What Are the Keys of the Kingdom?

Yesterday I promised to offer my interpretation of Jesus' keys of the kindom passages in Matthew 16 and 18. The following excerpt comes from Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus, due out in April from Crossway. For a significantly longer discussion of the keys, see chapter 4 of here.  

Excerpt begin:

One day, Jesus warned the apostles not to trust the teaching of Israel’s leaders (Matt. 16:1-12). Their term of office had expired, and they would be vacating the capitol building shortly, carrying the contents of their desks in boxes. Then he asked them who they thought he was. Peter, probably on behalf of all the apostles, answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus affirmed Peter’s answer, saying that it had come from the “Father in heaven.” Then he continued:

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 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. (Matt. 16:18-19)

This is the first of two times Jesus uses the word church. Here he is talking about the universal church: the assembly of all Christians from all ages who will gather at the end of history. Jesus will build this end-time assembly.

How will he build it? He will build it “on this rock.” What rock? Theologians have long debated whether the rock is Peter or Peter’s confession. In fact, I think you have to say both. Theologian Edmund Clowney writes, “The confession cannot be separated from Peter, neither can Peter be separated from his confession” (The Church, 40). Jesus will build his church not on words, and not on people, but on people who believe the right gospel words (like the Word himself who became flesh). Jesus will build the church on confessors.   Continue at Jonathan Leeman