And I will give unto thee 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._
Fixed in our Church calendar for the 29th of June is Saint Peter the
Apostle's day. We do not, as a rule, observe these days, or minor
festivals, as they are styled. And it may be asked why we have them
given in our Church calendar and observe them at all. In answer we
would say that we do not, like the Romanists, regard the saints as
mediators, do not address prayers to them, nor ask them to pray for
us. And we differ further from the Romanists in that we place none
in our Church calendar as saints save such as are clearly set forth
in that character in the Word of God. Rome is continually adding
new saints to her list. Any one who has been eminently holy--in the
odor of sanctity--is canonized by the pope, and his or her name
placed in the calendar; and there are instances on record where
other influences besides piety placed it there. We place the word
"saint" before none but those who, we are sure from God's Word, are
deserving of it. Nor even all of these do we thus honor. Enoch and
Elijah were translated into heaven and are assuredly among God's
saints. The same is true of Abraham and Moses, Joseph and Daniel.
But we never speak of St. Abraham, St. Moses, and the like. In this
matter we follow our Lord's rule: "He that is least in the kingdom,"
meaning the Church He came to establish, "is greater than he," and
select for our list only New Testament persons; and here, again,
those especially near to Him, such as the evangelists and apostles,
and so we speak of St. Peter, St. Matthew, St. Paul. These we honor
because Christ honored them. On his birthday each year we extol
the virtues of a Washington; on Reformation Day we speak on the
character and life-work of a Luther. Why should we not, therefore,
on one day of the year, especially when it falls on a Sunday, note
for our instruction what God in His Word has recorded of these
favored servants? Only ignorance and prejudice could ever find fault
with such an observance of these days and minor festivals which the
Church in her wisdom purposes, and so from the lesson of this day
would we regard the latter part. An important truth is it, a truth
which has given rise to endless controversy, that this line sets
forth to us. We shall inquire, _I. What is the office or the power
of the Keys? II. How is it exercised?_
In the opinion of some, these words addressed to Peter on that
memorable occasion when he confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the
Son of the living God, gave to Peter a direction to take charge
of divine affairs. The religious destiny of the race was placed
in his hands. It was for him to save or condemn at will, and this
power and commission he then turned over to his successor, alleged
to be the pope at Rome. That was the common interpretation for
hundreds of years. In consequence of that we have such happenings
in history as that which took place at Canossa, when Henry IV of
Germany, deposed from his royal office through the influence of the
pope, came over the Alps to secure the Holy Father's absolution. He
presented himself at the gate of Gregory VII, and made his humble
petition. He was ordered to remain at the gate and abstain from
food; he was further ordered to strip himself of the royal purple
and put on hair-cloth. At the end of three weary days of penance,
standing out in the cold and snow, and nearly famished, he was
required to go into the presence of Pope Gregory and kiss his feet.
Then this "vicar of God," as he styled himself, was pleased to say,
"_Absolvo te_," "I absolve thee." And what child knows not the
account of Tetzel, who, with an armful of indulgences and a chest
bearing the inscription: "Soon as the money in the chest doth ring,
the soul at once to heaven doth spring," sold as an article of
merchandise, for so much consideration, so many and such great sins?
The confessional, the extreme unction, the deliverance of souls from
purgatory, these and other adjuncts and accessories that have risen
from the claim of the Romish Church to the power of the keys, they
allege were once given to St. Peter. But it rests, like so many
other claims of that Church, upon a serious misinterpretation and
perversion of the passage.
In the following chapter our Lord says to the whole band of
apostles: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." And this He said not only on one occasion to them all,
but on several. On this particular occasion He said it especially
to Peter because Peter had acted as the spokesman of the rest and
rendered a grand confession. Never do we find that any command,
blessing, office, or grace was ever conferred here or anywhere
upon Peter which was not conferred equally and also upon all the
apostles of the Lord. Nor can it be shown from the Bible, nor from
the history of the Church in apostolic times, or from those who
lived next after the apostles, that Peter ever asserted, or sought
to assert, such authority. On the contrary, Peter, in his Epistles,
invariably refers to himself as simply one of the apostles, in no
way the superior of the others, and when the first Christian synod
was held, though he was present, it was James that presided and gave
the official judgment of the assembly. If God's authority prevails,
we must dismiss the Romish dogma which would entrench itself in this
text as a falsehood, without the remotest claim to our respect. No,
not to Peter exclusively was given the power of the keys; not even
to the twelve apostles exclusively, in the sense that it belonged to
them personally. They received it as a power, a commission, which
belonged to the Church. In the 18th chapter of St. Matthew, speaking
of this very thing, the Savior directs: "And if he neglect to hear
them, tell it to the Church; but if he neglect to hear the Church,
let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily, I
say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven."
Correctly does our Catechism define the office of the keys. It
says: "The office of the keys is the peculiar Church power which
Christ has given to His Church on earth, to forgive the sins of the
penitent unto them, but to retain the sins of the impenitent as long
as they do not repent." We learn, then, who is invested with this
authority, _viz._, the Church, the congregation of believers. It is
something which belongs to all Christians, not to one apostle only,
or to twelve apostles only, but to every congregation that is met
around the Word and the Sacrament. They have this jurisdiction and
power. What jurisdiction and power? The power that attaches to the
office of the keys is twofold. It is used to lock and to unlock, to
fasten and to open the door.
First, there is the power to fasten and to lock. We call this
administering discipline. This is necessary to the health and life
of the Church. In the Corinthian church a certain man was guilty of
a nameless crime. Possibly of good social standing, his offense was
winked at. St. Paul, however, exhorts the Corinthian congregation
to deal summarily with him; he exhorts them to meet in the name of
the Lord, and deliver this evil-doer over to Satan in the hope that
he might come to his senses and be reclaimed--"for the destruction
of the flesh," as the phrase is. In another place he writes: "I
have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is
called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or
a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. Put away from among
yourselves that wicked person." It was what we call suspension,
excommunication, or the ban.
It is not a pleasant duty by any means, as little as it is a
pleasant thing to amputate, to cut off a member of the body; but
if the member be gangrenous and a menace to the life of the body,
and nothing but an amputation will do, then let it be done. A
congregation is answerable before the Head of the Church; it must
keep its membership and roster clear; it dare not permit among
its membership impenitent and manifest sinners, those who are
despisers of God's means of grace, the Word and the Sacrament, whose
morals are a blot, whose lives are a stench in the nostrils of the
believers and of the world. Such, after due hearing, exhortation,
remonstrance, must be turned out. They have no place in the company
of Christians. This is the exercise of the office of the keys in the
one direction. In general, it is to be deplored that the Christian
Churches do not exercise this power as they ought. It would mean the
reawakening and recovery of many a sinner.
The other part of the office of the keys is what is called
absolution, the power to forgive sins. That power the Church has
committed to it, as we heard in the text, by Christ Himself. There
is much misconception on this among even Christians; to some it is
no small stumbling-block. It need not be. The matter is quite simple
and plain.
Could Peter forgive sins? The Lord says so. Could the apostles
forgive sins? The Lord says so. Can the Church, through its called
ministers, forgive sins? The Lord says so. Yes, we may press the
question still further and ask, Can every Christian forgive sins?
What the Church, as the collective body of Christians, can do, that
each Christian can do as an individual. Yes, every Christian can
forgive sins. How is that to be understood? Peter, as Peter, as a
man, could not forgive sins of himself and by his own authority. No
man can forgive sins--that is a divine prerogative. But Christ gave
to Peter the charge, the commission, to do so. The power, then, was
not in Peter, but in the charge, the commission. When the Governor
of our State issues a pardon and sends a messenger to deliver it,
it is rightly and properly said that the messenger brings pardon to
the prisoner. The power, of course, is not of the messenger, but of
the Governor, as vested in the message of pardon. Equally so the
Gospel is the message of pardon to sinful men. The ministers of
Christ, as the messengers of the Churches, proclaim that message.
The power of the pardon does not depend upon them, their general
piety or impiety; the power of the pardon rests upon Him that
gave it, the great Governor of the Church. And yet, can it not be
justly, truthfully, and properly said in their case, as in the case
mentioned, that the messengers bring pardon to the prisoners, that
they forgive sins? So our Lord spoke, so our Catechism speaks, and
so we may speak.
Not the power of absolute forgiveness does the text confer upon the
Church, but that of declarative forgiveness. But this declaration of
forgiveness, it must be held, is real forgiveness. When the Church
forgives sins, they are forgiven. The words of Christ say that as
distinctly as words can say it. "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they
are remitted unto them." The pardon brought by the messenger is a
real pardon, as certain and valid as if the Governor had brought it
himself. And so, declares our Catechism, when in the confessional
service the minister pronounces the forgiveness of sins, you are to
receive it as from God Himself and in no wise to doubt, but firmly
to believe that by it your sins are forgiven before God in heaven.
This is the teaching of God's Word in regard to the loosing power of
the office of the keys. A comforting teaching it is. We Christians,
it is true, have the assurance of forgiveness already in our
baptism, in the general preaching of the Gospel, and in the Lord's
Supper; but that does not make absolution superfluous. Battling, as
we have daily to do, against flesh and blood, disturbed as we are by
many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without,
how uplifting the words of absolution addressed to you directly,
individually: "My son, my daughter, be of good cheer, thy sins are
forgiven thee!"
God preserve us from all abuse, perversion, and misunderstanding of
His Word and ministry, and give us the comfort and blessing that
come from both! Amen.