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Jesus says to Peter in Matthew 16:18,19:

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 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.

The Catholic believes the "keys to the Kingdom of Heaven" were first held by Peter and then every Pope thereafter through Apostolic Succession. It seems Protestants picked their own personal set of keys up and assumed personal responsibility for their administration when they departed the doors of the Catholic Church.

How does a Protestant Church justify the corporate administration that the keys afford without supplanting the Church "that the gates of Hell will not prevail against"?

Ryan Frame
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Rick
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  • The Protestant branch of Christianity specifically protested against certain teachings of the Catholic Church as well as the Papacy itself. – Narnian Jun 20 '13 at 18:35
  • Protestant is described in Wikipedia: protesting against the authority of the Pope (and, if only by implication, the Catholic Church in general). – Andrew Leach Jun 20 '13 at 18:35
  • Are you asking what teachings the Protestant branch specifically protested against? If so, that's a bit of a list question. – Narnian Jun 20 '13 at 18:35
  • No, it seems that we Protestants should personally know what we are in "protest" of since it appears we personally have responsibility for the administration of the "keys" to the Kingdom – Rick Jun 20 '13 at 18:38
  • Luther's 95 Theses are linked in the Wikipedia article. However the keys part of the question seems good to me: is there anyone on earth with the keys to bind and loose? Or is it everyone for himself? – Andrew Leach Jun 20 '13 at 18:38
  • @Rick: "personally have responsibility for the administration of the "keys" to the Kingdom" for who are you administering the keys to ? – Greg McNulty Jun 20 '13 at 18:41
  • It seems the "keys" are for the administration of God's love in our own life as apposed to the Catholic who trust in the Vicar of Christ (Pope) to administer the love of God to the faithful Catholic. – Rick Jun 20 '13 at 18:44
  • The main part of this question is a duplicate with some other ground we've covered. However as Andrew noted the final bit about the keys might make an interesting question on it's own and I encourage you to perhaps ask that as a new question. It would need to be framed in a different context: rather than "what makes a protestant" it would be "what do protestants generally believe the "keys" in verse X to be? – Caleb Jun 20 '13 at 21:07
  • @Caleb Perhaps with the above changes? – Rick Jun 21 '13 at 13:18
  • @Rick I've considered your edits, but I think this needs further improvement. Right now it kind of reads like a rant and if you boil it down the core question here is "how do protestants justify believing differently than Catholics when the Catholic understanding of the keys is correct". Do you see how that works? If you'd like to ask a separate question about what Protestants believe the keys to be about, I suggest doing so on a new clean question slate as this one is starting to wander far from it's original scope of "what makes a protestant protestant". – Caleb Jun 22 '13 at 11:56
  • If you do ask that as a new question, make sure to frame in in a a way that shows you actually want to learn what they believe about the issue, not that you want to show that they have a wrong understanding. Thanks for your consideration. – Caleb Jun 22 '13 at 11:58
  • Also check out How do Protestants interpret Matthew 16:13-20 as much of this ground is covered there. If you do ask something, make sure you ask it in a specific enough way that it doesn't end up being a duplicate of that question. – Caleb Jun 22 '13 at 12:01
  • I see your point, but probably best just to let is go as it is, thanks for your suggestions. – Rick Jun 22 '13 at 12:49
  • The keys were given to all of the Christians in other places in the NT. Mat18:18 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.

    19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. =

     – Hello Oct 31 '14 at 05:04
  • Cath and Prot are very polarized re one another in doctrine, however, they can learn a lot from each other, ie. I learned a lot from a faithful Catholic believer about bible doctrine by studying their catechism and the church Fathers with them, and comparing it to what I know, and teaching them things I have learned from scripture about righteousness and other revelations I did not find in their catechism. – Hello Oct 31 '14 at 05:07

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