Keys of the Kingdom - Part 1: The Foundation Stone

This article is an introduction to an occasional series I have entitled, Keys of the Kingdom. The title comes from a promise Jesus famously made to the apostle Simon Peter in Matthew 16:15-19.

He said to them, “But who do you say I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father in heaven.

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

"And I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to you. And whatever you may bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in heaven.”

This is a seminal verse of Scripture, albeit not for the reason many suppose, because many denominations have interpolated their own interpretation upon it that does not stand up to scrutiny of the text. To understand what Jesus really meant is not that difficult if we approach the passage with eyes open to the Hebrew context in which it was spoken.

Roman Catholics, and some other denominations, have supposed that what Jesus was saying was that the rock upon which he would establish his church was Simon Peter and that reference to the keys of the kingdom meant that Peter and his successors (the popes) were given authority to interpret Scripture. But this is not so.

Many Protestant denominations have supposed that what Jesus was saying was that the rock upon which he would establish his church was the revelation that Simon Peter had, that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But that is not so either.

What Jesus was actually saying was quite obvious to the disciples present, who were Jews and would have heard what he said like this:

“Blessed are you, Hearing Son of the Dove, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are a Stone, and on this Foundation I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to you. And whatever you may bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in heaven.”

That Peter is not the Rock Jesus refers to as the foundation of his Church is entirely obvious in the Greek, where Peter is petros (a stone about the size of a fist, which a soldier could throw as a weapon) whereas Rock is petra (a craggy ledge or platform of rock large enough to build on).

That Peter is not the Rock Jesus refers to as the foundation of his Church is entirely obvious in the Greek, where Peter is petros (a stone about the size of a fist, which a soldier could throw as a weapon) whereas Rock is petra (a craggy ledge or platform of rock large enough to build on).

So, if the Rock is not Peter, what is? This is where the Protestant assumption that Simon Peter’s revelation is the Church’s foundational Rock comes in, but it too is mistaken, which we can see from Jesus’ promise of the keys of the kingdom.

There is a lot of fuss made about binding and loosing that would not have occurred if the Church had not turned its back on its Hebrew roots in the Second and Third Centuries AD, because binding and loosing was a commonly understood Jewish idiom, and would have been entirely clear to Peter and the other disciples. It meant the right any rabbi or priest had to rule on any controversy by citing the authority of the Word of God. If you look at the Gospels, people did this with Jesus all the time.

So, what about Simon Peter’s confession? Was not that the Foundation Stone on which Jesus built his Church? The answer again is no, it was not the Foundation Stone but one of the keys of the kingdom. The Foundation Stone was the manner in which that key was received:

“…flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father in heaven.”

That, quite simply, is it. Jesus Christ promised his disciples that his Church would be built upon the firm foundation of every believer being able to hear God’s voice directly for themselves. So, what Jesus was actually doing was congratulating Simon, whose name in Hebrew literally means Hearing, on being the first disciple to receive revelation directly from his Father by the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus called him by his full name - Simon Bar-Jonah, which means Hearing Son of the Dove, a type of the Holy Spirit.

Being founded on this Rock, Jesus said, made Simon a stone. But rather than merely being the first bishop or pope, Jesus declared Simon Peter the Hearing Stone, to be the archetype of every believer who would walk in his footsteps and hear for himself the voice of God the Father through God the Holy Spirit.

The ability to understand Scripture and the authority to bind and loose in accordance with that understanding is a natural consequence of being able to hear God’s voice directly. The New Testament calls God’s voice when spoken in this way rhema, and the believer’s obedience to that voice, being led by the Holy Spirit.

It was always God’s intention that his children would live that way because Jesus constantly warned that he would not remain with his disciples but would soon return to his Father in heaven. But, when that happened, he said he would not leave them without a Guide but would send them the Promise of my Father, which was one of the names by which he referred to the Holy Spirit.

So, now that we know what the Rock is, upon which Jesus established his Church, what is it for? Simple. In order to bind and loose and settle controversies, we need to be able to hear God’s voice: But what is it we need to hear him say? What do we need to receive?

Jesus answered that, too. We need to receive the keys of the kingdom. There are many, and they are what this series is about. The first was given to Simon Peter - the Hearing Stone - that very special day, when he confessed to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

It’s the very first key because it is of the foremost importance. Without it none of the other keys fits. Indeed, without it, we don‘t even have access to any of the doors that they can open to us.

Jesus was not merely ‘a good man’, ‘a holy prophet’, or ‘an eloquent rabbi’, or ‘an upright moral teacher’. He was God’s Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God. Even that should have told us something, because the term ‘living God’, doesn’t just proclaim that God is alive, any Jew would consider that a ludicrous tautology. The term ‘living God’, is an understood Biblical reference to the fact that God speaks, and that he speaks in a way that we can hear.

And Peter was no mere Galilean fisherman; he was Simon Peter, the archetypal Hearing Stone, to whom the Father spoke by his Spirit, the archetype of all who would believe and would follow Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God.

If you are a believer, then what Jesus promised to Peter he has promised to you, and the Spirit who spoke for the Father speaks now even to you. That being so, God is willing and able to give you, ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven…And whatever you may bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in heaven.’

That’s some promise, but our God is some God and he is faithful, which is why he says this:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:11-14)

Time and again over the years, Christian friends have come to me and bemoaned, ’If only I could hear from God’; or ’Oh, how I wish I knew God’s plan for my life’; or ’How can I know God’s will in this matter’.

The fact is they can hear from God, and they can know his plans and will for their lives, but religion has a powerful vested interest in keeping those facts from them, because religion is all about control and manipulation. It doesn’t care about people, it cares about itself. Which is why religion is so fond of laws and so afraid of the Spirit of Truth. The New Testament calls it bondage and slavery and God wishes his children to be freed from its tyranny. That’s why Jesus promised us ‘the keys of the kingdom’, which are not keys to lock us in but keys to free us from our chains. In this series then, we shall take a look at some of them, and when we do we shall discover the truth that religion didn‘t want you to know, or as John 8:31-32 puts it:

Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, “If you continue in my Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”