On this rock I will build my church (Mt 16:18)

[spin]

Someone was talking about this verse and it struck me just how physical the indications were. On this rock, Jesus has jumped from the masculine to the feminine for the word one usually finds for "rock", πετρα. The word for "build" usually means "construct a house", οικοδομεω. (When used metaphorically it is usually translated as "edify", 1 Cor 8:1 & 10:23.) But when we come to the word for church which early indicated "assembly", εκκλησια, though later came to indicate the building of christian meetings, it would seem we have stopped being physical. But that's the problem, I can't be sure. "On this rock I will build" suggests otherwise, that we should take εκκλησια as single, unified and as an edifice. It seems to be a building in 1 Tim 3:15 ("in the house of god which is the church of the living god"). This word is certainly used differently in the gospel from the general usage of Paul who talks of assemblies, such as one in the house of Priscilla and Aquila (Rom 16:5).

What's happening here?

[JoeWallack]

Someone was talking about this verse and it struck me just how physical the indications were. On this rock, Jesus has jumped from the masculine to the feminine for the word one usually finds for "rock", πετρα. The word for "build" usually means "construct a house", οικοδομεω. (When used metaphorically it is usually translated as "edify", 1 Cor 8:1 & 10:23.) But when we come to the word for church which early indicated "assembly", εκκλησια, though later came to indicate the building of christian meetings, it would seem we have stopped being physical. But that's the problem, I can't be sure. "On this rock I will build" suggests otherwise, that we should take εκκλησια as single, unified and as an edifice. It seems to be a building in 1 Tim 3:15 ("in the house of god which is the church of the living god"). This word is certainly used differently in the gospel from the general usage of Paul who talks of assemblies, such as one in the house of Priscilla and Aquila (Rom 16:5).

What's happening here?

JW:
It looks to me that "Matthew" is trying to present prophecy fulfillment:

Matthew 3:9

and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

"Matthew" read it somewhere (he wrote it down and than he read it). The ICC points out that there is non-Canonical writing that describes Abraham as the rock from which Judaism came forth. I think "Matthew" is just following Paul here where the Jewish claim is that Abraham was the physical source and the Christian leader will be a spiritual source. Many interesting points here:

1) The Jewish Bible is explicit that Abraham was a physical source yet the Christian Bible uses the Jewish Bible to argue that Abraham was a spiritual source. One of the few things all religions would agree on is that Satan is a deceiver. Isn't this exactly the type of deception Satan would use?

2) "Mark" was not just the primary source for "Matthew" but the base. "Mark" tagged Simon as "rock" in order to discredit him. The problem for "Matthew" is that most of the good related religious references use "stones".

3) The Christian Bible always use "Abram" which was the name before God's endorsement and change to "Abraham". See 1).

4) The John the Baptist story of the axe at the root of the tree, found in "Matthew" and "Luke", for a prophet giving prophecy who ends up having his head chopped off. Classic Markan irony (even the prophet does not realize just how accurate and close to home the prophecy is) that is not found in "Mark". Was it there originally?

5) The near pun in Aramaic with "banim". Surely Casey inventories that for an Aramaic original?


Joseph

ErrancyWiki

[spin]

Thanks for your response, Joe, but I was concentrating on the strange usage of εκκλησια and how it doesn't fit with the earliest uses of the term. The rock and building on it suggest that the εκκλησια is a solid structure like a house, hence the reference I gave to 1 Tim 3:15. We can assume for the moment that it is all metaphor, yet the metaphor would be that the εκκλησια is a building. To the philologist this smacks of anachronism.

---

(Αβρααμ is used in LXX and NT. LXX uses Αβραμ for Abram.)