Matthew 16:18-19 / Isaiah 22:22
"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven."
"And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he
shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall
open."
Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. While many
Protestants think that the gift of the "keys" means that Jesus
appointed Peter as the guardian of the gates of heaven, the "keys"
actually refer to Peter's authority over the earthly Church (which
Jesus often described as the "kingdom of heaven." Matthew 13:24-52;
25:1-2; Mark 4:26-32; Luke 9:27; 13:19-20, etc.) In the Old Davidic
kingdom, the king had a prime minister on whose shoulder God placed
the keys of the kingdom (Isaiah 22:22). Similarly, the new kingdom
of Christ also has a prime minister (Peter and his successors) who
is given the keys of the kingdom. The keys not only represent the
authority the prime minister has to rule over God's people in the
king's absence, but also the means of effecting dynastic succession
to the prime minister's office (for example, in Isaiah 22:20-22,
Eliakim replaces Shebna as prime minister in the Old Davidic
kingdom). Only the Catholic Church claims and proves a succession
of prime ministers (popes) all the way back to Peter, and this
succession is facilitated by the passing of the keys of the
kingdom.
Finally, Jesus declares to Peter that whatever he binds and looses
on earth will be bound and loosed in heaven. As in the Old Davidic
kingdom, whenever Peter the prime minister opens, no one shall
shut, and whenever he shuts, no one shall open. Jesus, therefore,
gives Peter the authority to make decisions that will be ratified
in eternity. In order for sinful Peter (and his successors through
the passing on of the "keys") to make such decisions, he must be
divinely protected. Once again, this evidences Jesus' gift of
infallibility to the Church. Only the Catholic Church claims and
has proven that her 2,000 year-old teachings on faith and morals,
which have never changed, are infallibly proclaimed.
Church Fathers:
For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should
agree with this Church, on account of its pre- eminent
authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as
the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those
[faithful men] who exist everywhere." Irenaeus, Against Heresies,
3:3:2 (A.D. 180).
"And he says to him again after the resurrection, 'Feed my sheep.'
It is on him that he builds the Church, and to him that he entrusts
the sheep to feed. And although he assigns a like power to all the
apostles, yet he founded a single Chair, thus establishing by his
own authority the source and hallmark of the (Church's) oneness. No
doubt the others were all that Peter was, but a primacy is given to
Peter, and it is (thus) made clear that there is but one flock
which is to be fed by all the apostles in common accord. If a man
does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that
he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter
upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is
in the Church? This unity firmly should we hold and
maintain, especially we bishops, presiding in the Church, in order
that we may approve the episcopate itself to be the one and
undivided." Cyprian, The Unity of the Church, 4-5 (A.D.
251-256).
"You cannot deny that you know that in the city of Rome the
Chair was first conferred on Peter, in which the prince of all the
Apostles, Peter, sat
in which Chair unity should be
preserved by all, so that he should now be a schismatic and a
sinner who should set up another Chair against that unique one."
Optatus of Mileve, The Schism of Donatists, 2:2-3 (c. A.D.
367).
