The Roman Catholic Church claims that its priests are endowed with two supernatural powers: the power to turn bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the “Sacrifice of the Mass,” and the power to forgive sin in the Sacrament of Penance. The latter power, which the romish church calls the “power of the keys,” is defined by A Practical Catholic Dictionary as:

“The ecclesiastical power given by Jesus Christ to St. Peter and his successors. Jesus said to Peter: ‘And I will give thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.’ Matthew XVI 19. This power includes that of forgiving sins, and the expression ‘the power of the keys’ is often used to refer to this power to forgive sins.”

A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 173

The belief that the Lord Jesus Christ gave the Apostle Peter the keys to heaven is so central to Roman Catholicism that the emblem of the Holy See features two crossed keys. Called the Keys of Simon Peter, the crossed keys symbolize the Vatican’s claim that the Pope of Rome holds all power in heaven and on earth.

The Vatican says this about the Keys of Simon Peter:

“The symbolism [of the keys of Simon Peter] is drawn from the Gospel and is represented by the keys given to the Apostle Peter by Christ. Since the XIV Century, the two crossed keys have been the official insignia of the Holy See. The gold one, on the right, alludes to the power in the kingdom of the heavens, the silver one, on the left, indicates the spiritual authority of the papacy of earth. The mechanisms are turned up towards the heaven and the grips turned down, in other words into the hands of the Vicar of Christ.”

https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/sp_ss_scv_stemma-bandiera-sigillo_en.html

It is neither true that the power of the keys comes from Matthew 16:19, nor that the symbolism of the keys is drawn from the Gospel. Matthew 16:19 is the last verse of a discourse between Jesus and His disciples that begins when the Lord Jesus asks his disciples:

“Whom do men say that the Son of man am?

“And they [His disciples] said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

“He [Jesus] saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

“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: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:16-19

Jesus is the Rock, not Peter

The Vatican claims that the Lord Jesus founded His Church on the Apostle Peter, when He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I shall build my church.” This is Catholic tradition, however, and not biblical truth. Peter is from the Greek word petros and means a stone. A stone is defined as “a piece of rock of relatively small size”: in other words, a pebble. Pebbles do not make a suitable foundation for a building. The word rock, however, is from the Greek petra, and means “a large mass of stone forming a peak or cliff” (Webster’s).

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Rock (Petra):

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea…And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” [CAPS in original.]

1 Corinthians 10:1,4

If the Lord would have declared Peter to be the rock, then He would have denied both Himself and Scripture, as the Bible says:

“For who is God save the Lord? or who is a Rock save our God?” 

Psalm 18:31

When the Lord Jesus said, “Thou art Peter,” He was merely keeping His word; as the Lord said that whomever would confess Him before men, He would confess before His Father; and whomever would deny Him before men, He would deny before His Father (Matthew 10:32,33). When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Lord, being a Man of His Word, promptly confessed Peter before His Father. The importance of this becomes crystal clear when one considers that the night prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter denied Him three times. By asking, “Whom do ye say that I am?” Jesus was giving Peter an opportunity to confess Him before men, knowing that he would later deny Him before men.

Christ is the foundation, not Peter

Peter is the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church (St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Peter’s Chair, etc.), but Peter is not the foundation of the true Church of Jesus Christ. If he were, then God would be a liar, for the Word of God says,

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 3:11

True Church of Christ is built on Peter’s confession, not Peter

When the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build my church,” He was speaking of Himself, and declaring that His Church would be built upon Peter’s confession, “Thou art the Christ.” This is important, because most people at the time, including some of Jesus’ disciples, were unwilling to confess Jesus as the Christ. And of those that were willing, many were afraid to, because the Pharisees had decreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue (John 9:22). Getting put out of the synagogue was similar to a Roman Catholic being excommunicated.

The situation is the same today. While many are willing to say that Jesus was a great man, a great teacher, or a prophet, they are unwilling to believe and even less willing to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus’ identity as the Christ is the foundation of the Gospel. If Jesus is not the Christ, “The Anointed One,” or “The Promised One,” then the world is hopelessly lost. This is why the followers of Jesus were called Christ-ians (Acts 11:26), which means follower of Christ. To follow Jesus is to believe that He is the Christ.

Loosing and binding are not forgiveness of sin

The Vatican maintains that loosing and binding is forgiveness of sin, but the Lord Jesus neither mentions sin nor forgiveness of sin in Matthew 16:19. In fact, it is not even clear from the passage what loosing and binding are. While it may suit the Roman Catholic Church to base a doctrine on a passage of Scripture that doesn’t even address the substance of that doctrine, the true church of Christ would never do such a thing. A doctrine must be based on Scripture, not the reverse. If the Bible doesn’t support the doctrine, then it must be abandoned.

The Lord Jesus taught that the truth should be established by the testimony of two or more witnesses (Matthew 18:16). Since Matthew 16:19 does not support the claim that loosing and binding refer to the priest’s power to forgive sin, further testimony is needed to support the Vatican’s claim. Unfortunately, the Bible gives no corroborating testimony.

In Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus makes it clear what the power to bind and to loose is:

“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Matthew 18:18-20

It is clear that Jesus is talking about prayer, because in this sense, to agree means to pray for the same thing. Since Jesus is talking about prayer, then the power to loose and to bind have to do with prayer, and not forgiveness of sin.

Proof of this can be found in the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord Jesus heals a woman from a disease which left her bowed over and unable to stand upright for eighteen years:

“And [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

“And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

“And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

“And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

“And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and [the ruler] said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.

“The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath day loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

“And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?”

Luke 13:10-16

It is important to note that this woman had “a spirit of infirmity,” meaning her disease was caused by a demon. Jesus said that the woman was bound by Satan, and healed her, saying, “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” To be bound, then, is to be afflicted by Satan through demonic influence; and to be loosed is to be delivered from demonic affliction by the Lord Jesus Christ. This woman’s affliction was physical, but a person can also be bound psychologically, such as in the case of addiction, mental illness, or demon possession.

The Lord Jesus associated binding with loosing; so it follows that the power to bind, as it concerns Christians, is the ability to bind the demonic influence at work in a person in order that he may be loosed from satanic bondage. Proof of this is that when the seventy disciples returned from ministering unto the people (which included casting out devils), they told the Lord:

“Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.”

Luke 10:17

Binding and loosing are what the Protestant Church calls deliverance. Deliverance is accomplished through the prayers of two or more believers interceding on the behalf of an afflicted person. Such prayer is known as intercessory prayer or intercession. The Apostle James talks about this:

“Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

James 5:14,15

It is clear from this passage that forgiveness of sins is not being granted by a priest, as the deliverance is to be performed by the elders of the church. And not only are the elders praying for the afflicted person, but the afflicted person is praying for himself, confessing his sins directly to God, not a priest.

The keys to heaven are symbolic

Notwithstanding the claims of the Roman Catholic Church, Jesus did not give the Apostle Peter any literal keys. If He had, the Bible would have recorded it. As the Bible records no such act, then it is clear that the keys to which the Lord Jesus referred are symbolic.

The true nature of the keys are made clear when one considers that the Lord Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19). Because Jesus said that His Father would give Him anything He asked, it follows that if Jesus is with us when we pray to the Father, then the Father will grant us whatever we ask; because the Lord Jesus is asking on our behalf. He will do this, however, only if we are gathered together in His name.” The key to the kingdom of heaven, then, is for two or more to agree in prayer in the name of Jesus.

Moreover, the keys to heaven were not just given to Simon Peter, as can be seen by comparing Matthew 16:19 with Matthew 18:18:

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:19

“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 18:18

In Matthew 16:19, the Lord Jesus uses the second person singular pronouns thou and thee (you), meaning He is addressing Simon Peter alone. In Matthew 18:18, however, the Lord Jesus uses the second person plural pronouns ye and you (“you all”), which means that He is addressing all of His disciples. And the Lord Jesus is not only addressing the Apostles: He is talking about all believers, present and future, as He says:

“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

Matthew 18:19

If the Lord Jesus were only addressing the disciples that were present when He uttered these words, then He would have again used the pronouns ye and you, saying, ‘if two of you shall agree as touching any thing that ye shall ask, it shall be done for you of my Father.’ But the Lord does something interesting: He begins with you (you all); but then switches to the third person plural pronouns they and them. This clearly means that the Lord is addressing a third party not present. I submit that this third party includes both those disciples of that time who were not present, and those disciples who were yet to come–you and I.

In a word, Jesus gave the “power of the keys” to all who are trusting in His blood: past, present, and future.

Conclusion

The Roman Catholic Church says that the power of the keys is the priest’s power to forgive sin, but the Bible does not support this contention. Only God can forgive sin, and the priest is not God. Moreover, the Lord Jesus never gave Peter any keys. The true keys of the kingdom of heaven are not literal, but symbolic; and refer to the grace by which God hears and answers the prayers of all who come to Him in the name of Jesus. The power to bind and to loose are not the power to forgive sin, but the power to intercede through corporate prayer on behalf of a person afflicted by the devil and deliver him from bondage. The Lord Jesus did not only give this power to Simon Peter and the Apostles, but also to all who are trusting in His blood for their salvation.

“The Truth shall make you free.”

May the grace of the Lord Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, Amen.

Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

Tony Keeton