Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
Keys, binding and loosing
In a king's house a senior official carried the keys and decided who came in. Teachers spoke of binding and loosing for forbidding and permitting, and a court bound or loosed when it condemned or released.
Whoever holds the keys to the building decides who gets in after hours. In a royal palace the keys were large, and a senior official carried them. Jewish teachers used two other words, bind and loose, for deciding what the law forbade and what it allowed, and the same words fit a court that condemned or released someone. Many believed that a faithful court on earth was carrying out decisions already made in heaven.
The picture of the keys comes from Isaiah 22:20-22, where a high official in the king's house is given the key of David. Keener calls the keeper of the keys one of the most important posts a household servant could hold. He reads the keys of Matthew 16:19 as authority to admit people into the kingdom, the opposite of those who shut it in 23:13. The Qumran community also had officials who decided whether to admit new members. Binding and loosing were standard terms for the rabbis' authority to interpret Scripture, forbidding and permitting. The words normally meant tying up or freeing a prisoner, so they also served for a court's verdict. Many Jews believed their high court ruled with the authority of God's court in heaven. Keener notes that the verb tenses of 18:18 suggest the heavenly court decides first. The CSB Study Bible likewise says Peter would permit or forbid only what heaven had already permitted or forbidden. Later rabbis believed their rulings matched the decrees of the heavenly court.
An analogy: the chief of staff who holds the keys and the guest list at a head of state's residence. Visitors deal with him, but he matters only because he speaks for the one who lives there.
Keys and the words bind and loose describe authority to admit people to God's kingdom and to settle cases among his people, as in Matthew 18:18. In John 20:23 the disciples are given authority to forgive or retain sins. Revelation 3:7 calls Jesus the holder of the key of David, who opens and no one shuts.
Not one man's discretion over a guest list. A chief of staff decides who gets in and can be overruled later. Binding and loosing meant ruling on what Scripture permits or forbids, and by the verb tenses of 18:18 the heavenly court has already decided.
Who holds the keys, and what binding covers. Keener reads Peter as the rock in his role as the one who confessed Jesus, with others building on the same confession, and the keys as admitting people on the basis of that truth. The ESV Study Bible says the authority to admit through preaching is later given to all who proclaim the gospel, and that 18:18 extends Peter's authority to the whole community. The CSB Study Bible stresses that Peter was an agent who could permit or forbid only what heaven had already decided. The cultural backgrounds notes say binding may include discipline and perhaps the vetting of those to be admitted.
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- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 16:18, 16:19, 18:18 and 23:13
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 16:19 and 18:18
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Matthew 16:19 and 18:18
- CSB Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:19
