KEYS of the Kingdom, The, T.S. Dalton And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” Matt. 16:19.
Keys signify authority as you will see by reference to Isaiah 22:22, “Eliakim who had the key of the house of David, was over the household, etc.” God’s ministers are called stewards in Tit. 1:7, also 1 Cor. 4:1. Jesus had made known to the apostles in this same chapter that he was going to build his church, and found it upon the grand truth as expressed by Peter. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” for Jesus said to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The church is not founded, then, on the idea that none but the literal seed of Abraham or national Israelites shall have its benefits, but it shall be founded upon the truth that God reveals to men, whether they be Jew or Gentile. And Peter being one of the stewards of his church, and God having chosen, that the Gentiles by his mouth should hear the word of the gospel. He now gives him the authority to open the door of truth to the Gentiles, which he did when he visited Cornelius.
We must confess that there has been considerable speculation on this subject, but we have come to the conclusion that the heaven referred in the text has reference to the Jewish church, and means that whosoever Peter shall bind or loose among the Gentiles shall be ratified by the saints among the Jews, and if you will call to mind, my brother, that after Peter had visited the Gentiles, and preached to them that the church at Jerusalem took him under dealings, and while they were consulting about this matter, James arose and said, “Men and brethren, hearken unto me, for I remember that Simon hath said that God shall visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name,” and when this truth was called to their mind, they all forgave Peter, or rather ratified his work, and said, “Now hath God granted repentance unto the Gentiles.” T.S. Dalton Zion’s Advocate Jan. 1893
C.H. Cayce: We think the keys of the kingdom (or church) were delivered to Peter, and he used them to unlock the door and open the kingdom to the Gentiles when he went to the
house of Cornelius and preached the gospel there. We do not think the door of the church is ever closed, or has been since it was opened to the Gentiles. It is always open to God’s little children who give a reason of their hope in Jesus and ask for a home there. (CAYCE vol. 1, ppg 378)