And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest loose on the earth shall be loosed in the heavens.
Peter has just confessed Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Lord answers with a promise to build, and then a promise of keys. What are these keys? Who holds them? How far does the power to bind and loose reach?
Keys of the kingdom, not keys of heaven
The Lord does not hand over heaven's gate. He does not hand over the church He has just promised to build.
Did Christ give Peter the keys of heaven? Impossible. Men have painted pictures of the Lord and His apostles, and Peter with keys hanging at his belt, while a flock of sheep surrounds them. So many people think Peter has the keys of the Church. There are none such. This is a pure fallacy. Sheep are not fed by keys, and Christ does not build with keys. The value of keys is to open doors, and once the doors are opened the keys are of no more use.
One writer names what the Lord never said, and what He never meant:
People have badly misapplied these words, and have built the most terrible doctrines on them... The Lord did not say that He gave him the keys of heaven. And with the loosing on earth and loosing in heaven, the Lord never meant that the eternal destiny of one single soul was left in Peter's hands.
The kingdom of heaven — heaven's rule on earth
If the keys belong to the kingdom of heaven, everything depends on what that phrase means — and it is not a synonym for heaven or for the church.
There is no deeper mistake than confusing "the kingdom of heaven" with "heaven." The kingdom of heaven is the rule of heaven over the earth... We must not confuse the kingdom of heaven with Christ's church. The kingdom of heaven is what He governs... it is the scene of profession, and so there may be all sorts of things there that are far from Christ; weeds as well as wheat.
Keys mean stewardship
One writer links these keys to an Old Testament picture — the steward who runs the royal house:
"I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David"... A housekeeper, or steward, has the keys, and administers the household affairs as a trust. Peter did so in the kingdom and with full authority.
The keys in use
Keys open doors, and Peter opened two — one for Jews, one for Gentiles, who were not Jews:
God chose Peter to preach the first sermon after the Holy Spirit came down from heaven. Three thousand people were brought to repentance, and were baptised at once in the Saviour's name. But these were Jews only. In Acts 10 the same apostle proclaims Christ for the first time to a Gentile gathering. Everyone in Cornelius' house believed, and they received Christian baptism straight away.
Binding and loosing also show up in the record. One writer sees Peter's welcome of both Jews and Gentiles as "loosing," and his rebuke of Simon the sorcerer as "binding." Simon was baptised as a professed subject of the kingdom, yet he "had never been built by the Lord into His church" (F. B. Hole).
The limit: on earth
The verse says "on earth" twice, and that limit is deliberate.
The promise limits itself to earth as the sphere of this binding or loosing... The earth is the only place where the binding applies. Heaven is the seat of authority for the kingdom, so "shall be bound in heaven" simply means that heaven would confirm the act of its representatives on earth. There is power on earth, and for earth, only. Yet whoever rebels against it rebels against the authority of heaven.
Heaven does not approve just anything, either. One writer warns that these words are "not unconditional and absolute." He adds that "the throne of heaven can only approve what is righteous and according to God's Word and of His Spirit" (Raymond K. Campbell).
No successors
One writer is blunt about succession, and points to where the same words appear again:
Does this authority given to the apostle pass on to successors? There is no hint of such a thing in Matthew 16:19. The Saviour's words give nothing beyond a personal commission. But in Matthew 18:18 the very same words appear in a completely different setting. Peter is not in view there, but the assembly of God's people, gathered in any place on earth and at any time... To receive into fellowship from the world outside is to "loose"; to put away a wrongdoer is to "bind"; to welcome the repentant one back again is to "loose" again.
Summary
- Keys — of the kingdom of heaven: not of heaven, and not of the church. Christ builds; keys open doors.
- Kingdom — heaven's rule over the earth: the scene of profession, holding weeds along with wheat.
- Stewardship — a key is a steward's badge. Peter administered the kingdom as a trust; nothing beyond his personal commission passes on.
- Use — Peter turned the key at Pentecost for Jews, and at Cornelius' house for Gentiles. He bound and loosed in the discipline recorded in Acts.
- Limit — the binding is on earth. Heaven confirms what its representatives do there, and can only approve what agrees with God's Word.