It's very significant...But it doesn't say nor mean what you claim it says...In order to understand the scriptures, you have to read the scripture and quit leaving parts of the verses out, or stop putting words into the verses...
You could even take it a little further and claim that Jesus gave Peter Heaven...Or maybe you want to go the other route and claim that Jesus gave Peter the keys to His Jaguar in Heaven...
But what the scripture ACTUALLY says that Jesus gave Peter the keys to the KINGDOM of Heaven...Now why is that significant??? Because the Kingdom of Heaven is NOT Heaven...Just as the Kingdom of God is NOT God...
Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
It says *whatever* not *whoever*. It doesn't say that He gave man, any man, the ability to determine who enters heaven or who doesn't.
WELL PUT.
THX.