18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
-Matthew 16:18-19 now what you have to do is explain how these verses answer the question asked... And if you could, I would be interestd if you could identify who the 'rock' is in verse 18 and what are the 'keys' in verse 19.
Christ adresses Peter and puns on his name, calling Peter the rock on which Christ will build His Church. The keys are the recognition of Christ and His authority, including His authority to grant perpetual authority to His apostles for the duration of time. Christ granted the authority to loose and bind in matters of faith and morals. One of the first situations that came up was circumcision of the gentiles. The early church recognized apostolic authority and apostolic succession. Christ warned that the devil would plant tares among the wheat and elsewhere He laments that the Jews are so divided. If one truly wants to follow Christ one would recognize His desire for One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Christ is not anti-Church no matter what any self-professed Christian wants to claim.
Could you explain to me how you've reached the conclusion that Peter is the ‘rock’ in this verse? In scripture, there is much imagery used and in trying to decipher what is what, the Bible uses what scholars refer to as the law of first reference. In other words, when something is compared to something else, the Bible explains what it is and thereafter, it can be assumed to mean the same thing when it is representing something (as opposed to being what it really is). For example, the Bible uses the ‘fig tree’ both in passages where it really is a fig tree but also in passages where it represents something else. In this case, the fig tree is representative of the nation of Israel and you won’t find a passage where the fig tree is representative of anything other than Israel (except as I mentioned where the verse really intended to mean the physical meaning of fig tree’). So, this being the case, what is your case for the ‘rock’ being Peter? In the Bible verse Psalm 118: 22 ‘The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner’………which Jesus himself referred to in three of the four gospels – for example ……Matthew 21:42 ‘Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?’……….who is the ‘stone’? I’d say it’s pretty doggone clear that Christ is identifying HIMSELF as the stone, wouldn’t you? I don’t know about you but I’m not inclined to want to argue with Jesus Christ. And in that reference in Matthew 16:18-19, it is Peter’s confession in Jesus Christ himself that is the rock, not the person of Peter. I can give you a number of other references to round this out more but I’d be interested in hearing how you address my basic question – why do you believe that the rock is Peter in this reference?
With reference to your interpretation of what the ‘keys’ are, please harmonize the passage in Matthew 16 to this passage - Revelation 1: 18 ‘I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.’ In both passages it is Christ that is speaking and he is referring to himself and having ownership of the keys to heaven and hell’. If as you say the passage in Matthew carries the meaning that the keys are ‘… the recognition of Christ and His authority, including His authority to grant perpetual authority to His apostles for the duration of time…’, how does this apply to the passage in Revelation? So Christ is recognizing himself and his authority? Sorry but that doesn't make sense. The keys are simply the ability to choose heaven or hell as your destiny…. Heaven through acceptance of the offer of salvation and forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ or Hell through the rejection thereof.