment, and we recognize, of course, that Jesus alone can serve in this unique role.

It is no accident that the man who was renamed “a piece of rock” by Christ wrote an epistle about how Christ is both a rock and a stone, and about how we, too, are stones. We agree with the Spirit who moved the psalmists to write that God is the immovable rock and fortress, and we understand that He has chosen Christ to be the foundation upon which everything else is built. A lowly fisherman recognized this and so the Lord Jesus Christ has given him the name by which the world has known him ever since.

[1] See the article “Galilee Harbors in the Time of Christ,” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/Aug 1999, for more about these uses for stones. Included in the article is a drawing by Bro. Leen Ritmeyer of how Capernaum’s port looked during this time, and several of these uses of stones are depicted.