T
TheLittleLady
Guest
We are not “sola scriptura” people. We also have the Tradition and teaching of the Magisterium.
Why does the authority of binding and loosing only go to the Apostles in Matthew 18:18
- Status
A
AntiochPeters1stSee
Guest
The answer is simple. The parallel passage In Johns gospel is John 22. Jesus breathes on ALL THE APOSTLES, and says “receives the Holy Spirit, whoever’s sins you forgive are forgiven and whoever’s sins you retain are retained.” Notice Jesus breathes on ALL THE APOSTLES, and not just on Peter and the the rest of the Apostles receive the Holy Spirit through Peter. As Saint Augustine says, “what was given to Peter was given to all the Apostles.”
C
C.Longinus
Guest
When did Thomas get this power? He was not present initially.
C
commenter
Guest
The chapters are not part of Scripture itself. They are just a convenience added centuries afterwards. We can’t assume that the context for a verse is a whole chapter, or only in that chapter.
B
Bobb11t
Guest
I’m not trying to make a case on way or the other. My question is why do Catholics think that in Matthew 18:18 Jesus is talking to only the Apostles
G
Gorgias
Guest
LOL! And when an answer is given, you ask “why not?”, and make the case that maybe – just maybe – the answer is wrong (without attempting to justify the objection).
B
Bon_Croix
Guest
Jesus handing the keys to Peter is the passage traditionally used to defend Peter’s authority; not Jesus breathing on the Apostles.
“Scripture and Tradition”; not “Scripture or Tradition”…
“Scripture and Tradition”; not “Scripture or Tradition”…
M
Mintaka
Guest
The power of the keys and the power of binding and loosing are similar but not the same.
Keys (specifically the keys to the palace and its rooms and storerooms, the city gates, the Temple gates, etc.) were the symbol of the king’s steward. (And you can go read about Shebna and all that.) The steward was often a priest also.
“Binding and loosing” was a priestly and teaching/rabbi power. Broadly, it was the power to interpret the Law, and thus to determine if someone had sinned, as well as what they must do to atone (if it were a sin), and what practices one must follow. “Binding” prohibited things, and “loosing” permitted them. So it was normal that such a power would not belong to just one man (like the high priest), but rather would be shared by a large number of the guys with authority and learning under the Law. (And you might recall Jesus complaining that the Pharisees “bind burdens” onto people.)
So Peter (and those who take his specific office as his specific successors) has the Keys to Jesus’ Palace, which is in Heaven, and to a lot of other stuff. Basically, control of the Church that is His household, until Jesus comes back in glory.
Peter has primacy in binding and loosing (associated with the Father granting Peter correct knowledge of Jesus’ identity), but he is not the only guy with that power. The other Apostles get it later.
Obviously, loosing someone’s sin is almost the same as unlocking Heaven to let someone in. These are closely related powers. But they are not really the same thing.
Keys (specifically the keys to the palace and its rooms and storerooms, the city gates, the Temple gates, etc.) were the symbol of the king’s steward. (And you can go read about Shebna and all that.) The steward was often a priest also.
“Binding and loosing” was a priestly and teaching/rabbi power. Broadly, it was the power to interpret the Law, and thus to determine if someone had sinned, as well as what they must do to atone (if it were a sin), and what practices one must follow. “Binding” prohibited things, and “loosing” permitted them. So it was normal that such a power would not belong to just one man (like the high priest), but rather would be shared by a large number of the guys with authority and learning under the Law. (And you might recall Jesus complaining that the Pharisees “bind burdens” onto people.)
So Peter (and those who take his specific office as his specific successors) has the Keys to Jesus’ Palace, which is in Heaven, and to a lot of other stuff. Basically, control of the Church that is His household, until Jesus comes back in glory.
Peter has primacy in binding and loosing (associated with the Father granting Peter correct knowledge of Jesus’ identity), but he is not the only guy with that power. The other Apostles get it later.
Obviously, loosing someone’s sin is almost the same as unlocking Heaven to let someone in. These are closely related powers. But they are not really the same thing.
Last edited:
T
TK421
Guest
You can’t really “prove” things in exegesis the way you prove things in math, but you can still determine rational or irrational/improbable interpretations. Jesus is speaking to the Apostles in private and if he was speaking to everybody about binding and loosing than it would be anarchy.
Last edited:
M
Mintaka
Guest
In a way, all the saints in glory will eventually have the power to bind and loose, because we will all “judge angels.”
But not yet.
But not yet.
T
thistle
Guest
I think you are confused as to what is meant by judging angels.
A
ArchStanton
Guest
Augustine
Among these [apostles] Peter alone almost everywhere deserved to represent the whole Church . Because of that representation of the Church, which only he bore, he deserved to hear “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” ( Sermons 295:2 [ A.D. 411 ]).
Who is ignorant that the first of the apostles is the most blessed Peter? ( Commentary on John 56:1 [ A.D. 416 ]).
G
Genesis315
Guest
The Church teaches that the same supreme authority given to Peter and his successors alone is also given to the entire college of bishops as a body (which includes their head, the bishop of Rome). It’s an and/both situation. See Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 22.
The Fathers are unanimous in agreeing that the power to bind and loose was not given to all Christians. The only outlier I have ever seen is a bizarre passage from Origen where he says this power was given to all Christians and as a result all Christians can forgive sins, excommunicate, and no Christian can ever be prevailed against by sin or heresy. This is of course demonstrably false. Elsewhere, though, he gives a more traditional interpretation.
The Fathers are unanimous in agreeing that the power to bind and loose was not given to all Christians. The only outlier I have ever seen is a bizarre passage from Origen where he says this power was given to all Christians and as a result all Christians can forgive sins, excommunicate, and no Christian can ever be prevailed against by sin or heresy. This is of course demonstrably false. Elsewhere, though, he gives a more traditional interpretation.
Z
ziapueblo
Guest
And St Augustine also said:
“For these keys not one man but the unity of the Church received. Hereby, then, is the excellence of Peter set forth that he was an emblem of the Church in its universality and unity, when it was said to him, I give to thee what was given to all. For that ye may know that the Church did receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven hear in another place what the Lord said to all Apostles. “Receive the Holy Ghost,” and then instantly, “whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain they are retained”[St. John xx. 22,23].
ZP
“For these keys not one man but the unity of the Church received. Hereby, then, is the excellence of Peter set forth that he was an emblem of the Church in its universality and unity, when it was said to him, I give to thee what was given to all. For that ye may know that the Church did receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven hear in another place what the Lord said to all Apostles. “Receive the Holy Ghost,” and then instantly, “whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain they are retained”[St. John xx. 22,23].
Yet St Augustine seems to think they go hand in hand as per what he said above.
ZP
A
ArchStanton
Guest
Cyprian
With a false bishop appointed for themselves by heretics , they dare even to set sail and carry letters from schismatics and blasphemers to the Chair of Peter and to the principal church [at Rome], in which sacerdotal unity has its source " ( Epistle to Cornelius [Bishop of Rome] 59:14 [ A.D. 252 ]).
The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” he says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” . . . On him he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter , whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair . So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one , fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church? ( The Unity of the Catholic Church 4 [ A.D. 251 ]).
With a false bishop appointed for themselves by heretics , they dare even to set sail and carry letters from schismatics and blasphemers to the Chair of Peter and to the principal church [at Rome], in which sacerdotal unity has its source " ( Epistle to Cornelius [Bishop of Rome] 59:14 [ A.D. 252 ]).
The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” he says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” . . . On him he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter , whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair . So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one , fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church? ( The Unity of the Catholic Church 4 [ A.D. 251 ]).
Last edited:
Z
ziapueblo
Guest
Cyprian of Carthage, in “On the Unity of the Church” (the longer version), refers to the keys, stating that Peter received them on behalf of the Twelve, and that the bishops, being successors of the twelve, are all heirs of the keys, because the episcopal order is a single, undivided entity. Hence, the power of the keys belongs to ALL bishops, and not merely the bishop of Rome.
ZP
ZP
E
EndTimes
Guest
PS - PETER means ROCK…
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied,
“Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
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.”
Last edited:
C
C.Longinus
Guest
Better put, what Peter does singularly, the Apostles can do collectively.
A
ArchStanton
Guest
Cyril of Jerusalem
In the power of the same Holy Spirit, Peter, both the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in the name of Christ healed Aeneas the paralytic at Lydda, which is now called Diospolis [Acts 9 ;3 2-3 4] ( Catechetical Lectures 17;27 [ A.D. 350 ]).
Ambrose of Milan
[Christ] made answer: “You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church . . .” Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]? ( The Faith 4:5 [ A.D. 379 ]).
In the power of the same Holy Spirit, Peter, both the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, in the name of Christ healed Aeneas the paralytic at Lydda, which is now called Diospolis [Acts 9 ;3 2-3 4] ( Catechetical Lectures 17;27 [ A.D. 350 ]).
Ambrose of Milan
[Christ] made answer: “You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church . . .” Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]? ( The Faith 4:5 [ A.D. 379 ]).
Z
ziapueblo
Guest
St. Jerome
“But you say that the Church is founded on Peter, although the same thing is done in another place upon all the Apostles, and all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the solidity of the Church is established equally upon all.”[see: S. Hieron., Adv. Jovin. i. cap. xxvi.; P.L. xxiii. 247].
St. Ambrose
“therefore the Lord gave the Apostles that which was previously part of his own juridical authority. Hear Him saying I will give the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, to thee he says, I will give the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, that you may bind and loose. What he said to peter is said to the Apostles.”[St. Ambrose, Enarratio in Psalm. xxxviii. 37; P.L. xiv. 1037].
We can hurl quotes from the Fathers back and forth all day long, it’s not going to get us anywhere.
ZP
“But you say that the Church is founded on Peter, although the same thing is done in another place upon all the Apostles, and all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the solidity of the Church is established equally upon all.”[see: S. Hieron., Adv. Jovin. i. cap. xxvi.; P.L. xxiii. 247].
St. Ambrose
“therefore the Lord gave the Apostles that which was previously part of his own juridical authority. Hear Him saying I will give the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, to thee he says, I will give the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, that you may bind and loose. What he said to peter is said to the Apostles.”[St. Ambrose, Enarratio in Psalm. xxxviii. 37; P.L. xiv. 1037].
We can hurl quotes from the Fathers back and forth all day long, it’s not going to get us anywhere.
ZP
- Status