From: Stephen Williamson

Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 1:27 PM

To:

Subject: Peter, Petros, and Petra

 

Hi all

 

Chris, chatting last Wednesday about

Peter / Petros - a man's name in Greek, a masculine word, and

Petra - the Greek word for Rock - a feminine word, saw this comment in Wikipedia .

 

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.

So, I went checking through the scripture, and sure enough, nowhere is Petros translated as "pebble" or a "small stone". It's only ever used in the Scripture as Peter's name.

 

So, ok, now, Matthew's words

 

And I say also to you, That you are Peter (Petros), and upon this rock (Petra), I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

 

cross references  John 1:42 where Jesus says

 

 

"You are Simon the son of John: you shall be called Cephas -  i.e. Kephas in Hebrew/Chaldee which is by translation, Petros. "

 

Now, Kephas, interestingly, comes from a Hebrew word "keph" meaning a "hollow rock", not dissimilar to the English word for "cave".

 

see   http://www.htmlbible.com/sacrednamebiblecom/kjvstrongs/FRMSTRGRK27.htm#S2786  and

 

here   http://www.htmlbible.com/sacrednamebiblecom/kjvstrongs/FRMSTRHEB37.htm#S3710

 

 

 

Thus, Simon - which comes from the Hebrew word "Simeon" which means "to listen attentively" received the prophetic word that he would be called Cephas - the hollow rock, yes, one that needs joining to a corner stone to achieve extra stability.

 

Takes him (and us) a little while to get there :-)

 

Ephesians 2: 19-22

 

Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
foundation Isa 28:16 Matt 16:18, 1st Cor 3:11
apostles 1st Cor 12:28
stone Ps 118:22 Matt 21:42 Mark 12:10 Luke 20:17 Acts 4:11 1st Pet 2:7

In whom all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord:

In whom you also are built together for a dwelling-place of God through the Spirit.

 

:-)  Hallelujah   Steve

 

Now, here is the full passage with hyperlinks to the original Greek words.

 

And Simon Peter answered and said You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you Simon Barjona (son of Jonah): for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven.

And I say also to you, That you are Peter and upon this rock (Petra – a feminine word, the firm Wisdom of God, revealed through Simon, and thus he is renamed as Petros/Peter), I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

From: Stephen Williamson

Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 10:16 AM

To:

Subject: Citizens Assemblies and early Church/Ecclesia

 

Hi all

 

I've often thought about the mindsets of the people in that early church/ecclesia - the called out ones. Working with the Holy Spirit, how did they ending up forming a formal church (ecclesia) of Rome, of Antioch, of Alexandria.

 

Following Julia's new "citizens assemblies" J , here's an account of early democracy in Athens - 500 years before Christ - called ecclesia - the formal citizens' assembly within the city.

 

Some background - to vote in the ecclesia, you needed to be an adult male 18 years of age, not a slave, and not the son of foreigners.

 

Meetings were initially monthly, but grew to three to four meetings a month.

 

Issues frequently revolved around judicial matters - internally, and wars - externally, with the agenda set by the local council (boule) of about 500 men chosen randomly (i.e. by lot). This is the same word we see in Luke 23:50. Many cities, such as Sparta, speak also of a council of elders (gerousia) - as seen in the Senate which met with this Sanhedrin council in Jerusalem in Acts 5:21. Voting in the formal ecclesia was done by a show of hands in a public arena. A quorum would be required, 20% of the electorate - e.g. 6000 in Athens. Women could be citizens, but no voting rights when it came to these political matters, yes, probably would have created too much contention, they would have had enough as it was J 

 

"A gang of slaves carrying ropes dipped in red ochre would travel through the city on the days the Ecclesia was to meet, and use their ropes to lash those citizens not in attendance. With garments thus stained, shamed citizens could legally carry out no business until they visited the meeting grounds of the Ecclesia"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesia_(ancient_Athens)

 

Apparently, people who didn't want to get involved were then called "private people" or "idiotes" - yes, from which we get the word idiots.

 

Interestingly translated in 1 Corinthinians  as   unlearned .

 

Note too, that when it came to providing protection from (and for) war, the Romans employed Tax Farming i.e. having an auction where people would bid for the right to become a "tolls" collector. It raised considerable revenue upfront using these publicans, the "public contractors" in the provinces. Similar systems of tax collecting can be found historically worldwide frequently run by gangs and secret societies in the Turkish empire (prior to 1923) — in China (prior to 1912) — in Russia (prior to 1862) — in India (prior to 1857) — in the French monarchy (prior to 1789) — in fact going all the way back through the centuries to those Pharaohs in Egypt.

 

An associated word "Perfect" in Matthew 5:48, is the word for "Complete", a "Toll (paid in full)". It is thus contrasted here with the word for "Publicans", or "Toll Farmers" who invest in the right to collect tolls for their own profit on earth.

 

Yep, a very different world from today, but I think it helps to understand where Paul was coming from in, say, 1 Corinthians 14. And I think that was Christ's intention in using that specific word regarding what he was going to build.

Interesting J  Steve

 

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