Very early in the life of the church, creeds and doctrinal statements became tools in the hands of political and religious leaders to control crowds and dominate others. While taxation and imprisonment is often a good way to get others to support your causes and force obedience to your laws, such tools do not always work among those who seek to serve a Higher Power, or believe they are following a Divine Law which supersedes human courts.

And so when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD, the church rulers and political rulers joined forces to accomplish God’s will “on earth, as it is in heaven.” They saw great benefit in being able to decide where a person would spend eternity, based on how they believed and behaved.

But not everybody believed the same thing. Disagreements arose about what the Bible actually taught, until eventually, both sides of a doctrinal debate condemned and excommunicated their opponents. This led to heated theological debates, and even military skirmishes and minor wars. In an attempt to keep the peace, councils were called and creeds were formed to help determine which side was correct. Often, the Roman Emperors would get involved in these debates, and occasionally it was the Emperor who made the final decision about which theological perspective was correct.

These doctrinal disputes were not so much determined by who had the majority, but by who had the most power and influence in the Roman Empire. This was especially true when one side could gain the support of the Emperor. Whichever side had the ear of the Emperor were most likely to win the debate. And how does one get the ear of the Emperor? Usually, something more is needed than logical arguments about biblical passages. Rulers tend to care more about their coffers and their borders than what the Bible says. So money, power, and land were often used to gain the support of the authorities, rather than sound reasoning from the Scriptures.

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Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter so that Peter could unlock the gates of hell and set the captives free.

But did Peter ever use them? Yes, he used them in three places in the Book of Acts.

The Question of the Kingdom

The book of Acts begins with the disciples asking if Jesus was now going to restore the kingdom (Acts 1:6).

Jesus answers in Acts 1:7-8. Most people think that Jesus basically says, “I’m not going to tell you because that is the wrong question, and here is what I want you to do instead.” But this is not what Jesus was saying. Instead, He was explaining that while He couldn’t tell them exact times and dates, He did know what it would look like when it came: they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the world (Acts 1:8).

Scholars have often noted that this is the outline of the book, as the good news about Jesus begins in Jerusalem in Acts 2, and then spreads out to Judea, Samaria, and eventually to the rest of the known world. But what is less often noted is the role Peter plays in this spread of the Gospel, especially in connection with the statement of Jesus in Matthew 16:19.
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