_{Statue of St Peter at the Vatican}

The Catholic Church infallibly teaches that Jesus Christ Himself instituted the office of the papacy.

The Bible contains proofs of the above, which I shall share below:

“And I will give unto thee [Peter] 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

No other apostle is given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. This shows us that the power which is given to all the Apostles to bind and to loose in Matthew 18:18, must be exercised under the keys which are given alone to Peter. Peter has a unique position of authority in the Church.


_{"Le Christ remettant les clés à saint Pierre", Guido Reni, 1620s.}

Most people don’t know: Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew 16 are a reference to the function of the prime minister of the Kingdom in the Old Testament.

“And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”
- Isaias 22:22

In David’s Kingdom there was not only a king who ruled. The king had royal ministers. You see references to this in 2 Samuel 8 (2 Kings 8 in the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible) and in 1 Kings 4 (3 Kings 4 in the Douay-Rheims) and in other places.

However, of all the king’s ministers, there was one who stood out. That was the prime minister.

In Isaias 22 we read that the prime minister HAD THE KEY to the house of David. This key represented the prime minister’s authority over the house of the king.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy [Shebna’s] robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”
- Isaias 22:20-22


_{Seal imprint discovered at Lachish, 2015. The inscription reads “L’lyqm yhwzrh,” or “Belonging to Eliakim, Yehozarah.” Believed to have belonged to Eliakim from Isaias 22.}

Notice that the prime minister had the key of the house of David. We also see that to him was committed “the government,” and that he would be “a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

“And I will give unto thee [Peter] 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

The reference is obvious.

Note also: The Davidic Monarchy, the Kingdom of God on Earth, was meant to be a prototype of the Kingdom of God which Jesus Christ would establish. That’s why Jesus is called the son of David in the Gospels.
It’s also why Peter himself says in Acts 2:30 that Jesus sits upon David’s throne.
Luke 1:32 says the following of Jesus: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father…”

Jesus was making Peter His Chief Minister, the one with the Keys to His House, with the overall power to shut and to open.

Note also : King Hezekiah gave the key of the Kingdom to Eliakim because Eliakim succeeded Shebna in the office of prime minister.



_{The Keys are held by Peter}

So also would Peter have successors who would receive the same powers he had.

When Jesus said to Peter, “I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,” he clearly indicated to all informed Jews, who studied the Old Testament, what He was doing.

More in Part 2

gaelllic:
The Catholic Church infallibly teaches that Jesus Christ Himself instituted the office of the papacy. The Bible contains proofs of the above, which I shall share below:

No other apostle is given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. This shows us that the power which is given to all the Apostles to bind and to loose in Matthew 18:18, must be exercised under the keys which are given alone to Peter. Peter has a unique position of authority in the Church. Most people don’t know: Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew 16 are a reference to the function of the prime minister of the Kingdom in the Old Testament. In David’s Kingdom there was not only a king who ruled. The king had royal ministers. You see references to this in 2 Samuel 8 (2 Kings 8 in the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible) and in 1 Kings 4 (3 Kings 4 in the Douay-Rheims) and in other places. However, of all the king’s ministers, there was one who stood out. That was the prime minister...

Bullsheet!

You can even find support for Hitler and the KKK by pulling verses out-of-context in much the same way observed here. Even a nuclear holocaust can be justified by using the same manipulative disregard for the context as used here in this article.