WORDS MEAN THINGS

 In this commentary on Matthew chapter sixteen, it will be revealed how to test every word in scripture for deeper meaning. Just why would Jesus point out that Simon was one of Jonah’s kind and why did He point out that Judas was the Kerioth kind (Iscariot)? Why was Simon the Sorcerer designated as the Magus kind? [1] Let’s find out.

 

Peter, called by Jesus, ‘Simon Barjona,’ was with Jesus and the others. Jesus asked him, “Who say you that I AM?” (Mat 16:15). Jesus was interested in Peter’s thoughts. Then Jesus told him who he was!

I always examine the meaning of names and places. Barjona consists of two parts, the Aramaic ‘bar’ meaning ‘ben’ in the Hebrew, and in English; either ‘son’ or ‘one of’ (Abarim Publications 2023). ‘Jona’ can mean that he was the son of Jonas, or one of the family of ‘Jonas.’ It could be the Jonas (Jonah) from the big fish or even another Jonas… or Jesus could be nicknaming Simon. The Latin for ‘bar’ is ‘gen’ meaning ‘born of,’ inferring genetics.

Now consider Jonah.

Wikipedia indicates that Simon was born Shimoun Bar Younah (in Aramaic), but that comes from the scripture in one place — Matthew 16.

Why would Jesus call Simon ‘Barjonas?” It was because of either his paternity (genetics) or his nature. Perhaps Jesus called him that in a critical way; rather than saying to him, “Jonah you are afraid to stand up for Me,” He just named him ‘Barjonas’ to paint a mental picture in Simon’s mind. Simon would have been quite aware of what Jesus meant!

It took Jonah three days in the belly of a big fish to persuade him to judge the people of Ninevah that they must change their ways or be destroyed. Jonah would be persuaded to speak for God, and Peter, for Jesus. We think of ‘doubting Thomas,’ but here we see ‘reluctant Simon.’

Jesus would not want those who only knew His true identity but to spread the Good News. Simon said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mat 16:16). Yes, he said that, but did he believe that?

On a personal note, I said that for years, but when did I come to truly believe that? ‘Babes in Christ’ often say that, but mature Christians believe that. I now believe that because the evidence converges on Jesus as the ‘Christ,’ that He IS the Son of the living God.

To be honest, I questioned how Jesus could both be God and the Son of God. Furthermore, how could Jesus both be the son of David, as some called Him, and the Son of God in whom Simon believed.

Simon was an educated man. When Jesus called him, ‘Simon Barjona,’ Simon knew who his father was. He also knew who Jonah was. We do not know who Simon’s father was, but we do know that Simon was the ‘son of Jonas.’

Simon was either the progeny of a man named Jonas, or he had the reluctance of Jonah of Gath-hepher who was of the gens of Zebulon. In other words, Jonas of the big fish fame was a Galilean like Simon. Therefore, it could be that Simon was the progeny of Jonah, and that Jesus sought him out for that reason.

In fact, as it turned out, although Simon believed in God just as Jonah, Simon was reluctant to support Jesus, denying Him three times. Then, like Jonas (Jonah), Peter followed through. He was crucified.

Jesus already knew the outcome (John 21:18-19) when He called him ‘Barjona.’

Why was Simon Peter finally crucified?

He went to Rome for a purpose. Simon Magus (Simon the Magician), according to Eusebius of Caesarea, was in Rome. There he persuaded many, that not Jesus, but himself was the Christ, and the Son of God. Simon Peter went there, just as Jonah would go to Nineveh, to set them straight about which god was the One True God.

According to the early church father, Jerome, Simon Peter was in Rome for twenty-five years, obviously competing with Simon Magus for the truth.

As it turned out, Simon Magus remains ‘alive’ today. He was ‘resurrected’ in 1945 via Gnostic writings from near Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Simon Magus was the ‘father’ not of scripture, but the ‘father of secret knowledge’ (Gnosticism) and that dead faith was resurrected with that finding.  

During the reign of the emperor Claudius, “he (Simon) was regarded as a god and honored with a statue on the island in the Tiber which the two bridges cross, with the inscription ‘Simoni Deo Sancto’ — ‘to Simon the Holy God.’” (Chism 1911).

Why did Jesus not just say, “Simon”? He perhaps wanted to be clear for later. He was ‘Simon Barjonas,’ not ‘Simon Magus,’ who I believe was the ‘thorn in the side’ of both Peter and Paul, as he was always there when they were!

Now imagine Peter in Rome simultaneously with Simon the Sorcerer. Peter was preaching the Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. At the same time, Simon Magus was teaching that he himself was the living Christ. He needed another name and Jesus would know that in advance, so he became Peter, and Simon Barjona became history.

Jesus had to rename Simon. It was him, not the other Simon, who would preach the truth.

There might have been confusion about the identity of Peter as well. He would be crucified about the same time as Simon Magus came to his end.

Just as some still believe that Judas Iscariot was the Son of God and Jesus the imposter, [2] that same thought might arise about the two Simons. Simon Barjona had the Holy Spirit in him while Simon Magus, the spirit of Satan in him.

There are several versions of the death of Simon the sorcerer. A reliable one follows:

Another apocryphal document, the Acts of Peter and Paul gives a slightly different version… which was shown in the context of a debate in front of the Emperor Nero. In this version, Paul the Apostle is present along with Peter, Simon levitates from a high wooden tower made upon his request, and dies "divided into four parts" due to the fall. Peter and Paul are then imprisoned by Nero, who further orders that Simon's body be kept carefully for three days, in case, Christ-like, the magician should rise again. (Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul n.d.)

Note that Simon Magus did not die like Christ but fell and was torn asunder like the ‘Satan’ that he was… much like the death of Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:18). Judas’s death when Satan was purged was when he fell from a tree and burst asunder. Simon stepped off his homemade ‘tree’ —  a wooden tower similar to the Cross — levitated as if the Holy Ghost of Jesus, then he was divided into parts, not like Jesus, but like Satan was separated from Judas.

Jesus was divided into Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Judas was divided into the person and Satan; and Simon was divided into four parts with one surely Satan.

Scripture says that there are many Antichrists, or types of Christs. Judas, because he had Satan in him, would be an ‘Antichrist.’

Since there is only one Christ, there is only one Antichrist at any given time. Jesus is always the Christ, but the Antichrist is whoever has Satan in him. Scripture and history point toward Simon Magus as the Antichrist after the death of Judas because he claimed to be the Christ.

I think that Jesus knew what was coming and made a distinction between Simon Barjona and Simon Magus, alias ‘Simon the Holy God.’

Jesus was the ‘Rock’ as the “Cornerstone that the builder’s rejected” (Mat 21:42).

Hannah prayed in the time of David, “There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside You: neither is there any Rock like our God” (I Sam 21:2).

Jesus said to Simon Barjona, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). He was not speaking of the ‘Pebble’ but the ‘Solid Rock’ from which all things are measured.

The etymology of the name ‘Peter’ is not ‘Rock,’ as we have been taught; it is ‘Pebble.’ (Abarim Publications 2023). Peter was the Pebble to Jesus, the Rock.

Simon’s nickname was ‘Pebble’ whereas Hannah nicknamed the Name, the ‘Rock,’ presumably because Jews could not say the Name in vain.

The ‘Name’ in Hebrew is ‘Shem;’ Jesus was also the ‘Son of Shem’ or the genetics of the Name. In other words, etymology points toward Jesus as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of Shem, the Son of Adam, and the Son of God.

Hopefully, you can see that God did not sire Jesus in a paternal sense, but that Jesus was of the genetics of Yahweh. Jesus was engendered by God the Father, or the Divine ‘Progenitor.’ Jesus, while God was on Earth, was the nickname of God. He was called ‘Jesus’ (Mat 1:25). Jesus is the ‘Name’ who has always existed, ‘I AM THAT I AM’ (YHWH the Tetragrammaton).

Sure, much of this is conjecture but words mean things. The ‘Word” of Holy Scripture means Jesus, and Jesus named Simon, ‘Barjona,’ perhaps because he would be like Jonah, and as it turned out, he was!

 (picture credit; Springer Nature; "Flying Simon Magus')

 

 

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[1] Simon the Magician was the father of the anti-Christian religion of Gnosticism.

[2] Some of the theologians of the Islamic faith.