John 1:42

John 1:42. He brought him to Jesus. There can be little doubt that Peter had shared the expectations and longings of his brother Andrew, as well as of all those more earnest spirits of the time who were waiting for ‘the consolation of Israel.' He too had been ‘seeking,' and he too finds.

Jesus looking upon him said. Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas. Jesus looked upon him with that divine glance which read the heart (comp. John 2:25); and, following the custom of which so many illustrations are afforded in the Old Testament, marked the great crisis in his life which had now arrived by giving him a new name, ‘Cephas,' with which corresponds the Greek word Petros (a ‘stone' or ‘piece of rock'). How much importance was attached by the Evangelist to this name given to his brother apostle will appear on other occasions in the course of his Gospel. The name Johannes, or John, corresponds to the Hebrew Jochanan; in Matthew 16:17 the same name is represented in a slightly different form (Jona).