The name Peter is derived from the Gr.
petros, a
“stone,” generally a small slab of stone. The word
“rock” is the Gr.
petra, the large mass of rock itself, a
“ledge” or
“shelf of rock,” a
“rocky peak.” A
petra is a large, fixed, immovable
“rock,” whereas a
petros is a small
“stone.” To what extent Christ may have had this distinction in mind, however, or may have explained it as He spoke, is a matter that cannot be determined from these words themselves, because Christ certainly spoke Aramaic—the common language of Palestine at that time. The Gr.
petros undoubtedly represents the word
kepha’ (cephas) in Aramaic (see on
ch. 4:18). And, very likely,
petra also represents the Aramaic word
kepha’ though there is a possibility that Christ used some other synonym or expression in Aramaic, which would agree with the distinction between
petros and
petra that is made by the gospel writers in Greek. It seems probable that Christ must have intended to make such a distinction, however, or Matthew, writing in Greek and guided by the Holy Spirit, would not have made one.