Christ said, “Upon this rock,” meaning Himself not Peter.

That is erroneous. In Jn. I., 42, we find Christ saying to Peter, “Thou art Simon . . . thou shalt be called Cephas, Which is interpreted Peter.” Christ had a special purpose in thus changing his name to Cephas or rock, a purpose manifested later on as recorded by Matt. XVI., 18, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Let us put it this way. Supposing that your name were Brown, and I said to you, “They call you Brown, but I am going to call you Stone. And upon this stone I shall build up a special society I have in mind to establish,” would you believe that I was alluding to you, or to myself? Now Peter’s name was Simon, and Christ changed it to Peter, or in the original Aramaic language, Kepha, which was the word for rock or stone, and which was never used as a proper name in that language. Thus He said, “Thou art Kepha, and upon this Kepha I will build my Church.” In modern English it would sound thus, “Thou art Mr. Stone, and upon this stone I will build my Church.” The word could not possibly refer to Christ in this text

Radio Replies Volume 1 by Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble MSC and Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty