The Keys of the Kingdom

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)

In the last post, I looked at Jesus' promise in verse 18 to build his church (see here). Here I want to focus on his words in verse 19 where he goes on to give the "keys of the kingdom." 

This verse does not teach the idea that Peter is sitting at the gates of heaven. First, this confuses the kingdom of heaven with heaven (we pray his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven). Second, the exercise of these keys is for the earth, corresponding to what God does in heaven. Jesus is the one who receives his people at death and welcomes them into the consummated kingdom of heaven at the last judgment. Third, as we saw last time, the rest of the apostles share the same office as Peter. Peter is being treated as the model apostle and their spokesmen. The binding and loosing power of the keys is ascribed to all the apostles in Matthew 18:18 and John 20:21-23.

So what are the "keys of the kingdom"? Keys are symbols of delegated authority and management. The steward of a household would be entrusted with the keys. So the keys of the kingdom refer to authority and stewardship over the church, the household of God. Jesus gives the keys - he is the head of the church - but he entrusts them to men. Jesus appoints a government for his church. 

Is this unique to the apostles? No, while the apostles have a unique role as we saw in the last post, we also find that they ordained men to carry on this delegated authority over the church. Matthew 18:15-20 makes it clear that their exercise is an ongoing part of church life. The church and its officers continue to be entrusted with the keys. Elders are described as mangers of God’s household in 1 Timothy 3. They are stewards, entrusted with the keys to the house. Elders work as overseers of the church, although they are bound to govern and order the church according to apostolic doctrine and pattens in Scripture. The apostles were unique as those who set up the structure of the NT church. But elders are overseers of the church, shepherds of the flock, leaders who keep watch over your souls (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:1-4, Heb. 13:17). 

As the Westminster Confession of Faith says, “The Lord Jesus, as king and head of his Church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate” (30.1). Thus, no other authority should usurp this authority. No father, magistrate, city council, or individual may assume to himself the exercise of church authority. For example, they should not administer the sacraments or interfere with or take over the church discipline. The civil magistrate has some authority over what happens in the four walls of a church building - if you murder someone there he will still call you to account - but he has no authority in sacred things. In fact, he is responsible to protect the church and maintain its liberty to do its sacred work. 

Another point to make with the symbol of keys is what they do. What do keys do? They open and close. In this case they open and close the kingdom of heaven. This is done through the preaching of the word, the administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of church discipline, all in accord with Scripture. That brings us to what this verse says about the exercise of church authority: binding and loosing. 

Church officers exercise the keys by binding and loosing people’s sins, by retaining and remitting sins  (Jn. 20:21-23, Matt. 18:18). In this way they close the kingdom to some and to open it to others. In other words, on the basis of God’s word, they declare God’s word, his condemnation of sinners on the basis of his law, and his forgiveness to repentant believers on the basis of Christ.

This binding and loosing is done in two basic ways: by the ministry of the word and the exercise of church discipline.

1. The ministry of the word includes the reading, preaching, and teaching of Scripture, including the instruction and proclamation given by the pastor throughout the worship service and the personal instruction, counsel, and admonition which he and the elders give.

2. Church discipline, which is done by the council of elders (the session), includes receiving to the sacraments and membership, as well as correction and rebuke, suspension from the Supper, or excommunication from membership, as well as receiving again those who repent after being disciplined.

The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes the exercise of the keys in this way,

“To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed, by virtue whereof they have power respectively to retain and remit sins, to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require.” (30.2)

Jesus has promised to protect and build his church. He fulfills this promise in a couple ways, but an important one is by the means he has appointed in the church. He makes these ordinances effective. He has appointed the ministry of word and sacrament. He has taught us to pray. He has given diverse gifts to his church for its mutual edification. He has appointed a government in his church. Through these means, he gathers his elect into the kingdom, holds his church together amid opposition, and disciples its members in his ways. 

The Public Reading of Scripture

Recently in our church, the elders decided that I would read both the Old Testament and New Testament readings in worship. This brings our practice more into conformity with the OPC Directory for Public Worship. While it allows ruling elders and men training for the ministry to read Scripture in worship as the session deems fitting, it also says that the public reading of Scripture is ordinarily to be done by the minister of the Word. 

“Because the hearing of God's Word is a means of grace, the public reading of the Holy Scriptures is an essential element of public worship. He who performs this serves as God's representative voice. Thus, it ordinarily should be performed by a minister of the Word.” (DPW II.A.2.a)

The public reading of Scripture is an essential part of Christian worship and of a minister’s duty. Just as reading the Scripture was a part of weekly Old Testament worship in the synagogue (Acts 13:27, Acts 15:21), so Paul exhorted Timothy concerning New Testament worship, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). In fact, it is evidence of the fact that the apostles viewed their teachings as on par with the Old Testament when they directed the churches to read their writings in the assembly (1 Thess. 5:27, Col. 4:16). When John wrote the book of Revelation, he wrote it to the seven churches via their “angels,” that is, their preachers (the word can be translated “messengers”; Rev. 2:1, 2:8, etc.), who would “read aloud the words of this prophecy” so that the people of the churches would “hear” it (Rev. 1:3). 

Our OPC Directory for Public Worship builds upon the earlier Directory for Public Worship written by the Westminster Assembly in 1645, which said, 

“Reading of the word in the congregation, being part of the publick worship of God, (wherein we acknowledge our dependence upon him, and subjection to him,) and one mean sanctified by him for the edifying of his people, is to be performed by the pastors and teachers. Howbeit, such as intend the ministry, may occasionally both read the word, and exercise their gift in preaching in the congregation, if allowed by the presbytery thereunto … Beside publick reading of the holy scriptures, every person that can read, is to be exhorted to read the scriptures privately, (and all others that cannot read, if not disabled by age, or otherwise, are likewise to be exhorted to learn to read,) and to have a Bible.” 

The Westminster Assembly also included this distinction between public and private Bible reading in our Larger Catechism (1646), which in answer to question 156 says,

“Although all are not to be permitted to read the word publicly to the congregation, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves, and with their families…” 

The Westminster Assembly defended this position in its Form of Presbyterial Church Government (1646). There it said of pastors that 

“...it belongs to his office … To read the Scriptures publickly; for the proof of which, 1. That the priests and Levites in the Jewish church were trusted with the publick reading of the word is proved (Deut. 31:9-11, Neh. 8:1-3, Neh. 8:13). 2. That the ministers of the gospel have as ample a charge and commission to dispense the word, as well as other ordinances, as the priests and Levites had under the law, proved, where our Saviour entitleth the officers of the New Testament, whom he will send forth, by the same names of the teachers of the Old (Is. 66:21, Matt. 23:34). Which propositions prove, that therefore (the duty being of a moral nature) it followeth by just consequence, that the publick reading of the scriptures belongeth to the pastor’s office.” 

With respect to the Old Testament practice, I might add that later on it seems that public reading and teaching was also done by rabbis under the supervision of the elders, which is why Jesus and Paul were able to read and teach in the synagogue despite not being Levites. Yet I do not think it affects the assembly's argument much, since the public reading was still restricted to approved men who find their New Testament equivalent in the ordained pastors and teachers of the church. I think their argument from the Old Testament is sound, but I also realize that many Christians today might find the argument from New Testament that I mentioned above (1 Tim. 4:13, Rev. 1-3) more convincing. 

You will notice that the Westminster Assembly, unlike the OPC directory, does not make an exception for ruling elders to lead public worship. Presbyterians have differed over the years on where exactly to draw the line between ruling elders and teaching elders. We they have generally agreed that while all elders ought to be able to teach and defend the faith, among the elders of the church there are some elders "who labor in the word and doctrine" (1 Tim. 5:17 NKJV) and that these "teaching elders" or "ministers of the word" are at least primarily responsible for the public reading and preaching of Scripture. 

Why is all this important? Not only as a history lesson, but because Scripture is central to the relationship between God and his people. It is the covenantal document that binds us to him. It seems ironic that many liberal mainline churches and Roman Catholic churches have more Scripture reading in their service than many Bible-believing evangelical and fundamentalist churches. The Bible itself and our Presbyterian heritage would urge us to cherish the public reading of Scripture as an essential part of worship in its own right (in addition to preaching, prayer, etc.). May the messengers of the churches read the word, as well as preach the word, with authority and clarity. May we all listen attentively and receive it with understanding, reverence, and faith. 

"Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." (Revelation 1:3) 

The Necessity of the Pastoral Office

In the passage below, John Calvin writes on the importance of the ordained leaders of the church. He and other Protestant Reformers taught the importance of the Bible as the final standard that judges all human authority, as well as the necessity of direct and personal faith in Christ. Some modern Protestants have taken this truth to mean that the organized church and its officers are unnecessary or even a hinderance. Yet the Reformers also realized that Christ, in this same Bible, also appointed the ministry of evangelists, pastors, and teachers to build up the church in this prophetic and apostolic Scripture. Here Calvin comments on Ephesians 4:4-16, which speaks of how Christ "gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ..." (Ephesians 4:11–13).

"By these words he shows that the ministry of men, which God employs in governing the Church, is a principal bond by which believers are kept together in one body. He also intimates, that the Church cannot be kept safe, unless supported by those guards to which the Lord has been pleased to commit its safety. Christ “ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things” (Eph. 4:10). The mode of filling is this: By the ministers to whom he has committed this office, and given grace to discharge it, he dispenses and distributes his gifts to the Church, and thus exhibits himself as in a manner actually present by exerting the energy of his Spirit in this his institution, so as to prevent it from being vain or fruitless. In this way, the renewal of the saints is accomplished, and the body of Christ is edified; in this way we grow up in all things unto Him who is the Head, and unite with one another; in this way we are all brought into the unity of Christ, provided prophecy flourishes among us, provided we receive his apostles, and despise not the doctrine which is administered to us. Whoever, therefore, studies to abolish this order and kind of government of which we speak, or disparages it as of minor importance, plots the devastation, or rather the ruin and destruction, of the Church. For neither are the light and heat of the sun, nor meat and drink, so necessary to sustain and cherish the present life, as is the apostolical and pastoral office to preserve a Church in the earth." (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.3.2)

Presbyterian Church Government

The Ordination of Elders in a Scottish Kirk, by John Lorimer

If someone asked me to define Presbyterianism, I would point to our doctrinal standards (the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms) and perhaps list a few notable distinctives like a belief in God's sovereignty in history and salvation, the unity of the Old and New Testaments in terms of covenant theology, and its distinctive form of church government. But it is the last of these, church government, which provides the origin of the word "presbyterian."

The word "presbyterian" comes from the Greek word for elder (πρεσβύτερος). The term began to be used back when the major divisions among English-speaking denominations were defined by church government. On the one hand there was the Church of England with its episcopal system (the word "episcopal" come from the word for bishop, ἐπίσκοπος). In that system, the churches in a region were governed by an individual, the bishop. On the other hand you had congregational churches which were independent local churches governed largely by congregational vote. Presbyterian churches, though, were governed by a plurality of elders, both in the local church and on a regional level.

In the Presbyterian system, the congregation is led and governed by a plurality of elders (Acts 14:23), who along with deacons are elected by the congregation and ordained by other elders (Acts 6:1-6, 14:23, 1 Tim. 4:14). These elders also meet with the elders of other churches to lead and govern the church on regional and denominational levels (Acts 15). The assembly of elders in a local church we call a session, the regional assembly we call the presbytery, and the denominational assembly we call the general assembly. As the Scripture citations above indicate, we adopt this form of government because it is what Christ and the apostles appointed for the church. The Bible does not appoint all the details of how this system operates, leaving some room for flexibility where wisdom and prudence must dictate. Yet, it does describe these basic principles.

Biblically speaking, elders can also be called overseers and shepherds (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:1-4). While all elders are equal in authority, there is a difference between what we call “ruling elders” and what we usually call “teaching elders” or “ministers of the word.” These teaching elders are those elders “who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17). They are are called to preach the gospel, and to do so as their life calling (1 Cor. 9). And as the sacraments are signs and seals of the gospel, they are administered by preachers of the gospel. Like teaching elders, ruling elders are church shepherds (1 Peter 5:1-4) who join in the care and oversight of the congregation, but they are not preachers and they usually make their living in another way. The ruling elders are representatives of the people, like the elders of the people who joined with the ministers of the world in the government of the old covenant church (Ex. 4:29, Num. 11:16, Matt. 26:3). Ruling elders may seem to be laymen since they usually do not have a seminary degree and are not part of a paid staff, but ruling elders are ordained officers of the church and serve on the ruling bodies of the local, regional, and denominational church.

We also believe deacons fulfill an important office in the church (Acts 6:1-7). They oversee and administer the mercy ministry of the church, helping those in need and coordinating the efforts of the congregation to that end. 

In this form of government, both church members and church officers are held accountable. No individual governs by himself. If things go wrong on a local level, there is the ability to appeal to the regional presbytery (and the general assembly, if necessary). This connection between local churches not only helps coordinate church discipline and settle doctrinal controversies, but it also helps coordinate and strengthen efforts like home and foreign missions, Christian education, and diaconal assistance. It is not foolproof or infallible - no system of government can save a church on its own - but it is a wise system, established by our wise Lord, for the good of His people. As Ephesians 4:7-16 teaches, Christ gave His church its leaders to strengthen the body so that it may attain to "the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph. 4:13–14). May Christ bless what He has appointed and give His church shepherds that reflect Him, our chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4).

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For more on this topic, you can read our Book of Church Order at this link and chapters 30 and 31 of the Westminster Confession at this link.