Keys of Authority

In Matthew 16 (and chapter 18) we find a verse that is easy to stumble over because it refers to some rather peculiar things we might think impossible. Matthew 16:19 says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” (NASB) Its companion verse in 18:18 says, “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” What does Jesus mean here? Is it really true that we have this amount of authority in the kingdom of heaven while we are here on earth?

A partial answer to this question can be found in John 14:12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” Once again, though, this is rather puzzling because of the audacity Jesus has to tell us we will do greater things that He has done. How can this be?

R.A. Torrey in The Power of Prayer and Prayer of Power wrote, “The truth is, there is nothing mysterious about this matter. It is as simple as anything possibly can be, so simple that any intelligent child can understand it. I am always suspicious of profound explanations of the Scriptures, explanations that require a scholar or philosopher to understand them. The Bible is the plain man’s book. The Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 11:25, ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes.’ In at least ninety-nine cases in a hundred the meaning of Scripture that lies on the surface, the meaning that any simple-minded man, woman or child who really wants to know the truth and obey it would see in it, is what it really means.” R.A. Torrey gives us the promise of hope that the true meaning of these verses is within our reach.

To unpack the meaning, we will first define some key words in the two Matthew verses. “Keys” means authority. Any time I read a verse such as this (or verses in Revelation which refer to keys) I think of a custodian, property manager or on-site engineer in a large building. This is a person who usually carries with them a large set of keys which provide access to every door in the building, where you or I may only have one or two keys which provide us access to certain offices or rooms. A fifth grade teacher may not need keys to the kindergarten supply room, and a tenant in an office building is only given a key to the particular office rented.

Keys grant access to many things. In the Bible, keys often refer to knowledge, in the sense that keys unlock the storehouse of the knowledge of truth. Here, keys refer to much more than knowledge because the keys are specifically associated with full authority and power.

“Bind” and “bound” have a number of different meanings. In my library are a number of different commentaries, including some that are quite exhaustive. All of my commentaries were of no help to me for this particular verse. You can see how easily even the greatest theological minds can be confounded over a verse which R.A. Torrey has already assured us has a meaning that is simple to understand.

Scripture interprets Scripture, and the Lexicons have done a great job of providing definitions for the many different variations of a root word and the instances where they are used. Scripture and the Lexicon are the only helps I used to define this word (bind/bound). Thayer’s Lexicon gives the definition of “to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit” and indicates that a similar word is used in Numbers 30:3.

So far, with our working definition of “keys” and “bind” we arrive at the authority to forbid or prohibit certain acts or practices.

“Loose” has a meaning of “to declare lawful” such as in Daniel 5:12 (dissolving doubt, releasing or letting go of false interpretations of dreams).

To better understand what Jesus is referring to in this verse, I have directed your attention to John 14:12, where He specifically promises that we will do greater things than He did. The meaning I have extracted from these verses taken together is that while on earth Jesus Christ intentionally withheld His full power and authority. What the disciples saw was only a glimpse of what could be done. In arriving at this interpretation, it is excruciatingly important that we do not say Jesus Christ was not capable of exercising His full authority, that He was not capable of reaching every single person and circumstances, or that He was not capable of completely establishing the church. We lack the ability to fully understand how one can be divine and human at one and the same time and the extent (if any) to which His humanity limited His divinity. We must not put Jesus Christ in a box or set limits on His power.

The interpretation I have arrived at assumes that Jesus Christ was perfectly capable of doing works so great they would be beyond our wildest imagination, but that He intentionally withheld this power. Why? Because Jesus (in Matthew 16 and 18) delegated this authority to us and made it possible through the Holy Spirit to exercise His power in the world. However, the only way in which this authority and power can be realized to its fullest is if we develop a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and allow ourselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.

The emphasis throughout the entire Bible is on relationship and redemption. If Jesus Christ had done everything to establish the church and put His full power on display, there would be nothing left for us to do, and we would have no need for anything more from Him. What comes to my mind here is a child who is given everything he or she needs all the way through college. Now, realistically what incentive does the child have to take over his or her life at that point? It would seem to me that this transition is somewhat of an unreasonable expectation on the parent’s part, that the child would somehow magically become responsible on the day after graduation. Responsibility and the drive to work hard begin at a young age, not the day after graduation from college.

Jesus gave us enough to work with, so that we could build on what He showed us and started. He specifically left with us the task of advancing His kingdom. This statement has far-reaching implications, which will not be the subject of this article. One of those implications is that Jesus does not impose Himself on non-believers because this is a task (influencing people for Christ) He has left to us. The authority and power He did not display now rest in our hands to exercise in the world. We have the authority to bind and loose, and we have the power to do greater works than Jesus did. His glory is made manifest in the world when we allow ourselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, which requires complete and total obedience and surrender to the Holy Spirit.

If you are not there yet, if you have not surrendered yourself in complete obedience to the Holy Spirit and allowed yourself to be transformed by Him, then this kind of authority and power is just outside your reach. The good news (the Good News of the Gospel) is that you can most certainly have this authority and power if you so choose to earn it.