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I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19) |
Joseph Francis Alward
The Bible tells us that Jesus gave the name Cephas to the
apostle Simon, and that a certain Cephas was the first person visited by Jesus following his
resurrection. This article rebuts the
skeptical claim that there were two different Cephas's. |
(Unedited notes added to bottom of article on May 16, 2004)
Simon Was Named Cephas by Jesus
Before I present the evidence showing that there
were not two different Cephas's, I will make a comment about two important
Greek words--petros and petra--which will appear in a Matthean passage I will
discuss later.
According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old
and New Testament Words (1981, Volume 4, page 76), "Petros denotes a
piece of a rock, a detached stone or boulder, in contrast to petra, a mass of rock."
In the Matthean passage below, the author evidently
puts a simple pun in the mouth of Jesus, by having Jesus call Simon,
"Petros," and then declare that he was the petra upon which Jesus
would build his church. In other words,
Matthew has Jesus say Simon was to be given a name that meant "rock,"
because he was to be a rock in a figurative sense.
Simon Peter1
(Greek, Simon Petros) answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona…I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter (Greek, Petros) and upon this
rock (Greek, petra) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:15-19)
Traditional belief held
that Jesus spoke Aramaic, an ancient Semitic dialect. This is important because the Aramaic word for rock is
"kephas," so it would have been natural for the readers, writers, and
believers of that time to assume that Jesus might not actually have said
"Petros," but instead said "Cephas." Indeed, we see below that in the Johannine
tradition, Jesus announces that Simon was to be called Cephas:
The
first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We
have found the Messiah." And he
brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at
him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas". (John 1:42)
Now, let's show that
Simon Peter was the first of the apostles visited by Jesus after his resurrection.
Cephas
Was First Visited
Paul makes it clear that
Jesus appeared to a person named "Cephas" before he appeared to the
apostles:
Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to
Cephas and then to the Twelve. (1
Corinthians 15:3-4)
Was this
"Cephas" Simon Peter, or was it some other Cephas? The Lukan passage below strongly suggests
that they are the same person:
They
got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those
with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen
and has appeared to Simon." (Luke
24:33-34)
If we assume that Luke
knew that Jesus gave Simon the name "Cephas," Luke also would have
known that his readers would understand that the apostles in Luke 24:33 said,
in effect, that "the Lord has risen and has appeared to Cephas."
Now, if it were true that
this Cephas was not the same as the Cephas who was honored by being paid the
first post-resurrection visit by Jesus, wouldn't Luke have explained this to
his readers? The fact that he didn't is strong evidence that there was no need
for an explanation, for Luke was aware of only one Cephas, and that was the
Simon who was named Simon Peter (Cephas) by Jesus.
A
Contrary View
Some skeptics argue that if Simon Peter really were the first apostle visited
by Peter after Jesus' resurrection, Peter would have had "bragging
rights" and would have used them in his fight for supremacy over the other
apostles. The argument goes something like this:
Paul says that he often
defied Simon Peter: "I withstood him to his face," (Galatians
2:11). If Simon Peter really was the
Cephas to whom Jesus appeared before he appeared to the apostles, one would
think that Simon would have "lorded over" Paul in their
confrontations. However, in all their
disputes over matters of the faith and the fortunes of the new
"church," there's no record of Peter mentioning the first
appearance. This is strong evidence,
the skeptics say, that Simon Peter was not the same Cephas described by Paul,
the one who was honored by being the first to whom Jesus appeared, and thus
there must have been two Cephas's.
This
argument doesn't stand up because Simon Peter also didn't mention the far more
consequential fact that Jesus had named him the rock upon which Jesus' church
would be based, and gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Certainly, if Simon wouldn't mention the
rock and keys meeting with Jesus in his own defense, then it shouldn't surprise
anyone that he didn't mention the less important first appearance.
Notes: The following is a slightly edited copy of a
post sent by me to an errancy discussion forum on May 16, 2004:
Let me now show the two passages in the Bible which
make it clear that Simon did not have the name Simon Peter until he met with
Jesus, and that the naming was not a change, but a nicknaming. Here is the first of the two passages:
The first thing Andrew
did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the
Messiah." And he brought him to
Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You
are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas". (John 1:42)
In the passage above,
note that Simon—not Simon Peter—is given the additional name, Cephas. The word cephas in Aramaic means "the
rock," so we see below that Jesus is saying that Simon from now on will be
known as Simon the Rock. We have to look elsewhere to
understand why Jesus chose the particular nickname "Cephas" for
Simon. We find what we need in the
Matthean passage:
Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona…I say also unto thee, That
thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. And I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:15-19)
The Greek words actually used above for Peter and
rock were Petros for Peter, and petra for rock. According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament
Words (1981, Volume 4, page 76), "Petros denotes a piece of a rock, a
detached stone or boulder, in contrast to petra, a mass of rock." The author evidently has Jesus use
petros-petra word play by having him call Simon, "Petros," and then
declare that he was the petra upon which Jesus would build his church. In other words, Matthew has Jesus say Simon
was to be given a name that meant "rock," because he was to be
a rock in a figurative sense, the foundation on which Jesus' church would be
built. Thus, we see that Matthean
author has Jesus do the same thing that the Johannine author had Jesus do: they each had Jesus give the nickname
"Simon the Rock" to Simon.
Skeptics may object and say that Simon was already
known as Simon Peter, or just Peter, before the nicknaming, but that's
extraordinarily unlikely, for having Jesus give a name to Simon that
he already had would certainly have made Jesus seem either silly or not
omniscient, or both. Thus, it seems clear that the author of this passage
wanted his readers to understand that the "Simon" in Matthew 16:16
wouldn't have the second name, "Peter," until Jesus gives it to him
two verses later. Note also that
Matthew doesn't have Jesus greet Simon as Simon Peter, but as Simon Barjona;
this stands as additional evidence that Simon was not Simon Peter until after
Jesus gave him the nickname, Peter.
In conclusion, we see that there was no Simon Peter
whose name was changed. It was
Simon, not a Simon Peter, who was a given by Jesus an additional
name--"the rock," a nickname that made Simon the foundation—the rock
of foundation--of Jesus' church. Simon
the Rock, Simon Peter, Simon Cephas, or just plain Cephas, or just plain Peter,
were all the same person, depending on the tradition and whom you asked in the
first century.
Finally, I come to the question about priority asked
at the top of this post. Which version
has priority? The one that uses the
word Peter to describe the person, or the one that uses Cephas? The answer to this question has already been
given above. Neither has
"priority." The King James Version was based on a tradition in
which Simon's nickname was Petros, the Greek word for "the rock,"
while the Revised Standard Version was based on a tradition in which Cephas,
the Aramaic word for "the rock," was used in reference to Simon.
In conclusion, we see that the Simon, Simon Peter,
Simon Cephas, Cephas, Petros, and Peter were all one and the same person: Simon the Rock, the rock on which Jesus'
church would be founded.
By the way, Simon the Rock is not the same person as
Simon the Zealot (Luke 6:15), also known as Simon the Caananite.
Footnotes
1.
Did the author of Verse 16 want his readers to believe that Simon already
had the second name, Peter (Petros), before the author had Jesus in Verse 19
announce that Simon would be called Peter?
That hardly seems likely, for giving a name to Simon that he already had
would certainly have made Jesus seem either silly or not omniscient, or both.
Thus, it seems clear that the author of this passage wanted his readers to
understand that the "Simon" in Verse 16 won't have the second name, "Peter,"
until Jesus gives it to him two verses later.