Jim Davies
2014
More by far, in a very low-key way Jesus let his understanding of his identity be known. He never was so crass as to stand on a soap box and announce “Listen up, I'm the Son of God!” but rather waited for those who knew him well to reach that conclusion for themselves. The most significant occasion appears in Matthew 16:13 ff, where he asks his twelve disciples who they think he is. Peter is the one who answered “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” and at once, Jesus replied “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” That exchange is central to understanding the identity of Jesus, yet is very controversial – as we'll see below. It's a play on words. They were of course speaking Aramaic, which has fallen out of use except in a few parts of Syria, so we don't know exactly what was said – but we do have Matthew's Greek version, and the play on words is clear there. “Peter” was the disciple's name, a proper noun, Πέτρος (Petros) - and “this rock” was a noun, πέτρᾳ (petra.) To what did “this rock” refer? - Roman Catholics insist it referred to Peter as a person, and his successors as (eventually) the Bishop of Rome. Members of all the other denominations understand Jesus was referring to Peter's declaration of belief that he was “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The latter makes far better sense in my opinion; the reader must decide for himself. If I'm right, it means Jesus was quietly saying he was the creator of the universe in human form, and that his church (those human beings who would become his followers from then forward) would be built on the foundation of that belief. Let's pause to check the meaning of the term “Christ.” χριστὸς is the Greek (Xristos) and the Jewish equivalent is “Messiah.” It has a special significance; in Judaism the Messiah was (and is) a kind of savior or deliverer who is to come at some future time to rescue Jews from their allegedly inferior position; to justify their claim to be a special people, God
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