Saint Peter Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==={{anchor|Rock}}"Rock" dialogue===<!-- [[Rock of the faith]] redirects here --> In a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples ({{bibleverse||Matthew|16:13–19|NIV}}), Jesus asks, "Who do people say that the [[Son of Man]] is?" The disciples give various answers. When he asks, "Who do ''you'' say that I am?", Simon Peter answers, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus then declares: {{blockquote|Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Cephas (Peter) (''Petros''), and on this rock (''petra'') I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.}} A common view of Peter is provided by Jesuit Father [[Daniel J. Harrington]], who suggests that Peter was an unlikely symbol of stability. While he was one of the first disciples called and was the spokesman for the group, Peter is also the exemplar of "little faith". In {{Bibleref2|Matthew|14}}, Peter will soon have Jesus say to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?", and he will eventually deny Jesus three times. Thus, in light of the Easter event, Peter became an exemplar of the forgiven sinner.<ref>[[Daniel J. Harrington|Harrington, Daniel J.]] "Peter the Rock." ''America,'' 18–25 August 2008. Accessed 9 October 2009: p. 30.</ref> Outside the Catholic Church, opinions vary as to the interpretation of this passage with respect to what authority and responsibility, if any, Jesus was giving to Peter.<ref>{{cite web|title=What did Jesus mean when he said, "Upon this rock I will build my church"?|url=https://bible.org/question/what-did-jesus-mean-when-he-said-%E2%80%9Cupon-rock-i-will-build-my-church%E2%80%9D|website=Bible.org|access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref> In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] this passage is interpreted as not implying a special prominence to the person of Peter, but to Peter's position as representative of the Apostles. The word used for "rock" (''petra'') grammatically refers to "a small detachment of the massive ledge",<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Rienecker | first1 = Fritz | last2 = Rogers | first2 = Cleon | title = Linguistic key to the Greek New Testament | place = Grand Rapids MI | publisher = Regency Reference Library ([[Zondervan Publishing House]]) | year = 1976 | page = 49 | isbn = 978-0-310-32050-0 }}</ref> not to a massive boulder. Thus, Orthodox [[Sacred Tradition]] understands Jesus' words as referring to the apostolic faith. [[File:San Pedro en lágrimas - Murillo.jpg|thumb|''Saint Peter in Tears'' by [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo]] (1617–1682)]] ''Petros'' had not previously been used as a name, but in the Greek-speaking world it became a popular Christian name, after the tradition of Peter's prominence in the early Christian church had been established. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page