The word rock in this verse comes from the Greek word petra, which means “a large rock.”3 Jesus was saying to Simon Peter that he was now made of the substance on which the house was to be founded. Peter later wrote in 1 Peter 2:5, “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house.” A stone is a small piece of a large rock. Strength, stability, and power are in the rock of the revealed Word of God, and there is fruit in the life of a person who receives it. That person is made strong with the strength of the one who is the living Word of God, Jesus Christ.
Petros, Peter the rock
