The Pun and the Midrash
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Matthew 16:18 NASB
Peter/ rock – Only in Greek. That’s right, the pun that’s involved here occurs only in Greek, not English (or almost any other translation). It’s the pun between Petros, a stone and the disciples name, and petra, a massive bedrock or formation. And, had you been in the proper geological area when Yeshua made this pun, it would have been obvious, standing in front of a huge rock outcropping. At least the footnote in the NASB tries to explain this.
But most Christian interpretations don’t bother. Why? Because the verse has really been employed as a Christian midrash. Consider Sacks’ comment on midrash:
“Through midrash, the sages made a bridge across time, from ancient text to contemporary application. The tacit question to which midrash is the answer, is ‘What do these words mean, not when they were first spoken or written down, but to us, here, now?’”[1]
Isn’t that precisely what often happens when pastors employ this verse? Suddenly the verse has nothing to do with a pun about a stone. Now it’s about the CHURCH, a massive, impregnable institution of religion founded by the Son of God! His CHURCH! And Hell, well, Hell doesn’t stand a chance against this religious monolith. This is pure midrash, telling us, an audience far removed from the topography in Israel, that Jesus is going to build a (new?) religion, the church (not an assembly – ekklēsía, and certainly not on the basis of a Jewish Messiah, as Petros has just declared). By the time the Christian midrash is finished, this verse is the foundation of Roman Catholicism and Peter becomes the first Pope.
Of course, we would argue that all of this Christian explanation ignores the true, exegetical context. It ignores the original audience, the temporal and geographical location, the cultural milieu. But that shouldn’t be surprising. Christianity’s use of verse like this to justify a religious development beyond Judaism is just midrash, precisely the same explanatory technique that the rabbis used to convert verses from the time of Moses into Second Temple instructions for a Second Temple audience. The truth is: religion works this way regardless of claims about authorized antiquity. Without midrash (even if you don’t call it midrash), faith fossilizes. It doesn’t last beyond the listening audience of the original proclamation. If religion is going to survive, it has to adapt, and midrash is the technique of theologically justified adaptation.
Did you expect something else?
Topical Index: midrash, exegesis, Church, Matthew 16:18
[1] Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Genesis: The Book of Beginnings (Maggid Books & The Orthodox Union, 2009), p. 44.
