“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).

This mention of the keys of the kingdom has also aroused varied and wondrous interpretations, yet the meaning is hard to miss.  Jesus is speaking to Peter when he says: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . .”, “whatsoever thou shalt bind . . .”, “whatsoever thou shalt loose . . .”.  The usage of the singular pronouns shows plainly that Jesus is addressing Peter only.  Two chapters later, in Matthew 18:18, Jesus again gives the commission of binding and loosing: “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”.  Here He is addressing the apostles as a group and accordingly uses the plural pronouns, but makes no mention of the keys.  That commission was to Peter only.

A key is used to unlock a door to let someone in, or to lock a door to exclude someone.  In Isaiah 22:22 it has a figurative sense: “ And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”  This was spoken of Eliakim, who was over the household of King Hezekiah, meaning that he had authority to decide who would have access to the king and who would not.  Revelation 3:7 identifies Jesus as having the Key of David, meaning that He has authority to receive someone into the kingdom of God or to exclude someone from the kingdom.

This is the authority that He delegated to Peter at the very beginning of the church.  On the Day of Pentecost, when the listening crowd cried out “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”, Peter answered “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).  This was the use of the Key to receive the first Jewish converts into the church.  A little later, Peter used the Key to receive the first Gentile converts into the church.  He asked, concerning the household of Cornelius, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:47-48).

Peter was also the first to exclude fallen believers from the church.  In Acts 5 it is Peter who pronounces judgement on Ananias and Sapphira.  And in Acts 8:21 it is Peter that excludes Simon from the church, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”

The special commission given to Peter ended with these steps.  It was given to him to unlock the door for both Jew and Gentile believers to be received into the church and also to lock the door to fallen believers, both Jew and Gentile.  After this initial use, the authority of binding and loosing was exercised by all the apostles and by the church that followed in their footsteps.

At this crucial moment in the beginning of the church, there was a need for an acknowledged and decisive leader to show the way to his brethren.  This was the commission our Lord gave to Peter and he was faithful in fulfilling it.  It is not necessary to imagine any greater or more long-term authority for him, and he never claimed to have it.  “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:1-3).