Jesus is the only judge of the souls of other people, but some believe that Jesus gave this authority to the church, or at least to certain leaders within the church.
Matthew 16:19 – The Keys of the Kingdom
The primary verse used to defend this idea is Matthew 16:19, where Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:19).
Jesus is speaking to Peter, and so some believe that what Jesus said applied only to Peter. Based on their teaching of Apostolic Succession, the Catholic Church argued that this authority has been passed down to the Pope.
Not everyone agrees with this interpretation, and some believe that though Jesus was speaking to Peter, Peter was viewed as the spokesman and leader of the Apostles, and later one of the leaders of the church, and so while Jesus was speaking to Peter, what Jesus says can be applied to the entire church.
What is the Authority?
Either way, the real issue is what Jesus meant when He said that He was giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter. And here that has been surprising agreement by the majority of Christians throughout church history, whether they are Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant. The vast majority of people throughout church history believe that Jesus was in fact giving to the church some of His authority to make judgments regarding spiritual issues, whether they are theological matters, or the eternal destiny of other people.
The idea is that if the church makes a decision regarding a theological matter or someone’s eternal destiny, then Jesus supports and backs up that decision from heaven.
It’s Greek to Me
Most Protestants state the argument somewhat differently, noting that the verbs in Matthew 16:19 are “periphrastic future-perfect passive participles.” Nice, huh? What this means is that the verse should be translated this way: “…whatever you may bind on earth shall have already been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have already been loosed in heaven.”
In other words, while Jesus was giving a certain amount of authority and power to the church (or Peter), it was not to make decisions which heaven would then be forced to comply with, but was the opposite. Jesus in heaven would make a decision, and somehow—possibly through the Holy Spirit—relays this decision to the church for implementation. In this way, the church announces the decisions made by Jesus, but does not make the decisions themselves.
I am not opposed to this interpretation of the passage, but it is still leaves a lot of wiggle room and subjectivity. How can we know whether or not someone truly heard from the Spirit? What if (as often happens) two or more people claim to have “heard from God” and what they heard contradicts each other? The end result is really is no different from the Catholic view.
What practical difference is there between saying, “We made a decision, and Jesus will back it up” and saying, “We made a decision because we think Jesus told us to make that decision”?
Either way, people are placing themselves in a position of authority and power over others in regard to what others think, what others do, and in some cases, where others will spend eternity.
Judging Others
Whichever interpretation of the verse is preferred, both views still make people think that they can judge the beliefs and behaviors of others, and even determine who gets into heaven and who goes to hell. Both of these views give others the idea that the keys of the kingdom help them lock others out of heaven.
So which view do I hold? Neither of them. I will share my view with you in the next post.
Hmm….I hold to neither interpretation, either. I am not going to say I KNOW what that verse means (I am learning that is dangerous all by itself), but in the context of the passage, I am currently inclined to believe He was saying the church He would build (on the revelation that He was the Christ) would have access to Heaven (boldly to the throne of Grace per Hebrews 4:16) and perhaps more on a level of authority in the spiritual realm as in not fighting with natural weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4, Ephesians 6:12).
As to the idea that we have the ability to decide whether someone else will go to Heaven – or have the ability to send them to hell….what comes to mind is…
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[a] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[a] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” ~ John 3:14-18
(This theme repeated in John 3:36, 5:24, 6:35, 6:40, 6:47, 7:38, etc.)
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ~ Romans 8:1 (Really, the whole 8th chapter…)
“For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” ~ Romans 10:13”
“Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” ~ Romans 14:4
It seems to me that the issue is what someone believes in their heart concerning Jesus. And it also seems to me that the only one who knows men’s hearts is God. I have actually made assumptions in my mind about people and have had God pull me up and tell me I have no more idea where they are in their heart with Him than they do me, so knock it off…
Okay – that’s probably enough for now….:-)
Katherine,
Regarding the eternal destiny of others, you nailed it. Those passages from John are some of the clearest that exist, and therefore, the only one who truly knows the hearts of men is God.
I will provide my take on Matthew 16:19 later today.
I would fully expect the church to interpret this as it does. This gives it all kinds of power and authority. Do as we say, believe as we tell you to believe, give us your money and we will decide what to do with it and so on, or we’ll consign you to hell! The history of the church for the past two thousand years is replete with thousands upon tens of thousands of examples of this happening, and it continues unabated. This is spiritual abuse, Period!
Only those who have little or nothing to gain from such an interpretation would understand it otherwise.
I really do wonder how the real Judge looks at the religious folks who have busily been consigning others to hell through the centuries for such abominations as trying to translate the Bible into the language of the common man, vs. the horrible “sinners” whom the church has consigned to hell for such unbelievable abominations.
Sam,
Yes, if there really is such a thing as “Judgment Day” (I think there will be, but probably not the way it is often portrayed in most churches), there will lots of shocked people.
The title of this posting is completely absurd, and pretentious too.
Of course the real topic here is the meaning and significance of death. Please find two references which give a unique Understanding of the meaning and significance of death – and thus of everything else too.
LINKS DELETED BY ADMIN
John,
Well….thanks for the links. But I think the author of those articles was on drugs. It all sounds like gibberish.
Apparently John has a reason other than the topic of this post to direct people to these links. I tried one, which was unrelated to the post. Shortly thereafter, something attempted to direct me to a server that was pretending to be a server for my ISP.
I see. I will delete his comment.
Dear Jeremy, The Church, by that I mean, the established Churches, lost the plot approx 2000 years ago by putting their spin on just about everything in The Holy Bible. I have just read a book called the Toxic Churches restoration from spiritual abuse by Marc A. Dupont with a forward from Dr John White, with comments from Jack Taylor and John Arnott.
I’m working on loving God with all my heart, eventually by His Grace I will be able to love Him with all my Mind and all my Strength. I’m 70 next year so I hope it does not take too long.
I love The Church and I love the people in the Church I attend, but I hate the abuse from the leadership and from some of the congregation who have been given positions of delegated authority. The Lion Roars the Eagle Hovers and Watches His Church but the church is deaf and blind to the Lamb who beckons and call’s Come.
My heart sorrows for the lost who are betrayed by lies within the Churches, led astray into the wilderness like lost sheep, where they are meat for the wild animals just waiting to kill and devour them.
Worthy is the Lamb who died and now lives, He is the Good Shepherd who loves his Sheep. To Him is all Glory and Honor and Praise.
Your brother in Christ, Clive.
Clive,
Yes, there is lots of spiritual abuse. Sometimes we are caught in spiritual abuse by churches which tell us that all other churches are spiritually abusive, and if we just do the things our pastor and our leaders tell us, we ourselves will not be abused.
It is very dangerous.
No future judgement day. Well, apart from tomorrow. And the next day and the next etc. Living in expectation of judgement would be living in fear and condemnation. Judgement day number one was good Friday. Or Thursday Jeremy. More to the point is that it was the hour of jesus death on the cross. Believe and be forgiven. Judgement complete. Do not believe and remain Unforgiven. Judgement still expected. So therefore I suppose there is a future judgement day. But only for the unbeliever! But could be today. Or tomorrow. Or righty now!?
My interpretation:
All the apostles got the keys, see chapter 18 of Matthew.
The apostles wrote down they way church was suppose to run in the NT.
We are under apostolic authority, not by succession, but by the Bible.
The foundation is the Apostles NT, and the Prophets (ot) Ephesians 4.
I am being very brief because I don’t feel like writing a book, but Jesus gave authority to the apostles to set up the church and it is written in the NT. So just read the Bible, especially the NT for faith and practice and you will be let into heaven because they have the keys (or can bind and loose, same differnece).
Johnny,
I would agree that the Apostles and Prophets laid the foundation for the church, and the Evangelists and Pastor-Teachers built upon that foundation, but I think that the analogy Paul uses in Ephesians 4 implies that with the spiritual gifts still in effect today, we continue to build on the foundation that was handed down to us. So the way we do church today will not look exactly like the way it was done in the first 50 years of the church when the NT was being built.
Is that roughly the same thing you are saying?
Yes
Isnt this whole missional/frank viola/neilcole/organic/crazy love/tillhecomes movement ultimately about getting back to the blantingly obvious conclusion that the gospel spreads from ordinary person to ordinary person, and they met in houses because sometimes Christians need to go to the bathroom?
I persist that is what the Apostles laid down, and everyone today is exceeding their mandate. (including my church, I admit hypocrisy here)
Ironically, it is not so obvious to most people.
Although, I am not necessarily opposed to buildings, paid clergy, and some of the other trappings of modern “church.” I think these things can be helpful in accomplishing our mission, if approached with the right perspective.
The way (key) to a man’s heart (allegedly) is food. So we not dealing here with an actual physical key but an emotional key. And jesus stated I am the WAY. So sorted. No other wee way to my heart. Just the jesus big WAY. Regarding the food allegation. Man does not live by bread alone. So through that out of court! Lol
The way (key) to a man’s heart (allegedly) is food. So we not dealing here with an actual physical key but an emotional key. And jesus stated I am the WAY. So sorted. No other wee way to my heart. Just the jesus big WAY. Regarding the food allegation. Man does not live by bread alone. So through that out of court! Lol