a variety of the common hypotheses at the time, ranging from John the Baptist to Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the (other) prophets. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, following Jewish medieval rabbi David Kimhi and theologican John Lightfoot, suggests that Jeremiah "is mentioned as a representative of the Prophets, because in the Jewish Canon the book of Jeremiah came first of the Prophets, following the books of Kings." Earlier in the Gospel narrative, these hypotheses about Jesus' identity were provided in Mark 6:14-16 by those in the court of Herod Antipas when he wondered if Jesus was John the Baptist restored to life. Proclamation and acceptance In the three Gospel accounts, after asking about the views of "the multitudes", Jesus asks his disciples about their own opinion: "But who do you say that I am?" Only Simon Peter answers him: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". Only in Matthew 16:17 Jesus blesses Peter for his answer, and later indicates this revelation is the foundational rock of the Church. This begins with: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. In blessing Peter, Jesus not only accepts the titles Christ and Son of God which Peter attributes to him, but declares the proclamation a divine revelation by stating that his Father in Heaven had revealed it to Peter. In this assertion, by endorsing both titles as divine revelation, Jesus unequivocally declares himself to be both Christ and the Son of God. The reference to "my Father" is distinguished in that in the New Testament, Jesus never includes other individuals in such references and only refers to his Father, however when addressing the disciples he uses your Father, excluding himself from the reference. Selection of Peter In Matthew 16:18 Jesus then continues: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The word "Peter" in this verse is, in Greek, "petros", while this "rock" is "petra". It is a play on words, but if the original language was Aramaic the word in both cases is simply "kepha". A distinction that petros meant a stone and petra a solid piece