CONTINUING in our search for the meaning of these verses let us remind ourselves of where we have already come in our understanding. We have seen that Peter was speaking for the whole apostolic band as the spokesman, and expressing what all believed. We have seen that the declaration which Peter made, and which all the apostles had come to understand, was that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God – that is the appointed of God to work salvation by almighty divine power because he was the Son of God. We have come to appreciate that the Rock on which Christ would build his church was not Peter the man, but this declaration and the truth it embodied, and because Christ is the Son of the Living God, his work is complete and perfect and the gates of Hell and Satan, the prince of hell, will never be able to overcome it. So we understand that Jesus will build his church on himself the Christ, and not on any weak and fallen human being.

What we now have to address are the words where Jesus gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter, and because he is the spokesman for all the apostles, gives the keys to the whole apostolic band. We also have to address the promise of Jesus that what Peter binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and what he looses on earth, will be loosed in heaven.

We have established the following things in our previous study. One, that these words were addressed to the whole of the apostles and not only to Peter. All are given this authority. Two, that this authority is given by God in a special way, so that they are given authoritative understanding. Three, that this authority was not vested in them as men, but only in them as preachers and teachers declaring the truth of God as it is revealed to them. In this Paul must be included because plainly he was one of the apostles, and being given the same understanding and revelation.

What is the authority Jesus is giving and which will be ratified in heaven? Surely it can be referring to one thing only, and that is the authority to define the teaching and doctrine of the New Testament, which then becomes the definitive authority for the church for all time.

Up to this time the only Scriptures were that of the Old Testament. The coming of Christ, which is declared in the Old Testament, and explained in a veiled way, brings in the fullness of the revelation of salvation purposed by God, and worked and won by Christ. So the declaration of God's salvation already given in the Old Testament needed to be augmented by further revelation concerning this glorious salvation, and it implications which God has purposed in Christ, and which Christ perfectly worked. So the authority vested in the apostles is the authority to write the New Testament Scriptures, which would be divinely revealed to the apostles, and which they would then write down. These writings would compass all that the apostles authoritatively taught in all their preaching and teaching.

Because this word preached and written was divinely given by inspiration in this unique way, all of it would be ratified in heaven. So what the New Testament Scriptures declare about how we can be delivered from the bands of sin, and the bondage of Satan and Hell, is ratified in heaven, so that heaven will stand by this word of truth, so that all who believe it may be sure that they do not believe in vain, and God will honour their belief so that they will receive the promises and attain to the eternal blessedness which is promised. On the other hand what the apostles in their writing of the New Testament declare as causing people to be bound still in Hell's prison, and be dominated by Satan, also will be ratified in heaven, and these people will find that, in spite of any ideas they may have rested upon, and works they have placed confidence in, they are still bound in the chains of hell.

This was a unique authority, and once the New Testament was written, the authority was removed, and so the authority was only vested in the apostolic company and those other chosen writers of the New Testament such as Luke, Mark. However the teaching of the apostles which we have recorded and handed down to us in the New Testament is the truth on which Christ builds his church, and all who believe it, in its plain and obvious meaning, will find that neither death, nor Satan, nor hell, can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We learn from this that the authority of the church is not found in any denomination, or in any tradition, or any person or persons, but only in the Scriptures of the New Testament, taken together with the Old Testament.

The same authority given to the apostles is also taught by Jesus in John 14 to 17. These chapters have special reference to the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles for their special task of providing the church with the truth of God. The words in these chapters must include such understanding as their full force can not be seen apart from this. The words of these chapters in John apply to us only as we understand the Holy Spirit is given to us to understand and interpret correctly this word of truth supplied by the Holy Spirit through the apostles.