keys [1] of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose[2] upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”
COMMENTARY.
Witnesses for the Divinity of Christ: 1. Peter testified that Jesus was the Son of the living God. 2. Our Lord accepted and ratified this confession of faith, by calling Himself the Son of the Father who is in heaven, and by calling Peter ‘blessed’ on account of his faith in His Divinity. 3. Our Lord acted and spoke as God, by giving Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and by promising him a continuous power of binding and loosing — a power which, obviously, only God could give.
Faith is a gift of God. The natural reason of the people sufficed to make them understand, from His teaching and miracles, that Jesus was a mighty prophet. But, as our Lord expressly said, supernatural light and grace were necessary to enable them to pierce the veil of His human nature, and recognise in this poor Jesus of Nazareth the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. St. Leo the Great writes thus: “By divine inspiration Peter’s mind soared above that which his senses could perceive, and with the eyes of his spirit he recognised the Son of the living God, and the glory of His Divinity.”
The Church of Christ. Our Lord, in this chapter, said that He would found a Church (one only), and that this Church could not be overcome. At the same time He elected Peter to be its foundation, and clearly chose the other apostles to be its pillars. Thus the twelve apostles, with Peter as their chief, were the foundation of the Church, upon which and into which all men, like so many stones, had to be built. The Church of Christ is, therefore, visible. She is formed of men, and governed by men, who are armed with the divine power of binding and loosing. The faithful owe obedience to this Church of Christ, and he who refuses to obey her is to be regarded as a heathen, who has no part in the kingdom of heaven (chapter XL).
- ↑ The keys. By the kingdom of heaven is meant the Church, just compared by our Lord to a building. Now he who possesses the keys of a house has power over that house, and can open and shut it as he will, and can admit or exclude whomsoever he thinks fit, naming the conditions of admission or exclusion. The power of the keys signifies, therefore, the supreme authority over the house and its inhabitants, or, in other words, over the Church and its members.
- ↑ Bind and loose. By binding and loosing is to be understood the exercise of that supreme authority which includes the power of making and unmaking laws (moral ties), and especially of forgiving or retaining sins and punishments for sin.
