As we continue answering your questions let’s go to this week’s email:
"Good morning Pastor Shane!
I have been slowly....... reading thru the book of Matthew.
1. The one thing that I’ve intended to ask you about is Mt 16:19. To what is Jesus referring?
*I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.*
Early on I was taught a certain thing about these verses, and then a while back on a message board, some ladies were discussing it and it blew me away that their explanation of the verse was WAY different than what I had been taught. Truely, when i reread it in context, I dont see what I would have expected to see, so I thought this would be a good one to ask you about. To me it is one of those verses that , as you’re reading along with understanding, and then come upon this verse, you sort of say to yourself.... *okay....*, meaning, what exactly does this mean?
Dina"
This question has come up from three different individuals, so it obviously is one that is on people’s minds. This tells me there has been some difference in teaching and understanding of this passage.
I know of abuse of this scripture both intentional and unintentional.
I myself have been guilty of misapplying this scripture out of ignorance and not understanding the full context of what is being said here.
Like all scriptures, we must be sure we have a full grasp of what the actual meaning is and not what we want it to be to make a point or support what we are comfortable with.
With an open mind, let’s try to let go or “loose,” if you will, our preconceived ideas and even hopes for this text.
I hope no one is sitting there praying that I side with them in some debate over the meaning of Jesus’ words.
My intent as always is to get to the truth and show forth the reality of what has been recorded for us regardless of where that leads.
Like the other subjects we have delved into, this one is quite controversial, in fact, it is extremely controversial. It is very hard to get at the full meaning because there are so many variables within the translations we have. So hard in fact that many have tried to not only explain it, but to explain it away.
So varied are the opinions on this text that it will be impossible to present them all. Fact is, I could spend weeks with you on this conversation Jesus had with His disciples.
I am going to try to get through the highlights tonight and next week as there is no way to even do that in one session.
Let’s read the full passage in question: Matthew 16:13-20
I know the primary question is on “binding and loosing,” but to answer that question we need to back up just a bit and look at one other statement here:
v. 18 “18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
The Catholic Church has built their system of governance and even their application of following Christ on this passage. Their claim is that Jesus was installing Peter as Pope here and giving him supreme authority equal to that of Jesus
The assertion that Peter is the rock on which the church is built is a common one espcecially among Catholics because that is the easy understanding among many translations. The assertion goes even farther as we will see in verse 19 later on.
There are two other commonly held beliefs as to the translation of this verse:
Some see Peter’s confession of Jesus as the rock and see the church as built on those who likewise confess Christ as the Son of God
Then it is held by some that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore He is the foundation or rock on which the church is built.
Let’s look at verse 18 now and begin to break it down and see what is being said here.
“And I tell you that you are Peter” - Jesus is making a strong statement here. He calls him Peter which means rock, here lies the controversy (though I’m not sure why, it seems clear to me)
The original word is “petros” meaning a small stone or moveable rock. It was often used to indicate a stone that could be thrown.
Jesus is saying that yes, Peter is strong and his life will last in his legacy, but then Jesus said “and on this rock I will build my church”
This time Jesus uses the word “petra” which was used for a large immovable rock, massive rock formation, or foundation.
1 Corinthians 3:11 distinctly declares Jesus as the foundation or rock on which the church is built. Jesus is also called the chief cornerstone in Ephesians 2:20 and in 1 Peter 2:6 as a quote of Isaiah 28:16
Jesus was not declaring Peter as the foundation rock but as the first building block on the foundation laid by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection
Jesus was foretelling the instance coming in just a short time for Peter on the Day of Pentecost when Peter boldly proclaimed the Gospel and 3000 were saved. Christ the foundation “petra”, Peter the first building block “petros” and the Day of Pentecost the structure starts to form “church”.
That is why Jesus went on to say, “and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Only that which is built on the foundation of Christ can withstand the “gates” or energy and strength of “Hades” or the death and Satan
No man has the power in himself to fight the powers of darkness alone much less be the rock upon which all the church will stand and conquer the enemy
Only Jesus can be the rock and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous.
If we can get rid of the idea that this text has anything to do with setting up the Roman Catholic Church above others or has any real reference to the Roman Catholic Church or the papacy, then we should move past any interest in attempting to remove its awkwardness.
The awkwardness of this passage come solely from interpreting it to support a view that the text clearly does not when looked at in its original form and context.
But in fairness let me read a statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:
[19] The keys to the kingdom of heaven: the image of the keys is probably drawn from Isaiah 22:15-25 where Eliakim, who succeeds Shebnah as master of the palace, is given "the key of the house of David," which he authoritatively "opens" and "shuts" (Isaiah 22:22). Whatever you bind . . . loosed in heaven: there are many instances in rabbinic literature of the binding-loosing imagery. Of the several meanings given there to the metaphor, two are of special importance here: the giving of authoritative teaching, and the lifting or imposing of the ban of excommunication. It is disputed whether the image of the keys and that of binding and loosing are different metaphors meaning the same thing. In any case, the promise of the keys is given to Peter alone. In Matthew 18:18 all the disciples are given the power of binding and loosing, but the context of that verse suggests that there the power of excommunication alone is intended. That the keys are those to the kingdom of heaven and that Peter’s exercise of authority in the church on earth will be confirmed in heaven show an intimate connection between, but not an identification of, the church and the kingdom of heaven.
To be quite frank, this is amazing that learned individuals would find within this text a setting up of Peter as having the keys to the Kingdom of God alone, it is a reestablishment of the priesthood and having to go through someone to get to God, which was clearly not Christ’s intention at any point as evidenced by Jesus’ own words:
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Only through Christ and no one else.
1 Timothy 2:5
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
Let’s look at Peter for just a moment. Throughout the Gospels, he is a very unstable character. He was hot-headed, impetuous, presumptuous, irrational, obnoxious, aggressive, and constantly inserting himself into everything.
Not the kind of person you would normally choose to build an enetrprise of any kind on, much less give the kind of authority that some are claiming he was given.
This account is recorded in Mark and Luke also, but neither of them include the extra exchange with Peter that is the focus of our discussion tonight.
The reasons for this are not known and actually open up a whole other discussion that I will not take time for at the moment as I do not believe it ot be directly relevant to the question at hand.
Once again, we find ourselves with a passage that is controversial and has no parallel context to help us decipher its full meaning.
Which leaves us with the caution to be sure not to use these verses alone to build a doctrine or to base a major theological arguement upon.
We have to take the Gospels as a whole and reconcile this verse with all that Jesus taught and did.
Let’s move into the verse at question and see how far we get with it.
“19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
I will not take time to go into all the theories and conjecture that are out there concerning this, let me just state a couple and then lay out the case for what I believe I have found in study to be the actual literal meaning of this without stretching the rest of scripture or adding something that is not clearly here.
One is that Jesus was given Peter alone authority to determine what was right and wrong, sin and not sin, proper and improper, and so on. That Jesus was bestoying Peter with power over heavenly forces and that his word would be backed up by heaven. (side note: this is quite a stretch of theology)
Or that Jesus was given Peter, and subsequently all believers that authority to state what is and is not sin based on revelation from God through His word. That believers do not determine sin, but have the power to state with certainty what is and is not sin and threfore declare with authority who is and is not forgiven. Again, not that we forgive sins, but that we can declare when sins are forgiven.
Others assert that it only applies to spiritual authority for discipline in the church as evidenced by the companion scripture a couple of chapters later in 18:18 when Jesus was talking about removing someone from the church for improper conduct. That God would honor the decisions made after following the steps Jesus had just laid out.
The pentecostal/charismatics use this verse for spiritual warfare claiming that we can bind the forces of darkness and loose the spirit of God in situations and people’s lives with our own authority that Jesus was giving here. I will not get into spiritual warfare tonight, but to say only that it is not what many are teaching it is right now in the pentecostal movement
Others claim it is about commitments and oaths and that we can bind and loose people spiritually and subsequently physically with our promises and actions toward them. That this applies in our everyday interaction with people and we can tie it to the spiritual world by binding or loosing it in the natural realm, i.e. marriage ceremonies often will quote this verse.
And there are more, these are just some of the more predominate ones.
Before I begin to break down this scripture piece by piece, let me say up front, that most of these positions have one fundamental problem that I am waiting for someone to address:
They obligate and subject God to the words of man.
That is dangerous ground. Anytime we assert authority that somehow is supposed to manipulate God or His powers to us just does not hold to scripture.
We are subject to Him. He is NEVER subject to us. And to insist on the fact that we have that kind of power and authority that heaven has to move just because we bound or loosed something in our limited, finite, pathetic understanding of things we cannot see, know or even begin to comprehend is unfathomable in light of the rest of scripture.
I know I am stepping on some people’s theology in this, but please hear me out as I break down verse 19:
“19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”
We spoke of the Kingdom of God a couple of weeks ago. Simply put the Kingdom is meant to be entered. If I give you a key to my house, I have just authorized you to enter, but that does not mean, I just gave you authority over my house, me, or my family. I have just allowed you to enter.
But we do not have the key to heaven in that we are the keeper and the authority, no, we just have the ability to be a part of it, the right to enter.
Keys can also signify something else. As in the answer key to a test, it means the answers or the formula to decipher. By giving Peter, and subsequently all Christians, the keys to heaven, we have the ability to lead others to heaven and show them the way into His kingdom.
We see this play out in Peter, again, at the Day of Pentecost when he opened the door for thousands to hear the Good News and again at the house of Cornelius when he opened the door of the Gospel to the gentiles.
I’m jumping ahead just a bit, but because what he did was led of God and pleasing to God, it was ratified by God when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Gentiles as we find in Acts 15.
Remember Peter has just confessed Christ as the Son of the Living God for the first time. Notice Jesus’ response, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”
In effect, Jesus was not giving Peter the key, he already had when it was revealed to him who Christ was and then by his confession of that revelation.
We will end here and come back to verse 19 next week.
And now the part that all this has been leading up to:
19 ”and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Let’s look to the original words in question here:
First is “bind” or “deo” is used literally to bind or restrain only twice in Acts. Everywhere else it is used figuratively in various ways. There is not enough consitency from its use to declare with any certainty one meaning over another outside of the context around it as being figurative.
There are not any literal keys to heaven. So it makes sense that Jesus is not speaking of literal binding, but of figurative binding.
Another form of the word “deo” is “dei” implies the certainty of something as being bound to happen.
I see this as a directive to be in agreement with heaven, not to expect heaven to be in agreement with us.
And since the Greek syntax gives no clear indications of the meaning here, it is best to see te role Jesus assigns in relation to His statement concerning foundations. Christ is the foundation. Peter has confessed Christ. Peter and the disciples were then commissioned to confess Christ before others. That confession, and how men respond to it, is truly the key to heaven. A response of faith opens the door to new life in Christ. A rejection closes the door on life and confirms ultimate judgment.
Any application that goes much beyond that is on shaky ground at best and outright heresy at worst.
We only confess what God does, we do not direct it or determine it.
Always remember, it is God who is in charge, He is our boss, we do not take matters into our own hands, but we go to God about them.
