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"The famous utterance `on this rock I will build My church' must not be judged by the
ideas that have gathered round it. `On this rock I will build My Israel, the new Israel that
is to grow out of the old one', is the meaning quite in accordance with thoughts that were
current in the first generation of Christendom."
The opposition of death and Hades could not overcome this assembly because it was
for ever linked with the conqueror of death (Rev. 1: 18).
In addition to this the Lord said to Peter:
". . . . . I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . . . ." (Matt. 16: 19).
Here is a figure of a building with keys to open from the outside, and we have seen
that the kingdom of heaven is not the Body of Christ, nor was Peter given any power to
include or cast out any who form this church, for its membership had already been
decided by God before the creation (Eph. 1: 4). Peter used the keys of the kingdom in the
early chapters of the Acts as he declared how entry to that kingdom could be obtained.
Peter had no peculiar prerogative in this matter, for it applied to other ministers of the
circumcision. It is clear that neither Peter nor the other disciples understood Christ to say
that he was to have supreme authority permanently. The "binding" and "loosing" in the
words that follow was given to all the disciples (18: 18), and also after the Resurrection
(John 20: 23). This assumes that the use of the keys and the power of binding and
loosing will be in accordance with the teaching and mind of Christ.
Peter was simply the first among equals, because he was the spokesman for the faith
of the other disciples. Binding and loosing does not refer to the forgiveness of sins. To
`bind' is to forbid; to `loose' is to permit, and the expressions belonged to the technical
rabbinical language which was well understood at that time. It is important to notice that
it is "whatsoever thou shalt bind", not "whomsoever thou shalt bind", and there is no
indication that Peter was able to pass this power on to his successors, in spite of the
advocates of papal supremacy.
Not only must we be careful not to go further than the plain meaning of the words, but
also we must give due regard to the tense of the verbs here. On the surface it looks as
though Peter was given power to influence heaven as well as earth, "whatever you bind
one earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven" (16: 19, N.I.V.), and this is what Roman Catholic doctrine teaches. Both verbs
here are in the future perfect passive. Dr. J. R. Mantey in "The Misinterpretation of the
Perfect Tense in John 20:23, Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18" states:
". . . . . according to the unanimous testimony of all Greek grammarians, the perfect tense
pictures a past action, the result of which was present to the speaker or writer",
and this is supported by many reputable grammarian. Accordingly Dr. R. O. Yeager
translates verse 19:
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, but whatever you bind on
earth is that which shall already have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose
on earth is that which shall already have been loosed in the heavens."