The Beautiful Revelation of Gospel-Identity in Saint Peter’s New Name

I opened my Bible the other day to a pretty random spot and found myself reading the apostle John’s account of Andrew and Peter deciding to follow Jesus. I don’t believe any of us can truly understand the weight of realizing the presence of the Messiah after 400 years of silence. ‘The Chosen’ (a crowd-funded multi-season show about the life of Jesus and those around Him) has an brilliant scene of the moment Andrew tells his brother that He has seen the Messiah, the One they had been waiting for, for thousands of years. Can you imagine?

Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which is translated Teacher), where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). (John 1:35–41; NASB)

But what happened next is what hit me like a sack of bricks. John isn’t the one to give much details surrounding any given event, so in the account it seems Andrew, almost immediately after sharing the news of the Messiah’s existence, takes his brother to the Messiah.

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). (John 1:42; NASB)

Now, from my studying I knew Cephas (or Peter) in its original context and most literal translation, meant “rock.” But it hit me, this guy isn’t a “rock” or quite frankly anything that would imply one who is steady or stable.

I then thought about how Jesus had a conversation with Peter — after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection — about how Jesus will build His Church upon “this rock” (Matthew 16). Always debated and unclear whether Jesus was referring to Peter as the rock or whether He was referring to the earth, however it seems to be no coincidence that He is speaking to Peter. This is roughly 3 years after Jesus changed his name and yet this seems to be the first time we see this theme of conversation come up between Jesus and Peter.

Intrigued by the name change and the conversation between Jesus and Peter, I decided to look up the name Simon and its meaning and translation. Simon can be translated as “wavering.” The complete opposite of “rock.” So for 3 years, Jesus spoke over this man who was doubtful, fearful, quick-tempered, and “wavering,” something that was not yet necessarily true of him.

It is the same thing Hosea does to Gomer in his vows after having to purchase his own wife, from being sold in the marketplace as a sex slave. Hosea speaks identity-truth over Gomer that she has not yet walked in (Hosea 3:1–3), but it was who she was called to be.

You see, while Peter was drowning from taking his eyes off of Jesus while walking on the water, Jesus called him “a rock.” While Peter was hot tempered and violent at Jesus’ arrest — cutting a guards ear off — Jesus called him “a rock.” While Peter, in his doubt and fear, denies Jesus three times as Jesus is sentenced to death, Jesus calls him “a rock.”

Jesus knows who he has called us to become since the beginning of time, and from the moment we lock eyes with him, He speaks over us what He has known about us since the ancient of days; even if in that moment we don’t resemble what He knows will one day be true.