Matthew 16:19

Jesus resumed talking about the kingdom. In Matthew 16:18 His promise looked into the future when the messianic kingdom would exist on earth. He continued this perspective in Matthew 16:19. When Peter first heard these words he probably thought that when Jesus established His kingdom he would receive an important position of authority in it. That is indeed what Jesus promised. The kingdom in view is the same messianic (millennial) kingdom that Jesus had been talking about since he began His public ministry. It is not the church. Peter did receive a reward for his confession of Jesus as the divine Messiah. It was not superiority in the church but a position of authority in the kingdom (cf. Matthew 19:27-28). Jesus’ reintroduction of the subject of the kingdom here helped the disciples understand that the church would not replace the kingdom.

"We must . . . be careful not to identify the ekklesia with the kingdom. There is nothing here to suggest such identification. . . . To S. Peter were to be given the keys of the kingdom. The kingdom is here, as elsewhere in this Gospel, the kingdom to be inaugurated when the Son of Man came upon the clouds of heaven. . . . The ekklesia, on the other hand, was the society of Christ’s disciples, who were to wait for it, and who would enter into it when it came. The Church was built upon the truth of the divine Sonship. It was to proclaim the coming kingdom. In that kingdom Peter should hold the keys which conferred authority." [Note: Allen, p. 177.]

The Roman Catholic Church, following Augustine, equates the (Roman Catholic) church with the kingdom. Protestants who follow Augustine in this matter, namely, amillennialists, as well as many premillennialists (covenant or historic premillennialists and progressive dispensationalists) also equate the church and the kingdom, at least to some extent. Most normative dispensationalists acknowledge that there is presently a mystery form of the kingdom of which the church is a part, but that is not the messianic millennial kingdom.

The "keys" in view probably represent Peter’s authority to admit or refuse admission to the kingdom. They may also signify his authority to make appropriate provision for the household. [Note: U. Luz, Matthew 8-20, p. 364.] In Acts we see him opening the door to the church for Jews (Acts 2), Samaritans (Acts 8), and Gentiles (Acts 10). All who enter the church will eventually enter the messianic kingdom, so Peter began to exercise this authority when the church came into existence. However the church is not the kingdom. Jesus’ prerogative as Judge is in view here (cf. Matthew 3:11-12; John 5:22; John 5:30; Revelation 19:21). Probably the keys stand for the judicial authority that chief stewards of monarchs exercised in the ancient world (Isaiah 22:15; Isaiah 22:22; cf. Revelation 1:18; Revelation 3:7). [Note: Vincent, 1:96.] They could permit people to enter the monarch’s presence or give them access to certain areas and privileges. As the Judge of all humanity, Jesus gave this authority to Peter. Of course, some of the other Apostles exercised it too (Matthew 18:18; Acts 14:27).

"The traditional portrayal of Peter as porter at the pearly gates depends on misunderstanding ’the kingdom of heaven’ here as a designation of the afterlife rather than denoting God’s rule among his people on earth." [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 625.]

The next problem in this verse is the binding and loosing. First, what is the proper translation of the Greek text? The best evidence points to the NASB translation: "Whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." [Note: See Carson, "Matthew," pp. 370-72; or Toussaint, Behold the . . ., pp. 206-7; for explanation of the syntactical arguments leading to this conclusion.] The "whatever" seems to include people and privileges in view of how the Old Testament described the stewards’ use of keys.

The rabbis of Jesus’ day often spoke of binding and loosing in the sense of forbidding and permitting. [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:85; Wiersbe, 1:59.] So Jesus could have meant that whatever Peter forbade to be done on earth would have already have been forbidden in heaven, because Peter would be speaking for God and announcing God’s will. Whatever he permitted to be done on earth would have already been permitted in heaven for the same reason. The problem with this view is that hereafter Peter did not always say and do the right thing (Galatians 2:11). Roman Catholics appeal to this interpretation to argue that when Peter, and his supposed successors, the popes, speak ex cathedra they are using the keys of the kingdom.

"These two powers-the legislative [i.e., binding and loosing] and judicial [i.e., remitting and retaining]-which belonged to the Rabbinic office, Christ now transferred, and that not in their pretension, but in their reality, to His Apostles: the first here to Peter as their Representative, the second after His Resurrection to the Church [John 20:23]." [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:85.]

Another less likely view is that this was a promise that Peter will fulfill only in the messianic kingdom.

". . . the verse is a promise to Peter of a place of authority in the future earthly kingdom. With this promise the Lord gives Peter the basis of the decisions which he shall make. Peter is to discern what is the mind of God and then judge accordingly." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 207.]

Peter may determine God’s will in particular instances of rendering judgment in the messianic kingdom. Perhaps he will consult the Scriptures or get a direct word from Jesus who will be on earth reigning then. Then he will announce his decision. With his announcement Peter will give or withhold whatever may be involved in the judgment, but he will really be announcing what the divine authority has already decided. Peter did some of this in the early history of the church (cf. Acts 5:1-11; Acts 8:20-24). All the disciples will have similar judicial functions in the kingdom (Matthew 19:27-28). Furthermore all Christians will have some judicial function in the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).