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DavidJ - are you reading my posts?  There's a big difference between saying "there were no New Testament writings" and saying something happened PRIOR TO the N.T. writings.

N.T. scripture records what was already being preached by the Apostles.  The Apostles didn't derive their teachings from the N.T. writings.  Jesus commissioned Peter to the office of "Al-bayit" well before the Gospel according to Mathew was written.

Again my friend you are in eror! "And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT)


  Again the error of the Roman Church is evidentg. ]After Jesus had declared that He would build His church on the truth of Peter's noble confession, He went on to say, "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" ( Matthew 16:19 ). Later, addressing all the disciples, our Lord repeated the words, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" ( Matthew 18:18 ).

Jesus gave Peter "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," not the keys to heaven.1 A key was a badge of authority ( Luke 11:52 ), and then as now was used to open doors. Peter used the keys Christ gave him to open the door to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost ( Acts 2 ), to the Samaritans after the preaching of Philip ( Acts 8:14-17 ), and to the Gentiles after the Lord had sent him a vision and an appeal from Cornelius ( Acts 10 ).

The concept of "binding and loosing" found in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 was commonly used among the Jewish people in relation to the authority of the rabbis to forbid and permit certain practices. Jesus gave Peter and the apostles authority over both the doctrine and practices of the church. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, they would be given wisdom to know what to forbid and what to permit.

David

DavidJ – I don’t understand why you cannot grasp what I’m saying.  How could the original 12 derive their teachings from the N.T. scriptures when they didn’t even begin to write them until ~20 years after Pentecost? Did they put everything on hold until the H.S. inspired them to write infallible scripture?

The original twelve learned at the feet of Jesus for 3 years during his earthly ministry.  During this entire time, there were no N.T. writings.  For about 20 years, the Apostles and their successors continued to proclaim what they learned from Jesus, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all without a single N.T. writing having yet been written.

Even the quote from 2Peter that you provided shows this.  “And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul ALSO wrote to you with the WISDOM God gave him …”.  Peter was already preaching what Paul had written.  Paul wrote from the wisdom God gave him, not from other N.T. writings.

If you understood the Jewish roots of our faith you would not have such a difficult time understanding this.  Jewish Rabbis did not learn exclusively from reading scripture.  They were NOT “Sola-Scripturists”!  They were educated in both the Written AND Oral Torah at the feet of another Rabbi.  The original 12 learned at the feet of Rabbi Yeshua, not from N.T. scriptures that did not yet exist.  Likewise, successors to the original 12 did not learn exclusively from scripture.  They were either given direct revelation by the H.S., as is the case with Paul (who still went to the other apostles for confirmation and most likely additional catechesis), or they were “semicha’d” by other apostles.

Your post nicely describes the authority Jesus grants to the leaders of His Church.  Yes, Jesus granted the Apostles special authority to bind and loose.  This is something many Protestants will not acknowledge, despite the clear message from scripture.  But to whom did he grant this authority?  Was it only the original 12?  What about Paul?  What about Mathias?  Did they too have this special authority?  But they were not in Jesus’ presence when he granted the authority to bind and loose?  They received this authority through “semicha”, a.k.a. apostolic succession.  Check it out in scripture – every time God appoints a new leader to the Church, hands are laid upon that person.  

You also rightly pointed out that while Jesus granted the authority to bind and loose to all of the Apostles, he only gave the keys to Peter.  This more clearly identifies Peter’s role as the leader of the apostles, and the “Al-bayit” of the Kingdom Jesus established, as was prophesied in Is 22:22.  This is why of all the Apostles, it was only Peter to whom Jesus gave a new and special calling, signified by Jesus changing Simon’s name to Cepha.

Jesus told Peter, "I'll give unto you the keys keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven".

Once we find our way through the maze of error of the Roman Church we can see of course, it's bound or loosed by faith. Because God's Word does not return to Him void, but accomplishes that for which it was sent. And if we abide in His Word, and His Word abides in us, we can ask anything in His Name, and He'll BIND or LOOSE it.

So you see, the KEYS Jesus gave to Peter were FAITH Keys. If you'd like to see the FIRST time they were used, turn to Acts chapter 2. After the Church was inaugurated by Jesus Christ, on the Day of Pentecost, the 120 original Christians emerged from the upper room and their spokesman, Peter, addressed the huge crowd of Jews who'd come from all over the Roman world, to observe the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost, at the Temple in Jerusalem. Beginning with the prophet Joel, Peter preached to Israel the PRESENT Truth.

He identified Jesus in the Scripture. Those Israelites saw plainly that they'd killed their very Messiah. And in desperation cried, 'Men and brethren! What shall we do? We've sacrificed our God'.

Then Peter replied, 'Repent, and be baptized, in the NAME of the LORD JESUS CHRIST for the REMISSION of sin, and you SHALL be born-again!' Oh my! The KEY turned right then, and about three thousand souls entered the kingdom of heaven, which is, the NEW-BIRTH.

Peter unlocked the kingdom of heaven, or new birth, to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost. Until Peter turned the keys, or IMPARTED the faith, no Jew, other than those in the upper room with him, could be added to the Kingdom.

But the kingdom is not restricted to the Jews. For Moses and the prophets and Psalms had spoken beforehand concerning the Gentiles (Genesis 9:27; Deuteronomy 32:43; Isaiah 11:1, 10; Psalms 18:49; 117:1, etc). In Acts 8:14-17, we find Peter turned the FAITH keys once again, to unlock the Kingdom to the Samaritans, who were half Jew and Gentile. And in Acts 10, Peter turned the Faith Keys, and God admitted Gentiles from about three different nations into the Kingdom by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which IS the new birth.

David

DavidJ – This truly is reading Protestant man-made tradition into scripture.  Where in the world do you get that the keys Jesus granted to Peter are “faith keys”?  Are you saying that it was Peter who granted faith to the thousands at Pentecost? Or that he had the power to “bind or loose” (grant/deny) faith?  Ridiculous! What about the other Apostles?  They were not granted the “faith keys”.  So does this mean that it was only through Peter that the Holy Spirit could be made manifest to those open to the Gospel? Ridiculous! I’ve never seen scripture twisted so badly to avoid it’s plain and simple meaning and what the Church has proclaimed since Pentecost.  The keys granted are keys of authority and leadership for the kingdom of God’s people.  They are not keys to decide whom God calls into faith in Jesus Christ.  This is something only God can do as he calls by name.

You really need to take off your Protestant blinders and open your eyes to the truth and to the Jewish roots of our faith.  Read Mt 16 and open your eyes to the fact that Jesus is quoting directly from Is 22:22.  Then go ahead and read Is 22:22 and understand the office of “master of the palace”, or “al-bayit”.  All the while, consider that Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, that he changed no other Apostles names,  and that everywhere in scripture, when God changes a name, it is to signify a new calling.  Allow scripture to interpret scripture and ask the H.S. to open your heart to the truth.

Matthew 16:11-28 is all one teaching.

At first verses 11 & 12 warns that the teaching of legalistic people, that includes the Roman Church,  will somehow put leaven throughout your thinking and faith.

Matthew 16:13-17 Jesus asks Peter who He is, Peter replies “You are the Christ” and Jesus strongly congratulates Peter, encouraging him.

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says He will build His church as if it’s a castle or fortress. I in fact see it in that way, it it placed by God on a piece of land (revelation) and it holds that piece of land, come hell or high water it stands like rock. I see that immense hardness in its leaders, stubborn and pig headed, praise God! it has to be like that, because God reveals something and places a church over that land, to keep it.

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus says something even more profound, He is about to give Peter the keys to Heaven -  what are the keys of Heaven?

Jesus gives a warning… tell no one I’m the Christ. Ok Lord, but what are  the keys of Heaven?

The key to Heaven and Earth are contained in Matthew 16:21 “from that time Jesus began to show them… Killed… Third day rise from the dead”

There it is! Peter, did you get it? Did you  get it wkirscher? Well read on....

Matthew 16:22 And Peter says “No Lord. This must never happen to You!”

When, in Matthew 16:23 Jesus had explained the keys, Peter says “no” to Jesus dying to free the world from sin, and to that Jesus replies… “Get behind me satan, you are in My way”

David

DavidJ –

Your analysis completely ignores the Jewish roots of our faith.  Where in scripture do you see any of the Apostles asking “Ok Lord, but what are the keys of Heaven?”  (And you have the audacity to accuse Catholics of adding man made tradition to scripture!) You obviously do not understand what the keys represent but the apostles and the early church most certainly did.  The Apostles, being Jewish and knowing the scriptures, knew EXACTLY what Jesus was talking about when Jesus handed Peter the keys.  They knew all about the Davidic Kingdom and the office of the Master of the Palace.  They knew Jesus was quoting from Is 22:22 and that is why you see no such question being asked in scripture.

Likewise, Jesus did not “congratulate” Peter.  He acknowledged that the revelation to Simon bar Jona that Christ is the Messiah, the son of the living God, was from our Father in Heaven.  This revelation, ordained by God, draws Simon to a new calling which Jesus bestows upon him.  Here is where the name change comes in and the reference to Is 22:22.  It could not be more clear from scripture. (In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was right then and there that Jesus “semicha’d” Simon, laying his hands upon Simon (rather than literally handing him keys) and changing his name to Cepha)

Peter doesn’t figure anything out, it is revelation by the grace of God.  Is this not the same with us today?  We don’t “figure God out” and then get congratulated.  God reveals himself to us.  So then you go on to say: “Until Peter turned the keys, or IMPARTED the faith, …”.  Neither Peter, nor any of the Apostles, nor any human agency imparts faith.  Faith is a gift from God, granted and nurtured through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Your assertion that the keys are “faith keys”, and that Peter was given the power to “impart” faith, simply doesn’t hold up to the entirety of scripture.  Remember, as you have said before, scripture interprets scripture – all I see from your post is you adding to scripture this crazy notion of “faith keys”.

So the “maze of error” here is your lack of understanding of the Jewish roots of our faith and your forcing Protestant man-made tradition into scripture.

To wkirscher
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).

Certainly the other Apostles also were what Peter was, endued with an equal fellowship both of honour and power; but a commencement is made from unity, that the Church may be set before as one; which one Church, in the Song of Songs, doth the Holy Spirit design and name in the Person of our Lord: My dove, My spotless one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bare her (Cant. 9:6) (A Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford: Parker, 1844), Cyprian, On The Unity of the Church 3, p. 133).

And if we too have said like Peter, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ not as if flesh and blood had revealed it unto us, but by the light from the Father in heaven having shone in our heart, we become a Peter, and to us there might be said by the Word, ‘Thou art Peter,’ etc. For a rock is every disciple of Christ of whom those drank who drank of the spiritual rock which followed them, and upon every such rock is built every word of the Church, and the polity in accordance with it; for in each of the perfect, who have the combination of words and deeds and thoughts which fill up the blessedness, is the church built by God.

But if you suppose that upon the one Peter only the whole church is built by God, what would you say about John the son of thunder or each one of the Apostles? Shall we otherwise dare to say, that against Peter in particular the gates of Hades shall not prevail, but that they shall prevail against the other Apostles and the perfect? Does not the saying previously made, ‘The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,’ hold in regard to all and in the case of each of them? And also the saying, ‘Upon this rock I will build My Church?’ Are the keys of the kingdom of heaven given by the Lord to Peter only, and will no other of the blessed receive them? But if this promise, ‘I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ be common to others, how shall not all things previously spoken of, and the things which are subjoined as having been addressed to Peter, be common to them?
‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ If any one says this to Him...he will obtain the things that were spoken according to the letter of the Gospel to that Peter, but, as the spirit of the Gospel teaches to every one who becomes such as that Peter was. For all bear the surname ‘rock’ who are the imitators of Christ, that is, of the spiritual rock which followed those who are being saved, that they may drink from it the spiritual draught. But these bear the surname of rock just as Christ does. But also as members of Christ deriving their surname from Him they are called Christians, and from the rock, Peters...And to all such the saying of the Savior might be spoken, ‘Thou art Peter’ etc., down to the words, ‘prevail against it.’ But what is the it? Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the Church, or is it the Church? For the phrase is ambiguous. Or is it as if the rock and the Church were one and the same? This I think to be true; for neither against the rock on which Christ builds His Church, nor against the Church will the gates of Hades prevail. Now, if the gates of Hades prevail against any one, such an one cannot be a rock upon which the Christ builds the Church, nor the Church built by Jesus upon the rock (Allan Menzies, Ante–Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951), Origen, Commentary on Matthew, Chapters 10-11).

In a passage in this book, I said about the Apostle Peter: ‘On him as on a rock the Church was built’...But I know that very frequently at a later time, I so explained what the Lord said: ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,’ that it be understood as built upon Him whom Peter confessed saying: ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ and so Peter, called after this rock, represented the person of the Church which is built upon this rock, and has received ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’ For, ‘Thou art Peter’ and not ‘Thou art the rock’ was said to him. But ‘the rock was Christ,’ in confessing whom, as also the whole Church confesses, Simon was called Peter. But let the reader decide which of these two opinions is the more probable (Augustine, The Retractations Chapter 20.1).

And I tell you...‘You are Peter, Rocky, and on this rock I shall build my Church, and the gates of the underworld will not conquer her. To you shall I give the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth shall also be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall also be loosed in heaven’ (Mt 16:15-19). In Peter, Rocky, we see our attention drawn to the rock. Now the apostle Paul says about the former people, ‘They drank from the spiritual rock that was following them; but the rock was Christ’ (1 Cor 10:4). So this disciple is called Rocky from the rock, like Christian from Christ...Why have I wanted to make this little introduction? In order to suggest to you that in Peter the Church is to be recognized. Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter’s confession. What is Peter’s confession? ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ There’s the rock for you, there’s the foundation, there’s where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer (Augustine, Sermons, XI, Sermon 229, p. 327).