Shocking New Biblical Discovery

Today I would like to share the width and breadth of my extensive learning with you. It is not often that you will have the privilege of reading such groundbreaking biblical scholarship and exegesis without spending large sums of money on commentaries, but freely I have been given so freely I give to you.

Our passage for today will be Matthew 16:18:

κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ἅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς.

.And 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. (KJV – the Bible Jesus read)

What I would like to focus on in this verse is a small statement in the original Greek λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος,,,, which reads literally, “I say that you, you are Peter.” There are two very important things to note from this statement.

First, the name that Jesus used in his familiar tongue for Peter was Cephas – which means “rock” in Aramaic. This is the beginning of where we get the name Peter: Cephas translated into Greek is Πέτρος, the Greek word for “rock.” So, Cephas = Aramaic for rock, which leads to Petros the Greek word for rock, which leads to the English Peter. Peter’s name means ‘rock’.

Second, it is not necessary for Jesus to say to Peter σὺ εἶ: “you, you are.” In the Greek it would have been readily apparent what Jesus meant with just the εἶ, “You are Peter.” The only reason to add the σὺ is for emphasis. So the logical question becomes, “What is Jesus trying to emphasize?” Well, if you put our two points together, one being that Peter’s name literally means rock, and two Jesus emphasizes that “you, you are Πέτρος,,” then clearly there can only be one conclusion: Peter’s physical body consisted entirely of rock.

The Message translation makes this perfectly clear, “And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock.” Not like a rock but literally, “you are, really… a rock.” Case closed.

So for the first time ever, and I’m sure what must be considered in the future the norm for Petrine studies, I would like to present an image of what Peter must have looked like during his time on earth.

Pope Peter I:

Obviously, a discovery of this magnitude shines new light onto other stories in the biblical account heretofore ignored. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel we find the story of Jesus walking on the water and the events that ensued. In the likely words of one of the other disciples after Peter got back in the boat, “With a name like “rock” what else did you expect?”

Well, most likely you are experiencing cognitive dissonance as your old paradigms are shattered by my brilliant reasoning and exegetical ability, but we must learn to deal with these types of new realities and facts as they are discovered.

• For any schools wishing to give me scholarships for graduate studies based on my obvious scholastic potential and groundbreaking and innovative discovery you can start by queuing up in the comments section. I will answer each e-mail in the order they are received. Please be patient as due to the large number of requests it may take a few days to get to your specific begging of me to come to your institution.