What the Keys of the Kingdom Mean
If you have ever been handed the keys to someone’s house, you know it means something.
It means trust.
It means responsibility.
It means you are in charge while the owner is away.
Jesus once handed someone keys too.
Not to a house.
To a kingdom.
Wait… What Are the Keys of the Kingdom?
A lot of Christians read Jesus’ words to Peter and think:
“The keys just mean preaching the Gospel. Peter opened the door of salvation by preaching on Pentecost. That’s all.”
And at first that sounds right.
Peter did preach on Pentecost.
Three thousand people were baptized.
And preaching really does open the door to the kingdom.
But then you find the Old Testament passage Jesus was quoting, and you have to stop for a second.
Because the keys were not a poetic image.
They were a job.
What Jesus Said
It happens at Caesarea Philippi.
Jesus asks His Apostles who they say He is.
Peter answers: “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus says:
“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18
“And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.”
— Matthew 16:19
Wait.
Notice who gets the keys.
Not all the Apostles.
“Thee.”
Singular.
Peter.
(The rock and the new name are a whole story of their own. That’s in Why Catholics Believe Peter Was the First Pope.)
Keys Meant Something to a Jew
In the ancient world, keys were not small.
They were big, heavy, often wooden or iron.
And whoever held the key decided who came in.
Jesus uses that picture Himself.
Listen to what He says to the religious leaders of His day:
“But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men,”
— Matthew 23:13
And again:
“Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.”
— Luke 11:52
Wait a second.
The scribes and Pharisees had real authority.
They taught.
They decided.
And Jesus says they were using their key to lock people out.
So when Jesus gives keys to Peter, His listeners would not hear “go preach.”
They would hear: “You are in charge of the door now.”
The King’s Steward
Now go back about seven hundred years, to the prophet Isaias.
In the kingdom of David, the king had a chief minister.
The prime minister.
The man “over the house.”
He ran the kingdom in the king’s name.
And his sign of office was a key.
In Isaias 22, the steward is a man named Sobna.
He has abused his office.
So God sends the prophet to him:
“Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:”
— Isaias 22:15
And the message is not good news for Sobna:
“And I will drive thee out from thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry.”
— Isaias 22:19
Then God names his replacement, Eliacim.
And listen to what God says about him:
“And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.”
— Isaias 22:22
Wait.
A key.
Opening and shutting.
Handed from one man to the next.
Sound familiar?
“He Shall Be as a Father”
There’s a line just before the key that most people skip.
God says He will clothe Eliacim in Sobna’s robe, give him Sobna’s power, and then:
“and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.”
— Isaias 22:21
A father.
The king’s steward was not just a manager.
He was a father to the king’s people.
Now think about what Catholics call the successor of Peter.
“Pope” comes from the word papa.
Father.
That is not a title someone made up to flatter a bishop.
It is the oldest description of the steward’s job in the Bible.
Jesus Was Quoting Isaias
Every Jew listening to Jesus knew the story of Sobna and Eliacim.
Jesus is the Son of David.
The King.
And here He is, giving “the keys of the kingdom” to one man, with power to open and shut, bind and loose.
Put them side by side.
Isaias: “the key of the house of David.”
Jesus: “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
Isaias: “he shall open, and none shall shut.”
Jesus: “whatsoever thou shalt bind… whatsoever thou shalt loose.”
Jesus is not inventing a new idea.
He is restoring an old office.
The King is appointing His steward.
The Key Sat on His Shoulder
Here’s a detail that’s easy to miss.
Eliacim’s key was laid “upon his shoulder.”
Now go back a few chapters in the same prophet.
Isaias is describing the Messiah:
“For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder:”
— Isaias 9:6
Wait.
The government is on the King’s shoulder.
And the key is on the steward’s shoulder.
Same prophet.
Same picture.
The King carries the kingdom.
And He lets His steward carry the key.
An Office, Not Just a Man
Here is the most important part.
In the kingdom of David, the steward’s office did not die with the steward.
Sobna was replaced.
The key was passed on.
The king was always the king.
But there was always someone holding the key.
So when Peter died, the keys did not disappear.
They were passed on to the man who took his place.
That is why Catholics call the pope the successor of Peter.
(How the early Church handled that, name by name, is in Why Catholics Believe the Pope Has Authority.)
The King Still Holds the Master Key
Now, someone might say:
“But doesn’t Jesus hold the keys?”
Yes.
In Revelation, Jesus says:
“And alive, and was dead. And behold I am living for ever and ever and have the keys of death and of hell.”
— Revelation 1:18
And He calls Himself the one:
“he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth:”
— Revelation 3:7
Wait.
“The key of David.”
That’s Isaias 22 again, word for word.
Catholics agree completely.
The steward never owned the house.
He held the key on behalf of the king.
Jesus holds all authority.
Peter holds the keys because Jesus gave them to him.
A steward with a key does not replace the king. He proves the king is running the house.
Want something to pray with this week? Get our free printable Rosary guide.
Watch Peter Use the Keys
If the keys are an office, you’d expect to see Peter using them.
And you do.
On Pentecost, Peter preaches, and the door opens to the Jews (Acts 2).
At the house of Cornelius, Peter baptizes the first Gentiles, and the door opens to the nations (Acts 10).
Then the biggest fight of the early Church.
Do Gentile converts have to keep the Law of Moses?
The Apostles and elders meet in Jerusalem.
There is a long argument.
And then:
“And when there had been much disputing, Peter, rising up, said to them: Men, brethren, you know, that in former days God made choice among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.”
— Acts 15:7
And after Peter speaks, the whole assembly falls silent (Acts 15:12).
Wait a second.
Open the door.
Open it wider.
Settle the question.
That’s exactly what a steward with keys does.
Binding and Loosing Is Shared. The Keys Are Not.
Someone could push back here.
“Jesus gave binding and loosing to all the Apostles, not just Peter.”
And that’s true.
Two chapters later, He says to the Twelve:
“Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.”
— Matthew 18:18
Notice the word now.
“You.”
Plural.
But notice what is missing.
The keys.
Binding and loosing is given to the Apostles together.
The keys are given to one man.
The Catechism says it this way: the office of binding and loosing given to Peter was also given to the college of the Apostles, united to its head (CCC 881).
Together.
With Peter.
Never without him.
(We go deeper into binding and loosing in What “Binding and Loosing” Means in the Bible.)
The Keys in Every Confessional
So where do you see the keys working today?
Start with the night of the Resurrection.
Jesus appears to the Apostles:
“He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.”
— John 20:21
“When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
— John 20:22
“Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”
— John 20:23
Wait.
Opening and shutting.
Forgiving and retaining.
It’s the same shape as the keys.
The Catechism ties them together.
When Jesus gave the Apostles His own power to forgive sins, He also gave them authority to reconcile sinners with the Church (CCC 1444).
And it explains “bind and loose” this way: whoever you shut out of your communion is shut out of communion with God, and whoever you welcome back is welcomed back by God (CCC 1445).
So every time a priest says, “I absolve you from your sins,” the keys are turning.
The keys don’t lock people out. Most of the time, they let people back in.
The Early Christians Noticed
This is not a reading someone invented later.
Around A.D. 200, Tertullian, writing in North Africa, asks whether anything could have been hidden from Peter, the rock on which the Church would be built, who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Around A.D. 251, St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, quotes Matthew 16 and says Jesus built the Church upon one man, so that the Church would be one.
A century and a half later, St. Augustine preaches that Peter received the keys not only for himself, but as the figure of the whole Church.
North Africa.
Carthage.
Hippo.
Different men.
Different centuries.
The keys always pointed to Peter, and through Peter, to the Church.
Why Every Picture of Peter Has Keys
Walk into almost any old church and look for St. Peter.
You will find him holding keys.
For centuries, Christians have not needed a caption to recognize Peter.
They just look for the keys.
The keys are on the coat of arms of the Holy See.
Crossed.
Usually one gold, one silver.
A common explanation: gold for heaven, silver for earth.
They are on the flag of Vatican City.
They are carved over doors, painted in domes, stamped on coins.
Two thousand years later, the Church is still drawing the same keys Jesus handed to Peter.
“So Peter Stands at the Pearly Gates?”
Here’s a fun one.
Everybody knows the joke.
You die, you walk up to the pearly gates, and St. Peter is standing there with a clipboard.
Where does that come from?
The “pearly gates” come from Revelation, where the heavenly city has twelve gates:
“And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, one to each: and every several gate was of one several pearl.”
— Revelation 21:21
And Peter is at the gate because… he has the keys.
But read Matthew 16 again.
“Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth.”
“Whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth.”
On earth.
Peter’s keys are not for a gatehouse in the clouds.
They are for the Church, here, now.
The joke isn’t doctrine.
But it does prove one thing.
Everyone, Catholic or not, still remembers who got the keys.
“Didn’t the Keys Just Mean Preaching?”
Let’s go back to where we started.
Here is the fair version.
Some Protestant readers say the keys are simply the Gospel, and Peter “used” them once, at Pentecost and at Cornelius’ house.
You may interpret those passages differently.
But you at least have to admit three things.
Jesus was quoting Isaias 22, and in Isaias the key is an office, not a message.
In Isaias the key is handed on when the steward is replaced.
And Jesus says Peter’s binding and loosing is ratified in heaven.
That is more than preaching.
Preaching opens the door.
But a door needs someone to keep it.
So What Is the Catholic Claim?
Now let’s put it all together.
In the kingdom of David, the king’s steward held the key of the house and governed in the king’s name.
He was “a father” to the king’s people.
The office was passed from one man to the next.
Jesus, the Son of David, gave “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” to Peter alone.
He was quoting Isaias 22, and appointing Peter as the steward of His kingdom.
Jesus Himself still holds “the key of David.” The steward never replaces the King.
Binding and loosing was shared with the Apostles. The keys were not.
Peter used them: at Pentecost, at Cornelius’ house, and at the Council of Jerusalem.
The keys still turn every time a priest absolves a sinner.
And the Church teaches that Peter’s office continues in his successors, the popes (CCC 553, 881).
So the real question is not:
“Where does the Bible say the pope is in charge?”
The better question is:
“If Jesus gave the keys to Peter, who is holding them now?”
Because the King has not changed the locks.
Keep reading: Why Catholics Believe Peter Was the First Pope, Why Catholics Believe the Pope Has Authority, and What Apostolic Succession Means, or browse more questions in Catholicism Explained.
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Catholic Sources
Scripture (Douay-Rheims): Isaias 9:6; Isaias 22:15–25; Matthew 16:13–19; Matthew 18:18; Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:52; John 20:21–23; Acts 2; Acts 10; Acts 15:6–12; Revelation 1:18; Revelation 3:7; Revelation 21:21.
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
- CCC 551–553 (the keys of the Kingdom)
- CCC 881 (Peter, the Apostles, and binding and loosing)
- CCC 979–983 (the power of the keys and the forgiveness of sins)
- CCC 1444–1445 (reconciliation with the Church; “bind and loose”)
Early Christian writers:
- Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 22 (c. A.D. 200)
- St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Catholic Church 4 (A.D. 251)
- St. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John 124.5 (early 400s)
Church documents:
- First Vatican Council, Pastor Aeternus 1 (A.D. 1870)
- Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 22 (A.D. 1964)
