Office of the Keys - Means of Grace
Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-16; Luke 24:46-49;
John 20:21-23;Acts 1:8; Luke 24:33
New King James Version
Matthew 28:16-20
"Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came and spoke to them, sayng, `All authority has been given to Me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Faher and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'"
Mark 16:14-16
"Afterward He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, `Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.'"
Luke 24:46-49
"Then He said to them, `Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until You are endued with power from on high.'"
John 20:21-23
"Then Jesus said to them again, `Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them , and said to them, `Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, the are retained'"
Acts 1:8
"'But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'"
Luke 24:33
"So they rose up tht very hour and returne to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together."
Comments
Christian Dogmatics. F. Pieper. Vol III.
P. 193 - According to Scripture, the power to absolve, or the power of the keys (potestas clavium), belongs not to one person or to a few persons in the Church, but to all who have received the Holy Spirit, hence to all Christians without exception. This is clearly taught not only in John 20:28 and Matt. 18:18, but also in Matt. 16:19. These passages of Scripture show that every Christian, yes, every child, can pronounce as valid and effective an absolution as any pastor, bishop, archbishop, etc.
P. 193 n 98 - All restriction of John 20:23: "Whosesoever sins ye remit," to the persons of the Apostles, or to the persons of the Apostles and the New Testament public ministry, is an imposition. Only Luther's explication agrees with the text. See St. L. XI:745 f.; XIX:845 f.; et al. This right understanding Adolf Spaeth (d. 1910, General Council ) reproduces in his Annotations on the Gospel According to St. John: "On whom is this power here conferred? Is it on a special class or order of men, the clergy, as Rome and all Romanizers teach? But when this power was conveyed by the Lord, the Apostles were not all present; nor were those present on this occasion all Apostles. John clearly distinguishes between the Twelve (v. 24) and the disciples (v. 19). And Luke tells us distinctly that others were gathered with the disciples (Luke 24:33) on that evening. Luther therefore is right in saying: This power is given to all Christians. Whosoever hath the Holy Spirit, to him this power is given, that is, to him who is a Christian. But who is a Christian? He that believeth. He that believeth hath the Holy Spirit. Every Christian, therefore, has the power, claimed by Pope and bishops, of forgiving or retaining sins." [See also J. T. Mueller, Christian Dogmatics. p. 462]
In the words Matt. 18:18: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," Christians are addressed. This is evident both from the words preceding ("If he neglect to hear the church") and from the words following ("Where two or three are gathered together in My name").
And as to Matt. 16:19, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," one cannot but be astonished that not merely Romanists, but even Protestants (e. g., Meyer in his Commentary) find it possible to interpret these words of a prerogative of Peter, whether it be as an Apostle, or as the head of the Apostles, or as a representative of the Apostles. According to the whole context (vv. 13-17) these words describe not the prerogative of an Apostle, but of a person who has come to faith in Christ.
P. 195 - The Christian power to absolve however is an authority given by Christ to all believers, and in the public administration of it the officiants are merely servants (ministri) and delegates of the Christians.
P. 439 - The term "ministry" is used both in Scripture and by the Church in a general, or wider, and in a special, or narrower, sense. In the wider sense it embraces every form of preaching the Gospel or administering the means of grace, whether by Christians in general, as oriinally entrusted with the means of grace and commissioned to apply them or by chosen public servants (ministri ecclesiae) in the name and at the command of Christians. In this article we are speaking of the public ministry in the narrower sense, that is, of the office by which the means of grace, given originally to the Christians as their inalienable possession. are administered by order and on behalf of Christians.
P. 442 - Luther points out, too, that the means of grace have the same nature, power, and effect, whether administered by common Christians or by ministers in their public office. He writes: "We firmly maintain there is no other Word of God than the one all Christians are told to preach; there is no other Baptism than the one all Christians may administer; there is no other remembrance of the Lord's Supper than the one any Christian may celebrate; also there is no other sin than the one every Christian may bind or loose; again, there is no other sacrifice than the body of every Christian; also, no one can, or may, pray but only a Christian; moreover, no one should judge of the doctrine but the Christian. These, however, certainly are the priestly and kingly functions." ( St. L. X: 1590. )
P. 451-452 - Scripture teaches that neither the Pope, nor the bishops, nor the clergy as an order, nor individual persons within or outside a congregation have the right and authority to confer the public offce of the Word, but solely the people to whom is given all spiritual power on earth and to whom Word and Sacrament in particular have been entrusted originally; and these are the believers, or the Christians, and nobody else in the world. The believers possess all things (1 Cor 3:21). the unbelievers nothing but death and eternal doom. In Matt. 28:18-20 not only the Apostles as such, but the Christians to the Last Day are charged with the administration of Word and Baptism. This is apparent from the closing words: "And, lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world." And so in the command pertaining to the Lord's Supper, "This do in remembrance of Me," not only the Apostles as such are addressed, but the Christians to the end of time. This is the interpretation given these words by Paul, who says ( 1 Cor. 11:26): "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." This is the Scripture doctrine so clearly stated in the words of the Smalcald Articles: "For wherever the Church is, there is the authority [command] to administer the Gospel. Therefore it is necessary for the Church ["die Kirchen"] to retain the authority to call, elect' and ordain ministers. And this authority is a gift which properly is given to the Church [proprie- only to the Church and to no one else], which no human power can wrest from the Church.... Here belong the statements of Christ which testify that the keys have been given to the Church [German: "der ganzen Kirche"-to every Christian] and not merely to certain persons, Matt. 18:20: 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name,' etc." (Trigl. 523, Power and Jurisdiction of Bishops, 67 - 69.).....The Smalcald Articles do not, of course, refer to the Church UniversaI; scattered over the whole word ( ecclesia universalis), with the phrase "given to the Church," but to the congregation (ecclesia particularis), as the passage added indicates: 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." For the Church possesses all spiritual treasures and privileges, not inasmuch as it is large or small, but inasmuch as it consists of believers.
P. 452 n. 14 - Luther says on Matt. 18:19-20: "Here we hear that also two or three assembled in Christ's name have the same power over everything which St. Peter and all the Apostles have. For the Lord Himself is present, as He says, too, John 14:23: 'If a man love Me, he will keep Nfy words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him.' . . . We here have present the Lord Himself, the Lord of all angels and creatures; it is He who says that all are to have equal authority, keys, and office, even two common Christians by themselves, when gathered in His name. Of this Lord the Pope and all devils shall not make a fool, liar, or drunkard, but we will trample on the Pope and declare that he is a confirmed liar, blasphemer, and idolatrous devil, who under St. Peter's name has arrogated the keys to himself alone, while Christ has given them to all in common." (St. L. XVl1:1074.)
P. 453 - The objection that in Matt. 16:18-19 the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given originally not to the believers, but only to Peter as a special privilege, has been fully refuted above, p. 413, footnote 18. In this passage Peter comes into consideration only in so far as he believes, not in so far as he is an Apostle or a privileged person. Note also that the "keys of the kingdom of heaven are nothing else, and can be nothing else, than the means of grace, the Gospel. Through the offer of the Gospel, and through nothing else, Christians remit sins and thus open heaven; through withholding the Gospel, they retain sins and thus lock heaven. Now, since the believers are the persons to whom Christ has entrusted the means of grace, they have eo ipso been given the keys of the kingrdom of heaven.
n. 16 - Chemnitz: "Luther taught from the Word of God that Christ delivered and entrusted the keys, that is, the administration ot Word and Sacraments, to the whole Church."
P. 457 - The Word and Sacrament, in which they minister, are and remain the immediate property of the congregation, and merely the administration of them in the name of all is delegated to these certain persons by the congregation.
P. 458. n. 22 - Balduin, Tractatus de cas. consc., p. 1104: "As the keys are given by the lord of the house to is wife, so Christ, too, as the Lord of His house, the Church, has given the keys to His betrothed, who then commits them to her servants, who are called the stewards, or administrators, of the mysteries of God."
Brief Statement
30. The Original and True Possessors of All Christian Rights and Privileges --Since the Christians are the Church, it is self- evident that they alone originally possess the spiritual gifts and rights which Christ has gained for, and given to, His Church. Thus St. Paul reminds all believers: "All things are yours," 1 Cor. 3:21, 22, and Christ Himself commits to all believers the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 16:13- 19, 18:17-20, John 20:22, 23, and commissions all believers to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments, Matt. 28:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25.
Accordingly, we reject all doctrines by which this spiritual power or any part thereof is adjudged as originally vested in certain individual or bodies, such as the Pope, or the bishops, or the order of the ministry, or the secular lords, or councils, or synods, etc. The officers of the Church publicly administer their offices only by virtue of delegated powers, and such administration remains under the supervision of the latter, Col. 4:17. Naturally all Christians have also the right and the duty to judge and decide matters of doctrine, not according to their own notions, of course, but according to the Word of God, 1 John 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:11.
31. By the public ministry we mean the office by which the Word of God is preached and the Sacraments are administered by order and in the name of a Christian congregation. Concerning this office we teach that it is a divine ordinance; that is, the Christians of a certain locality must apply the means of grace not only privately and within the circle of their families nor merely in their common intercourse with fellow-Christians, John 5:39; Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:16, but they are also required, by the divine order, to make provision that the Word of God be publicly preached in their midst, and the Sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, by persons qualified for such work, whose qualifications and official functions are exactly defined in Scripture, Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23; 20:28; 2 Tim. 2:2.
Christian Dogmatics. J. T. Mueller
P. 450 - Christian ministers are not mediators between God and the believers (priests); for all Christians have access to God's throne through the one Mediator, Christ, in whom they believe. Rom. 6, 1. 2; Eph. 3, 12; Heb. 4, 16. In fact, all believers are the immediate possessors of all gifts and blessings which Christ has secured for His Church, such as the means of grace and the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Matt. 16, 19; 18, 18; John 20, 23, 1 Cor. 5, 3-S. 13. Theirs alone is the privilege to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments, in short, to execute the entire Office of the Keys that the called and ordained pastors exercise through ministerial functions only in the name of the church which has called them.
P. 459-460 - The true doctrine of absolution, however, is firmly founded upon Scripture. Christ's words are clear and unmistakable: "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," Matt. 18,18. Again: "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," John 20, 23. (Cp. also Matt. 9, 8; 2 Cor. 2, 10.)
From these passages it is evident: a) that all who have received the Holy Ghost, that is to say, all true believers, are to remit or forgive sins; b) that this forgiveness relates to distinct persons ("whosesoever sins"); c) that all sins so forgiven by men are forgiven also before God in heaven ("they are remitted unto them").
P. 571-572 - However. Holy Scripture ascribes this power to call to all true believers, since to them Christ has entrusted the Office of the Keys, Matt. 18, 17; 1 Cor. 5, 4. 13; 3, 21. Christ's Great Commssion, Matt. 28,19. 20, was meant not only for the apostles, but for all Christians; for He states expressly: "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." By virtue of their spiritual priesthood all believers "unto the end of the world" possess the inherent right to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments. Since, then, all Christian believers are entrusted with the means of grace, it is their privilege to call pastors, or ministers, who in their name publicly apply the means of grace. Cp. Luther: "That some are chosen from the multitude is done for the reason that they, as representatives of the congreation, should administer and execute the office [ministerlal office], which they all have."
Abiding Word. Vol I
L. W. Spitz
P. 331 - The believers, as a royal priesthood, should show forth the praises of God (I Pet. 2:9). Jesus gave the believers the command: "Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19, 20). Again, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Jesus breathed on His disciples and said unto them: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained" (John 20:22, 23) These words, quoted from Matthew, Mark, and John, were not limited to any particular order of priests like the Levitical priests of the Old Covenant; they were addressed to all believers. The words in Matthew, for instance, were not limited to the eleven disciples, for Jesus added the words: "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (v. 20). In Mark He adds the words: "And these signs shall follow them that believe" (Mark 16:17). Hence the persons to whom Christ gave His command to preach are the believers. Christ gave the power to remit and to retain sins to the entire congregation, however small it may be. He declared: "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
Curtis C. Stephan
P. 356-357 - The power of the keys has not been given only to the Apostles of Christ, nor to Apostles and their successors only and later transmitted and transferred by them to their successors in the clerical office. The assumption that Christ granted the power of the keys only to the Apostles, only to the clergy, fails to take into consideration the fact that at that meeting in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday night the Lord addressed not only the ten Apostles, but also some others who were present. St. Luke informs us that not only the ten Apostles, but also the two Emmaus disciples and some other disciples were present at that time (Luke 24:33-35).
That the power of the keys was intended by the Lord to every believer is shown by the words of Christ spoken in the Temple, "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. . .)" (John 7:38-39). Every person who has received the Spirit of God, every believing Christian, receives the keys as a precious gift of God and as a solemn trust from God. In the power of the Holy Spirit every believer is authorized not only to proclaim the message of God's forgiveness, but also to grant to people the forgiveness of their sins in the name and by the authority of God.
That Christ has given the power of the keys to the Church as a whole is clear from several passages of Scripture (Matt. 16:18-19; I Cor. 12:28; Rev. 5:9-10).........But every believer who has received the Holy Spirit is a royal priest who possesses all the rights and privilees of the Office of the Keys
Since the power of the keys has been given by the Lord to every believer, this privilege belongs also to Christian ministers in their capacity as believers as well as in their capacity as called and or ordained servants of the Word. The Office of the Keys belongs also to Christian women (Gal. 3:26-28), and the specific duties of Christian women are outlined and defined in the Scriptures (I Pet. 3:1-6; I Tim. 5:4-5). Although Christian women possess all the rights and privileges and duties of the Offlce of the Keys, the Scriptures place some limitations upon their exercise of these rights in public (I Tim. 2:11-12; I Cor. 14:84-85).
A Summary of Christian Doctrine. J. P. Koehler
P. 258 - The Office of the Keys, then, is that authority and commission which Christ gave to His believers on earth, that they should administer the means of grace, through which the Holy Ghost will impart to men the blessings of Christ's redemption. Christ procured forgiveness of sins and salvation for all men; through the means of grace the Holy Ghost imparts these blessings to men; and the Church, or the believers, are to administer these means.
P. 264-266 - 1. The royal priesthood of all Christians.-By faith in Christ all Christians are royal priests before God; "ye are . . . a royal priesthood" (1 Pet. 2: 9). Because of this fact they are the real owners and possessors of the Office of the Keys, and of all this Office implies. "All things are yours...." (1 Cor. 3: 21-23); (Matt. 28: 19.20; John 20: 22).- Christians should also exercise the privileges and powers of their priesthood. In their homes, among their brethren and neighbors, in their contacts with the world they should by word and deed "show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2: 9). They should be witnesses to Christ, confess Him before men, teach His Word, reprove sin and error, admonish and comfort, pray and intercede for others; in cases of necessity they may also baptize and absolve. (Cf., S. A., Of the Power, 67, Triglot, p. 523). And whatever a layman does in these things is as valid and certain as if an ordained minister had done it; the official character of the minister does not add virtue and validity to the means of grace.
2. Difference between the personal priesthood of all Christians and the public ministry.-Whenever Christians perform the rights and duties of their royal priesthood, they act as private persons and not as public oflicials of the Church. As we distinguish between a private citizen and a public official, so must we distinguish between an individual Christian and the called minister of the congregation. What both do may in a given case be exactly the same thing; the one acts as an individual Christian on the basis of his royal priesthood, which may not be curtailed in any manner; the other acts on the basis of the call he received from his fellow-Christians. One acts, under God, in his own name; the other acts, under God, in the name of the congregation which has called him.
4. The right to call its own minister is vested in the local congregation.-No prince, pope, conference, synod, or consistory has the divine right to appoint and assign pastors to congregations. The Office of the Keys belongs to all believers in a given congregation, and this includes the right to elect, call, and ordain those who are to administer this Office within said congregation.
P. 271 - 12. The necessity of this office is based on its divine institution. For this reason every local congregation should establish the office of the ministry in its midst. However, this office is not absolutely necessary in the sense that without it no man could be saved, for it is not the office itself that confers spiritual blessings; it merely administers those means through which grace and forgiveness are offered and conveyed to men. And these means of grace are effective unto salvation also without the benefit of the clergy. (Cf., Chapter XXXII, The Gospel, 4)
Luther's Small Catechism - Annotated by Edward W. A. Koehler
P. 275 - Q. 267. What is the power, or authority, of the Office of the Keys?
The Office of the Keys is the power, or authority, to preach the Word of God, to administer the Sacraments, and especially the power to forgive and to retain sins.
P. 277, 278 - Q. 270. To whom, then, has Christ given this power?
Christ has given this power to His Church on earth; especially, to every local congregation.
This power originates with God, for the Word which God gave to Christ He gave to His disciples (John 17:8), and as the Father sent Christ, so Christ sent His disciples to preach the Word (643) and to remit and to retain sins (John 20:21-23).-This power was not given to Peter alone - compare 648 with 651-nor only to the Apostles and the ordained clergy, but to all true believers, to all who have received the Holy Ghost (649), and are God's "royal priesthood" (650). As Christians unite to form local congregations, each congregation has this power (651: "church" here does not mean the Church at large in the world, nor the "teaching church", priests, bishops, and popes, but the Christians gathered in a local congregation, to whom the case of the erring brother can be reported). Hypocrites, that may possibly belong to such a local church, indeed participate externally in the administration of this power, but they do not share in the actual possession thereof.
P. 279 - 281 - Q 275. How does the local congregation publicly administer the Office of the Keys?
According to God's will the Christian congregation chooses and calls men as ministers, who in the name of Christ and in the name of the congregation publicly perform the functions of the Office of the Keys. (The pastoral office a divine institution, Acts 20:28; Eph. 4:10-12.)
The word "publicly" here does not mean openly, before the eyes of the public, but it means in the name of the public, which, in this case, is the local congregation. While each true believer in Christ is a royal priest in his own right, and should, therefore, by word and deed "show forth the praises" of God (650), he will not remain aloof from other believers, but rather seek the fellowship of those that hold the same faith as he (690), and join a Christian congregation in order that together with others he may do what the Lord commanded all of them to do.-Since all members of a congregation have the same right and duty, no one may take it upon himself to act in the name of all others, but he must by them be called or commissioned to preach, etc., (Rom. 10:15). In our day, God does not call these men directly, as He called the Apostles and the Prophets of old, but the Christians, the local congregation, to whom the Office of the Keys was given, choose and call the man who in their name, publicly, is to perform the duties of this office in their midst. And when such a person has accepted this call, he is to be regarded as "the minister of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God" (656), whom God Himself has made "overseer" or bishop over that flock (657), and who, under God "in the person of Christ" (658) and in the name of the congregation that called him, performs the functions of the Office of the Keys. It is the call and the acceptance of this call that makes a man the minister of a congregation, not ordination and installation, which are not divinely commanded.-A congregation may not call into this office any one whom it pleases, no false teacher, no manifest sinner, but only such as are able and fit for this office (See Table of Duties: To Bishops, etc.). Neither are women to be called into this office (659).