Christ speaking to Peter:

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.  Matthew 16:19 KJV

Another accurate translation of Matthew 16:19 is as follows:

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt not allow on earth shall have been disallowed in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt allow on earth shall have been allowed in heaven.  Matthew 16:19 NLV

Interpretation:

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:

The keys were the sign of the scribe so Christ was making the disciples, or Peter in particular, His scribe(s) for the kingdom.  It could also be that Peter not only presented the kingdom to the Jews as leader of the disciples, but also was the first to make the kingdom available to the Gentiles in Acts. (10:45)

………and whatsoever thou shalt disallow on earth shall have been disallowed in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt allow on earth shall have been allowed in heaven.

The “future perfect periphrastic” structure in the Greek shows us that instead of giving Peter unlimited authority in the church, the Lord Jesus has limited his authority to what has already been decided in heaven.

This is the same restriction that the Lord puts on the church in Matthew 18 regarding church discipline.

The most understandable translation of this passage would be as follows:

And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you forbid on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven: and whatever you permit on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven. (Williams)**

How do we know what has already been settled in heaven?    

       For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.  Psalm 119:89

….let the word of Christ dwell in you richly….

 

**Heritage Baptist Church, NSC, S.D. – This article was used with permission.