In your opinion, what does the phrase "keys to the kingdom" refer to?

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Christ did not found many varied churches, but one Church-- one alone. In the Bible it is called the “one body”, “one faith, one Lord, one baptism”. This fundamental unicity is not found in the thousands of splintered Protestant sects, but in Christ’s one, sole Church on earth, the Holy Catholic Church.
To the Church, specifically, the successors of the Apostles, Christ gave the Keys (which represent spiritual authority)-- and most especially to Saint Peter and his successors, the bishops of Rome (the Popes). He also promised that the Church would not be overcome or fall into heresy, and promised to lead it into all truth. St. Paul also refers to the Church as the “pillar and foundation of the truth”.
These Keys are a symbol of authority from Heaven, a Heavenly directive to continue apostolic ministry in both Word and Sacrament, via the Apostles’ successors, the Bishops in union with the bishop of Rome.

Hope this helps.
 
Matthew 16:15-20

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

first i look to see why Jesus gives him the keys, peter acknowledged Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. So after this proclamation from peter Jesus says he will give the keys. what do keys do? open and lock. so whatever is open or lock on earth will be opened or locked in heaven with these keys.

my friend i ask you the question Jesus asked His disciples, who do you say is Jesus?
 
Clearly the keys represent a delegated authority to act in a way that is as “binding” as the authority of the Supreme King …

Just as clearly the assage is a reflection of Isaiah Chapter 22.

To the poster who stated htat we are to make and spread copies of the keys… no that is not what we are supposed to do … the wanton spreading of access allows those who might act in opposition to and to the detriment of the citizen … if the goal is univesal access … there is no need of “keys” …

Do you lock the doors to your home when you leave? Why? … because you do not want your possessions stolen nor the inhabitants of your home violated nor molested … you care for what is precious … if all are allowed access and if access is not controlled chaos reigns …

Similarly, the Authority can delegate responsiblility and trust for his possessions to abother trusted individual. This person receives their authhority to act and is answerable to the “King” … the King does not give up any authority to act but can allow one to act on his behalf …

That is the essence of Isaiah and Matthew … Peter was answerable to Christ … the succecssors of Peter [becuase it is an ongoing and perpetual office -the seat of Moses, the Chair of Peter - the Office of Prime Minister] derive their authority and are answerable to Christ .as well …

The real question we should be asking is whay any mere mortal would accept the Office?
 
mmmcounts said:
I guess I’m trying to learn a little bit about the Catholic Church, mostly so I can talk about it accurately instead of making the same false accusations about “what they believe” like you see almost all Christians of any sect doing.
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Oh, well then in that case I offer my apologies. It seemed like you were merely baiting with the intention of disproving Catholic beliefs. As the Church is two thousand years old, survived countless challenges and threats to become the largest Christian denomination in the world it must inspire curiousity. It is of course ridiculous to assume one individual with elementary scriptural knowledge could do any harm.

Actually, I’m not aware of Christians researching other “sect” or denominations to improve their conversational knowledge. How often do discuss Catholicism in your daily activities? There is such a wealth of culture, tradition, spirituality, philosophy, individual achievement, and beauty in the Catholic Church that I have no need to spend time researching any other.

As you are nearing two hundred posts here perhaps there are better resources to help you in your journey. Of the library of books available, “Rome Sweet Home” by Dr. Scott Hahn may be a good read for you. He was once a sola scripturist too. Actually many great Catholics were converts like St. Paul, St. Augustine, Father John Neuhaus, Cardinal Newman, G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, to name a few.

There is quite a lot of information on this site. Other website resources would include fisheaters.com, catholic information network, catholic apologetics.info, davidmacd.com and word on fire.com.

There is a lot of disinformation and bigotry towards Catholicism. Much of what you may know could be false. Many bigots love to bring up the crusades, the inquisition, Boston scandal, etc, without properly understanding those issues. Dogma often gets misunderstood. If you just remember that Jesus founded and heads the Church unlike any man made Protestant offshoot you should be able to keep things in context and perspective.
 
Ockham said:
Oh, well then in that case I offer my apologies. It seemed like you were merely baiting with the intention of disproving Catholic beliefs. As the Church is two thousand years old, survived countless challenges and threats to become the largest Christian denomination in the world it must inspire curiousity.
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Actually, technically the Church isn’t a denomination, it’s pre-denominational. 👍
 
My father used to say that they were the Seven Mysteries, as each is concerned with binding and loosing.
 
Hello 3m
mmmcounts said:
The only time the phrase is used is in Matthew 16:19- “and I will give to thee the keys of the reign of the heavens, and whatever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be having been bound in the heavens, and whatever thou mayest loose upon the earth shall be having been loosed in the heavens.” (The literal translation preserves the cool and rare use of the future perfect periphrastic for luo and deo- for helpful grammar charts, go to this link englishpage.com/verbpage/futureperfect.html and look at Use 2).

There is one other place in the New Testament outside of Revelation where the word “key” is used in a similar way. Luke 11:52- “Woe to you, the lawyers [experts of the law], because ye took away the key of the knowledge; yourselves ye did not enter; and those coming in, ye did hinder.”

So it’s a key of knowledge rather than a key to the kingdom. By taking it away they hindered people from coming in, and they did not enter themselves. But go into what, and enter where? Perhaps the kingdom, or something closely associated with the “reign of the heavens.”

Do you think the passage from Luke 11 is relevant to interpreting the phrase used in Matthew 16? Any other thoughts?
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I think that you are dead on when you liken these two uses of the word “keys”. You will notice in Luke 11 just before He rebukes the Scribes and Pharasees Jesus is talking about the prophets.
47Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
49Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
50That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Rev19b:worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
And in John 5:39Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

The kingdom of heaven, eternal life, the testimony of Jesus, are all the same thing. So what Jesus is saying in Matt16 is that the keys of the kingdom of heaven is the knowledge that Jesus imparts through His word. This is also brought out in John 6:53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. What is He talking about when He says flesh? John1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Also, there is John17:17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. and 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So the knowledge of the kingdom of God, eternal life is imparted by the word of God which is Jesus. Was spoken of by the prophets, Jesus. Is the word of truth by which we are sanctified, Jesus.
 
Richard_Kastner said:
This is also brought out in John 6:53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. What is He talking about when He says flesh? John1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Also, there is John17:17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. and 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So the knowledge of the kingdom of God, eternal life is imparted by the word of God which is Jesus. Was spoken of by the prophets, Jesus. Is the word of truth by which we are sanctified, Jesus.
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Oh, is that what Jesus meant! Huh. For two thousand years the Church thought He meant transubstantiation. Heck, we even designed our entire Mass around it. Richard, can you get ahold of the Pope and let him in on this because I don’t think he knows. He’ll probably have to call another council, Vatican III, to straighten out all the bishops. Thank you for finding this scripture passage and interpreting this subject for the billion or so of us Catholics.
 
Ockham said:
Oh, is that what Jesus meant! Huh. For two thousand years the Church thought He meant transubstantiation. Heck, we even designed our entire Mass around it. Richard, can you get ahold of the Pope and let him in on this because I don’t think he knows. He’ll probably have to call another council, Vatican III, to straighten out all the bishops. Thank you for finding this scripture passage and interpreting this subject for the billion or so of us Catholics.
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Your Welcome!
 
Well we know it isn’t in reference to the magic kingdom of disney 😃
 
Christ gave Peter charge of His flock. This means the ability to bind what is bound on earth in Heaven and the authority to loose in Heaven what is loosed on earth. " Which is easier, to say your sins are forgiven you, or to get up and walk home?" Christ was also teaching the folloers to forgive a person his/her transgressions and lack of knowledge as well as enlighten them to the true meaning of the word.
In what I can gather from this statement Christ was giving Peter the authority to permit repentant souls into the Kingdom of Heaven and to disallow those who are not truly repentant of their sins agaist mankind entrance into the Kingdom.🙂 Mary1173
 
Lots of great conjecture; kudos to all who have contributed to this thread! ! Like any passage we study from antiquity, I’m sure there are many nuances and subtleties to the text that we may have missed… I don’t wish to challenge or discredit any (name removed by moderator)ut, but I thought you might like to consider a few of the historical “subtexts” to this passage. 1) Protestant minister turned Catholic apologist Scott Hahn made a brilliant point (I thought) by observing that Jesus and his subjects were undoubtedly aware of the teachings of the Torah… it seems unlikely that he would choose the words of Matthew 16 if he were unfammiliar with Isaiah 22:22-26 in which a king gives his power to his successor-- so it seems logical that at the very least, Jesus was handing over the ruling power of his “office” in much the same way as a king would… the image of a modern dignatary receiving the keys to a city from an acting mayor makes for a “poetic” homage or allegory. 2) In the vacinity of Rome’s acropolis, there were at least two versions of a key shaped graffiti found everywhere. Until Peter’s grave was indentified in the 1940’s, most people assumed that this “tag” was a sort of good luck omen. It turned out to be a modification of the chi-ro which employed the P shape as a latin P (for Peter) rather than as a Greek rho (for the 2nd letter/sound of the word christ)… so regardless of how Jesus intended it, it was clear that the early christians viewed the key-Peter ligature as a blessing and a symbol of the intimate unity of papacy and church which may have been missed in Jerusalem for instance. 3)Though not directly realted to the “key " question, I think you can learn a lot about Peter’s “duties” by looking at some of the OT people whose names were changed by God… Abraham and Sarah for instance. Though not changed by God, Joseph’s name is changed to Zaphenath-Paneah in Genesis 41 a name meaning “the one who furnishes the nourishment of life.” …certainly a parallel to the church’s mission to feed the hungry(body and soul). Lastly… if you search for “seven gates of hell” the most common reference is not a biblical or even Christian one… it is the story of the (sex and procreation) goddess Ishtar and her descent into the neatherworld to rescue her lover… although we are not as familiar with various pagan goddesses today, it seems pretty likely that the early church members were surrounded by pagan adherants to several versions of the fertility goddess, possibly giving us an idea of what sort of door would be closed with the keys.
 
Jerry_Marino said:
the gospel
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jerry,
we should really extend this study a little bit more, don’t you think.
Everyone has had this in their catachism, I’m sure.

Mt.16:19 "I 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
this should be read from verse 17–19 Peter was the spokesman of all the disciples. 🙂

Jn.20: 22-23 Later, Jesus appeared to the discilpes and said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. 22. And He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 23. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not foregive them, they are not forgiven.”

We have been called out of darkness into His wonderful light. 1Pet.2:9 (All Christians)
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

God bless you,
jean8
 
Hi, Revere1618,

Enjoyed reading your post. 🙂 Thanks for the quote from Scott Hahn.
Revere1618 said:
Lots of great conjecture; kudos to all who have contributed to this thread! ! Like any passage we study from antiquity, I’m sure there are many nuances and subtleties to the text that we may have missed… I don’t wish to challenge or discredit any (name removed by moderator)ut, but I thought you might like to consider a few of the historical “subtexts” to this passage. 1) Protestant minister turned Catholic apologist Scott Hahn made a brilliant point (I thought) by observing that Jesus and his subjects were undoubtedly aware of the teachings of the Torah… it seems unlikely that he would choose the words of Matthew 16 if he were unfammiliar with Isaiah 22:22-26 in which a king gives his power to his successor-- so it seems logical that at the very least, Jesus was handing over the ruling power of his “office” in much the same way as a king would… the image of a modern dignatary receiving the keys to a city from an acting mayor makes for a “poetic” homage or allegory. 2) In the vacinity of Rome’s acropolis, there were at least two versions of a key shaped graffiti found everywhere. Until Peter’s grave was indentified in the 1940’s, most people assumed that this “tag” was a sort of good luck omen. It turned out to be a modification of the chi-ro which employed the P shape as a latin P (for Peter) rather than as a Greek rho (for the 2nd letter/sound of the word christ)… so regardless of how Jesus intended it, it was clear that the early christians viewed the key-Peter ligature as a blessing and a symbol of the intimate unity of papacy and church which may have been missed in Jerusalem for instance. 3)Though not directly realted to the “key " question, I think you can learn a lot about Peter’s “duties” by looking at some of the OT people whose names were changed by God… Abraham and Sarah for instance. Though not changed by God, Joseph’s name is changed to Zaphenath-Paneah in Genesis 41 a name meaning “the one who furnishes the nourishment of life.” …certainly a parallel to the church’s mission to feed the hungry(body and soul). Lastly… if you search for “seven gates of hell” the most common reference is not a biblical or even Christian one… it is the story of the (sex and procreation) goddess Ishtar and her descent into the neatherworld to rescue her lover… although we are not as familiar with various pagan goddesses today, it seems pretty likely that the early church members were surrounded by pagan adherants to several versions of the fertility goddess, possibly giving us an idea of what sort of door would be closed with the keys.
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God bless
 
from lilies: i believe keys to kingdom is loving our creator with all our hearts and loving one another the same. jesus said"what you do to the least of my bretheran you do to me" the key is our genuine care and true love of all and i think included is respect for nature god created may our almighty creator bless you all in jesus name i ask this lilies;)
 
Hi, Lilies,

This is a very nice thought.
lilies said:
from lilies: i believe keys to kingdom is loving our creator with all our hearts and loving one another the same. jesus said"what you do to the least of my bretheran you do to me" the key is our genuine care and true love of all and i think included is respect for nature god created may our almighty creator bless you all in jesus name i ask this lilies;)
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God bless
 
jean8 said:
jerry,
we should really extend this study a little bit more, don’t you think.
Everyone has had this in their catachism, I’m sure.

Mt.16:19 "I 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
this should be read from verse 17–19 Peter was the spokesman of all the disciples. 🙂

Jn.20: 22-23 Later, Jesus appeared to the discilpes and said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. 22. And He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” 23. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not foregive them, they are not forgiven.”

We have been called out of darkness into His wonderful light. 1Pet.2:9 (All Christians)
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

God bless you,
jean8
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o.k. but i must warn you do to my age i can’t stretch too far. what exactly you want to discuss. my comment of two words? the Gospel?

hope to hear from you again.

have a blessed day.
 
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