Did Jesus also give the "keys" to the other apostles?

[JGD]

Is this the official teaching of the Church? P1 The “keys of the kingdom” is given unto Peter to bind and loose. P2 The apostles were instructed to bind and loose. Conclusion: Therefore, the keys were also given to the apostles. If the keys were also given to the apostles then the doctrine of the Church that the keys were given to Peter alone must be false.

and

The first premise must be false for the conclusion to be incorrect and that is where I’m getting confused at. How do we demonstrate that the keys are not for binding and loosing?

Your first premise is wrong because you’re basing it on a false fundamental assumption – that the same realm of jurisdiction is meant whenever the phrase “bind and loose” is used. And by “realm of jurisdiction”, I mean realm in the sense of:

1. what types of issues can be bound and loosed, and
2. the physical territory (universal Church or local church/diocese) over which the particular bishop has authority to bind and loose.

As I pointed out earlier, the context in P1 is the universal Church. Our Lord spoke His words in the singular, directly to Peter. Even though the other apostles were present, they were not included. Not only were the “keys” singular (nowhere does Jesus ever give them to the other apostles), but the particular power to bind and loose in Matthew 16 is singular, connected to Peter’s authority over the universal church.

In P2, the context is how to handle problems that arise within a local church. All 12 apostles were given this authority - to bind and loose - within their local church/diocese.

The Pope has authority to “bind and loose” over the whole Catholic Church in matters of faith and morals; and, as Bishop of Rome he also has the authority to “bind and loose” over local matters within that diocese. He alone has two distinct realms of binding and loosing!

Dogmas and doctrines of the Catholic Church ARE NOT considered as local matters to be established by individual dioceses. The Catholic faith is universal.
Local bishops are to exercise their authority in accord with what the Catholic Church teaches.

 

[Hodos]

This was asked before in this forum but I did not find any good answers.
In Mt. 16:18, Christ gave the keys to Peter and he can “bind and loose”, the binding and loosing comes from the keys since that’s what keys does. The same thing goes with Is. 22, wherein it seems the binding and loosing comes from the keys. Why did the Church differentiate the “keys” and “binding and loosing”?

Yes, the keys were given to the Church. We see this in Matthew 18 when discussing the forgiving and retaining of sins, and also in John 20 where all the apostles are given the same authority.

 

[JGD]

What Scripture passage do you have that states Jesus gave the “keys to the kingdom” to “the Church” – or to all 12 apostles? (Matthew 18 and John 20 say nothing about a bestowing of keys.)
The only NT Scripture passage where Jesus bestows the keys is where He gives them to Peter alone.

 

[Hodos]

Matthew 16 addressed to Peter:

" “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 18 addressed to the twelve and to the surrounding crowd:

““Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

John 20 addressed to the remaining ten disciples (Thomas was absent on this occasion) but presumably includes Thomas as well:

" So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

As you well know, historically, the keys have always been understood to be the power to declare forgiveness of sin.

 

[JGD]

As you well know, historically, the keys have always been understood to be the power to declare forgiveness of sin.

Not in the Catholic Church. What denomination do you belong to?
Please provide sources for your assertion that are recorded in the early Church Fathers – and other Church writers prior to the Eastern Schism or Reformation.

 

[Hodos]

Well, for starters, Jesus did when he described the keys as the power to loose and bind, to forgive and retain sins. So, in this category we see Matthew does. Then we have Tertullian, Cyprian, Eusebius, and Augustine all equate the power of the keys with the power to forgive and retain sins.

The Lord saith unto Peter, I say unto thee, (saith He,) 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 (Matt. 16:18–19). To him again, after His resurrection, He says, Feed My sheep. Upon him being one He builds His Church; and although He gives to all the Apostles an equal power, and says, As My Father sent Me, even so I send you; receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosoever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him, and whosoever sins ye shall retain, they shall be retained (John 20:21);—yet in order to manifest unity, He has by His own authority so placed the source of the same unity, as to begin from one ( A Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford: Parker, 1844), Cyprian, On The Unity of the Church 3-4, pp. 133-135).

‘And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bear, at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of thy nostrils’ (Ps. 18.14)…By ‘the foundations of the world,’ we shall understand the strength of God’s wisdom, by which, first, the order of the universe was established, and then, the world itself was founded—a world which will not be shaken. Yet you will not in any way err from the scope of the truth if you suppose that ‘the world’ is actually the Church of God, and that its ‘foundation’ is in the first place, that unspeakably solid rock on which it is founded, as Scripture says: ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’; and elsewhere: ‘The rock, moreover, was Christ.’ For, as the Apostle indicates with these words: ‘No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.’ Then, too, after the Savior himself, you may rightly judge the foundations of the Church to be the words of the prophets and apostles, in accordance with the statement of the Apostle: ‘Built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.’ These foundations of the world have been laid bare because the enemies of God, who once darkened the eyes of our mind, lest we gaze upon divine things, have been routed and put to flight—scattered by the arrows sent from God and put to flight by the rebuke of the Lord and by the blast from his nostrils. As a result, having been saved from these enemies and having received the use of our eyes, we have seen the channels of the sea and have looked upon the foundations of the world. This has happened in our lifetime in many parts of the world ( Commentary on the Psalms, M.P.G., Vol. 23, Col. 173, 176).

 

[Hodos]

If, because the Lord has said to Peter, ‘Upon this rock I will build My Church,’ ‘to thee have I given the keys of the heavenly kingdom;’ or, ‘Whatsoever thou shalt have bound or loosed in earth, shall be bound or loosed in the heavens,’ you therefore presume that the power of binding and loosing has derived to you, that is, to every Church akin to Peter, what sort of man are you, subverting and wholly changing the manifest intention of the Lord, conferring (as that intention did) this (gift) personally upon Peter? ‘On thee,’ He says, ‘will I build My church;’ and, ‘I will give thee the keys’…and, ‘Whatsoever thou shalt have loosed or bound’…In (Peter) himself the Church was reared; that is, through (Peter) himself; (Peter) himself essayed the key; you see what key: ‘Men of Israel, let what I say sink into your ears: Jesus the Nazarene, a man destined by God for you,’ and so forth. (Peter) himself, therefore, was the first to unbar, in Christ’s baptism, the entrance to the heavenly kingdom, in which kingdom are ‘loosed’ the sins that were beforetime ‘bound;’ and those which have not been ‘loosed’ are ‘bound,’ in accordance with true salvation…(Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951), Volume IV, Tertullian, On Modesty 21, p. 99)

And this Church, symbolized in its generality, was personified in the Apostle Peter, on account of the primacy of his apostleship. For, as regards his proper personality, he was by nature one man, by grace one Christian, by still more abounding grace one, and yet also, the first apostle; but when it was said to him, ‘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,’ he represented the universal Church, which in this world is shaken by divers temptations, that come upon it like torrents of rain, floods and tempests, and falleth not, because it is founded upon a rock (petra), from which Peter received his name. For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, ‘On this rock will I build my Church,’ because Peter had said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ On this rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church (Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), Volume VII, St. Augustin, On the Gospel of John , Tractate 124.5).

 

[Hodos]

Note that all four equate the power of the keys with the power to forgive and retain sins.

 

[JGD]

Well, for starters, Jesus did when he described the keys as the power to loose and bind, to forgive and retain sins. So, in this category we see Matthew does. Then we have Tertullian, Cyprian, Eusebius, and Augustine all equate the power of the keys with the power to forgive and retain sins.

The Lord saith unto Peter I say unto thee, (saith He,) 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 (Matt. 16:18–19). To him again, after His resurrection, He says, Feed My sheep. Upon him being one He builds His Church; and although He gives to all the Apostles an equal power,** and says, As My Father sent Me, even so I send you; receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosoever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him, and whosoever sins ye shall retain, they shall be retained (John 20:21);—yet in order to manifest unity, He has by His own authority so placed the source of the same unity, as to begin from one. ( A Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford: Parker, 1844), Cyprian, On The Unity of the Church 3-4, pp. 133-135).

If anything, this demonstrates my point. To Peter alone was given the power, for the purpose of unity, to hold the keys of the kingdom, to bind and loose over that kingdom,and to tend & feed the lambs and sheep in the kingdom. To all the apostles however He gave equal power to forgive sins.

‘And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them. … ( Commentary on the Psalms, M.P.G., Vol. 23, Col. 173, 176).

This quote deals with the various applications of “rock” – not with the power of the keys and the binding & loosing power given to Peter as the holder of the keys.

But thank you for this quote, as it does equate the term “rock” used in Matthew 16, “Upon this rock I will build my Church” with Jesus Himself and not a smaller “stone” as some Protestant denominations contend.

 

[Gorgias]

Well, for starters, Jesus did when he described the keys as the power to loose and bind, to forgive and retain sins.

Umm… no. He didn’t.
In Mt 16, He gives the keys to Peter, and also gives him the proxy to bind and loose.
In Mt 18, he doesn’t give the keys to the apostles, but gives them the proxy to bind and loose.
And, in John 20, Jesus gives the power to forgive sins in His name, but there’s no mention of either ‘keys’ or ‘binding and loosing’.

So… where are you getting your exegesis from?

Then we have Tertullian, Cyprian, Eusebius, and Augustine all equate the power of the keys with the power to forgive and retain sins.

Tertullian? Seriously?

Upon [Peter] being one [Jesus] builds His Church; and although He gives to all the Apostles an equal power, and says, As My Father sent Me, even so I send you; receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosoever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him, and whosoever sins ye shall retain, they shall be retained (John 20:21);—yet in order to manifest unity, He has by His own authority so placed the source of the same unity, as to begin from one

This is the quote from Cyprian. Let’s look at it: he’s responding to the schism of Novatian, and his whole theme here is unity. Not “the keys”, as such, but unity. The point here isn’t that all the apostles have keys, but rather, that Peter is one person, and through him there’s unity of leadership; and, that the Apostles are united in ministry. So… it’s not what you’re claiming, I’m afraid.

This has happened in our lifetime in many parts of the world ( Commentary on the Psalms, M.P.G., Vol. 23, Col. 173, 176).

This is Eusebius. Follow your citation another paragraph or so, please. You’ll find the following: “Peter, on whom is built Christ’s Church, against which (Church) the gates of hell shall not prevail.” Notice that it’s not “Peter and the apostles” or “the keys and the binding/loosing, given to all”… it’s just Peter. So again, not really what you’re claiming.

what sort of man are you, subverting and wholly changing the manifest intention of the Lord, conferring (as that intention did) this (gift) personally upon Peter?

Tertullian? Non-starter. Sorry.

Your Augustine quote fails the test, too, I’m afraid. Augustine affirms that the ‘keys’ and such were given to him, personally, and in such, he stood as a representative of the universal Church. He alone, Augustine is saying, is representative.

Note that all four equate the power of the keys with the power to forgive and retain sins.

Nope. They mention each of these… but they’re not ‘equating’ or ‘conflating’ them, as you have.

 

[Hodos]

To Peter alone was given the power, for the purpose of unity, to hold the keys of the kingdom, to bind and loose over that kingdom,and to tend & feed the lambs and sheep in the kingdom. To all the apostles however He gave equal power to forgive sins.

Except the fact that if you read the passage it explicitly links the office of the keys to the power of forgiving and retaining sin, which was the application I was making, and says explicitly that this has not been granted to Peter alone. It says it was granted to Peter first and conferred on the apostles corporately later. Urging unity is not the same thing as defining the office of the keys.

 

[JGD]

…(Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951), Volume IV, Tertullian, On Modesty 21, p. 99)

Tertullian was ordained a priest in 200 AD and joined the heretical Montanist sect at some point after 206 AD, later leaving that sect and forming his own. The above writing of his, “On Modesty”, was written after he had left the Montanist sect and formed his own heretical sect.
A quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia: “….After writing more virulently against the Church than even against heathen and persecutors, he separated from the Montanists and founded a sect of his own. …”

I would not expect any writing of Tertullians written after his rejection of the Church to interpret this verse, or any other, in a manner that would uphold a unique power and authority in the Church as given to the papacy alone.

…The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church (Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), Volume VII, St. Augustin, On the Gospel of John , Tractate 124.5).

First a recap: the power to “forgive” or “retain” sins was given to all 12 apostles – the first “bishops” of the Church.

Upon ordination as a Bishop, a man has the power to forgive or retain sins. However, this power of “binding and loosing” of sins does have as it’s visible source, the Pope – because it is the Pope who has final authority over who is ordained a bishop.
(The bishop has power to ordain priests in his diocese. He can grant priests the power to forgive/retain sin; he can also choose to withhold that power from a priest in his diocese.)

 

[JGD]

Great response Gorgias. Had I read it before starting mine I could have skipped responding. (Had an 1 1/2 hour interruption after starting mine.)

 

[JGD]

JGD:

To Peter alone was given the power, for the purpose of unity, to hold the keys of the kingdom, to bind and loose over that kingdom,and to tend & feed the lambs and sheep in the kingdom. To all the apostles however He gave equal power to forgive sins.

Except the fact that if you read the passage it explicitly links the office of the keys to the power of forgiving and retaining sin,

Where?? Please post the Scripture passage that links the "keys"of the kingdom with “forgiving and retaining sin” — a passage that contains both those phrases.

 

[Gorgias]

Had I read it before starting mine I could have skipped responding.

Thanks! Actually, your response included something I was looking for, but didn’t find quickly – the timing of his separation from the Church and the writing of the citation that @Hodos provided! Awesome!

 

[bob4]

The keys were given to Peter alone; the keys are a symbol of authority as in Is 22 (the king’s high steward was the king’s representative who opened and closed the court business for the day) and the giving of the keys is the symbolic act by which authority is conferred. In Mt 16 Jesus gave Peter a new name which indicates a special function or mission in salvation history and occurs frequently in the Bible. A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture explains; “The name ‘Rock’ is not known to have been used of any other person before, either in Gr. or in Heb. Its associations are drawn from Is 51:1 (Abraham, the rock from which Israel was hewn); Is 28:16, which is applied to Jesus himself in Mt 21:42; Dn 2:34-35, 44-45, where the stone stands for the new kingdom itself. This implies that Peter is more than a mere foundation, as the other apostles are. The expression used for ‘Church’ is that normally used in the LXX for the ‘community or assembly of God’, i.e. Israel as God’s chosen people.” Christ gave Peter the keys and the power to bind and loose.

 

[JGD]

Except the fact that if you read the passage it explicitly links the office of the keys to the power of forgiving and retaining sin, which was the application I was making,

What the passage explicitly shows is that the power to forgive or retain sins does not derive from keys, but from Our Lord’s bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles by breathing on them.

John 20:22-23 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

 

[yankeesouth]

I think the significance of the name change and John 21:15-17 also bear out the unique power of binding and loosing given to the first Pope (and after).

 

[Hodos]

Where?? Please post the Scripture passage that links the "keys"of the kingdom with “forgiving and retaining sin” — a passage that contains both those phrases.

Matthew 16:19, Matthew 18:18, John 20:22-23 which has already been quoted. And again, as demonstrated already, the Church fathers agree with me on this point.

 

[anon91549587]

cool facts you got there. I read somewhere that Peter was the first person named “Peter” on earth. Think it was scott hahn who mentioned this.