Ok, what
exactly is the papacy? The papacy is the
office and jurisdiction of the pope, who is the human head over the Roman
Catholic Church. The Catholic Church
teaches that Jesus Christ established the New Testament church by building it
upon the apostle Peter and He designated Peter as the head over all the other
apostles. Jesus also gave Peter the
power of “binding and loosing,” he can forgive people of all their sins and he can
even operate infallibly (without error) under certain conditions. Furthermore, his line of successors after him
will also be considered popes with the same power through “Apostolic
Succession.”
Of course,
we Protestants don’t agree with this, but right now I’d like to recap what
Jesus said and to address how Catholics use the Isaiah passage.
In Matthew
16:13-15, Jesus asks His disciples what the public thought about Him,
and then He asked them what they (the
disciples) thought about Him:
16 – “And Simon Peter
answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
17 – And Jesus answered
and said unto him, ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah: for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.
18 – 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.
19 – 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.’”
This is the
main and foundational passage of Scripture that the Catholic Church uses to
prove its papacy. They will emphasize
that Jesus gave to Peter the “keys” to the kingdom of Heaven and thus, the
authority to “bind” and “loose.”
Enter Shebna and Eliakim
Another
passage they use to try and support the idea of a papacy is in the Old
Testament in Isaiah 22:15-25. In this
passage, God, through the prophet Isaiah, rebukes the present treasurer/prime
minister (Shebna) of Judah for his pride and for abusing his position and tells
him that he will be removed from his lofty position and replaced by a righteous
man named Eliakim. Then, in v.
22-23, Shebna is told:
22 – “And the key of
the house of David will I lay upon his [Eliakim’s] shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall
shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23 – And I will fasten
him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his
father’s house.”
Catholics
believe that there is a connection between Peter in Matthew 16 and Eliakim in
Isaiah 22. They are convinced that
the typology of Eliakim points precisely to the person of Peter, and that both these
passages point to the Catholic papacy.
Comparison
Ok, I will
admit that there are some similarities between the two passages in that they
both reference a key or keys, which point to some kind of authority/power. And I will admit that Isaiah 22:22 is the first
passage in all of Scripture that mentions anything about spiritual/metaphorical
“keys.” And the Jews of Jesus’ day more
than likely recognized (from Isaiah) the terminology that Jesus used concerning
keys. It is interesting, though, that
Isaiah references the “key” (singular) of David, whereas Jesus references the
“keys” (plural) of the kingdom of Heaven.
But is this
really typology about the papacy? If it is, and if Eliakim replaced Shebna,
then what person did Peter the apostle replace?
If both passages are referring to the papacy, then why is Isaiah’s key about
David’s throne and Jesus’ keys about the church? If Isaiah 22 is really about the papacy
(a purely spiritual, non-political authority), then where is this reflected in
the office of Shebna and Eliakim?
If Isaiah
was pointing to a modern papacy, where is infallible spiritual authority alluded
to in this scenario? Where is the
reference to a human authority having “full, supreme, and universal power” over
a religious body? Moreover, neither Isaiah 22 nor Matthew 16 suggests
anything about a chain of perpetual and infallible successors (as the modern
papacy supposedly has).
Well,
someone may say that typology does not have
to match in every detail. That is true,
but the similarities are so few that one has to question if there is enough
here to indicate anything about Peter.
It is the amount of details that are missing
that are very telling.
Furthermore,
it is interesting that Isaiah 22:25 mentions Eliakim’s
“peg” breaking off. So, if this is about the Catholic papacy,
when did Peter’s “peg” (authority) break off?
Let’s look a little farther into the passage in Isaiah.
A Better Fulfillment
Isaiah 22:25:
In that day, saith the
Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed,
and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off:
for the Lord has spoken it.
Notice the
term “cut off.” Now compare this to Daniel
9:26:
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not
for Himself…”
These are
both prophecies of the Messiah to come.
They are both using the same Hebrew word for “cut off” (“karath”). Both Isaiah and Daniel are referring to the
Messiah’s death, so Isaiah is NOT speaking about Peter at all!
The name
“Shebna” means “vigor” or “youthful strength” or “to grow.” The name Eliakim means “God will establish”
or “my God will arise.”
The
character Shebna represents man trusting in his ability/strength/wisdom (Isaiah
22:8-11), but Eliakim represents the Messiah who does not depend on
man’s strength or wisdom!
The key
referred to in Isaiah 22:22 is singular,
and it is “the key of the house of David,” which can only point to the Messiah, Jesus Christ (Matthew
21:9; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 1:31-33), not to Peter or any type of
papacy. This is confirmed in Revelation
3:7:
“And to the angel of
the church in Philadelphia, write; These things saith He that is holy, He that
is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth,
and shutteth, and no man openeth.”
Here, we see
the Savior, the One who shuts and opens at will.
Revelation 3:7 seems to be a much better passage to fulfill the
typology of Isaiah 22 than the Catholic Church’s attempt to use Peter. It does not point to Peter, but to Christ.
The Gospel Brings it into Focus
But what is
this “opening” and “shutting” that Jesus is speaking of in Revelation 3:7 just
above? I believe it has to do with the gospel and the “doors” of opportunity
that are opened or closed by Jesus.
Note that in
1
Corinthians 16:9, Paul speaks of an “open door” for ministry, and again
in 2
Corinthians 2:12. In other
cases, Paul encountered the opposite when he tried to enter Asia, but was
hindered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6), i.e., it was a closed
door. And again, he tried to go into
Bithynia and the same thing happened (Acts 16:7). “Doors of ministry” are controlled (open and
shut) by Jesus alone.
Remember,
Jesus, who holds the key of David (Isaiah 22 and Revelation 3:7) is not
only the One who supernaturally opens and shuts doors of opportunity, but He is
also the One who has given us the keys of the kingdom of Heaven in preaching the
gospel (Matthew 16).
“Binding and
loosing”/“opening and shutting” is NOT about Peter making laws which God is
obligated to uphold, or Peter wielding authority over the other apostles! The keys of Matthew 16 are all about the gospel:
“For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans
1:16)
Note the
phrase “power of God.” This indicates
the exceptional, inherent and divine quality within the gospel message itself. An integral part of the function of the keys
is the person’s repentance (or lack thereof) and his acceptance or rejection of
the gospel, which will determine his destiny.
By the way,
note that Peter did not receive the
keys of Heaven in Matthew 16, because Jesus was speaking of a future event (“…I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven”). Jesus
gave them to all the apostles later, possibly in Matthew 18:18. We know this because the effects of being given the keys (binding and loosing) were the same
in Matthew
18.
In this way,
this authority/power was first given to the apostles themselves, then it was
given again in the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-47) where
it was entrusted to all believers. Even the Catholic Catechism agrees that
the “Great Commission” (evangelizing/sharing the gospel) is for all believers (CCC #900).
Conclusion
Therefore,
this “binding and loosing” of which Jesus spoke is about sharing the gospel
with people, and if the hearers accept its message (“… he that hears you hears Me…”
– Luke 10:16), then the gates of Heaven are open to them; and the one
who shared the gospel can say with
authority, “Since you have accepted the message of Jesus Christ, you have
been forgiven – you are saved.”
But if they
reject the gospel (“… and he that despises you despises Me…” – Luke 10:16), they
are refused entrance into Heaven. And he
who shared the gospel can say with
authority, “Since you have rejected the message, your sins are retained –
you are not right with God.” The keys are
for opening and closing the kingdom of Heaven.
The apostles certainly wielded authority, but it is all true believers who have the power of “binding” and “loosing,”
not just the apostles and not just church leaders. Matthew 16:19 is not what the
Catholic Church thinks it is.
So, to
answer the question, no, Isaiah 22 does NOT support the
doctrine of the Catholic papacy. But even if Isaiah 22:22 did somehow
refer to Peter, that still would not prove the modern concept of the Catholic
papacy, with all its unbiblical teachings, its allegedly infallible
Magisterium, and its nebulous traditions – not to mention the papacy’s
“foundation” which was built on forgeries.
See these
links for more information:
LINKS:
https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2016/10/matthew-16-keys-binding-and-loosing.html
https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2016/09/matthew-16-who-or-what-is-rock.html
https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-papacy-foundation-of-sand.html
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