-— we see clear evidence IN SCRIPTURE of Peter using those keys to open the door/gate to Justification -—
Scripture shows that the keys that Jesus gave Peter were the keys of the Vizier of the eternal Davidic Kingdom, of which Jesus is king.
Jesus sits on David’s throne. See Luke.
The master of the palace or vizier of the king in the ancient world and in the Davidic kingdom was the king’s “right hand man.” In Kings the vizier rules in place of an incapacitated king.
In Isaiah 22 we see the succession in office of the vizier, from Shebna to Eliakim.
The office was represented by an oversized key that the vizier wore around his neck.
In Isaiah the vizier is described as “a father to Judah” with the power to “open and shut.”
Jesus gives Peter both the office of His Vizier, and also the power to “bind and loose,” meaning indisputable ecclesiastical authority. Look up “binding and loosing” in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
If Protestants don’t know this they can blame their pastors.
Um, who made the final ruling at the Acts 15 Jerusalem council? Did Paul have to rebuke Peter for hypocrisy? Who authored most of the letters to believers in the Church of Jesus Christ, not the catholic church, a later fabrication, but the Church which Jesus describes as His body, His Bride?
Peter was the Apostle to the Jews. Paul was the Apostle tot he Gentiles. In the Justified body of Christ there is no distinction now between Jew and Gentile.
This is perhaps the third time you have posted this explantion to me. I can see very clear reason for Jesus phrasing the 'keys' and 'bindings and loosing' the way He did. He was well aware the Gospel would go first to the Jew and then to the Gentiles. He knew that authority to proclaim the Gospel (not the establishment of a man-made institution) was vital to Jews inclined to believe in Him. He passed authority to Peter, TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL, and to PASS THAT GOSPEL to others for distribution.
You continue to try and use that conveyance (of authority to proclaim the Gospel), to assert that a human institution was the goal of Jesus in giving the keys to Peter. Yet the scriptures clearly show the Gospel preached and the proof FROM GOD that Justification BY FAITH was now activated.
That is the New Covenant, that Justification by Faith in Jesus's sacrifice for us on the Cross and His blood upon the Mercy Seat is The Gospel. Immediately upon such justification God's LIFE in the person of the Holy Spirit comes into the believer. It is recorded for our understanding, at Pentecost and int he house of Cornelius.
Your blind assertion that the keys were to establish an societal institution is not only error, it is contradiction to the Gospel Preached! It contradicts what Jesus Himself declared. His Kingdom is not of this world. The catholic church is of this world. The evidence is so overwhelming, of the world inveigling the catholic church, even you should see that the catholic church is of this world. Jesus said HIS Kingdom is not of this world.
One final note: The Church Age is a unique thing in human History, because it is during this Church Age that God is adopting we sinners into His Family! This is not some promise to be obtained after a long and arduous journey following 'of this world' catholic sacraments until reaching a worthiness state. Get that in your heart, if nothing else, get that Truth into your heart. The Church Age is not about Catholicism or catholic sheparding. The Church Age is about adopting human sinners into His Family, justified by His paying the penalty for sin and sanctified in a daily walk by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit because Jesus spread His blood upon the Mercy Seat so the law of sin and death could no longer bind you.
When Peter loosed somethig bound, he loosed the hold of sin and death by opening the door to God's Grace in Christ. Peter did not loose the law of sin and death, he loosed the binding by opening the door to the ONLY ONE WHO CAN Deal with the law of sin and death, Jesus Christ The Righteous.
When Jesus told Peter (and the other Apostles, by the way) that they were now to have the power to retain someone's sins or absolve them, did Jesus mean Peter could forgive sins, or did Jesus mean that Peter had the power via the door opened to the Mercy Seat covered in Christ's blood? I realize your religion teaches you that a mere man had been given the god-like power to forgive sins. But that is not in the nature of Absolute Righteousness, which is the Character of God. ONLY GOD may forgive the sin.
Jesus had several confrontations with Pharisees over that very matter as He proved His power as God with us to forgive sin by showing His power to heal to the uttermost any illness He addressed in a person.
There are so many twists of Truth in Catholicism, I can scarcely keep up with all the confusions catholic apologists keep trying to float as their proof of a godly institution. The Church of Jesus Christ is not of this world. It IS a spiritual body of Christ.
I just listened to a sermon/homily from a Maryland Priest. He was sincere and is appropriately standing against the degenerating of the INSTITUTION of marriage, because he knows that the INSTITUTION of marriage was established by God, not five black-robed dead souls sitting on a bench. The INSTITUTION of marriage is hallmarked by two becoming ONE in the spiritual sense. With God, THREE ARE ONE. But God is not an institution to be juried over by a clique of Bishops and Cardinals. The True Church is The Body of Christ. God is a spiritual entity who must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth, not by Nicolaitan rituals.