The Keys of the Kingdom

The reason for this is not far to seek. Years before this event, the Lord Jesus in the course of His ministry had, by promise, bestowed on Peter an honour which was to belong to him alone. By reason of this, Peter was given a functional position in the kingdom and gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which no-one else could fill.

The Lord makes His choices and distributes His gifts among us according to His will, with absolute justice. Everything He does is in love and we must with humility accept that it is quite impossible to alter the decision of our Saviour-King. During His personal appearance and brief reign on earth, all the apostles He sent out did much the same things as each other. Occasionally the Lord would select a group of three from among the chosen twelve, and for reasons then hidden from their understanding, would take these with Him to certain places for purposes He did not always explain. From these three Peter was eventually singled out by the Lord and given a particular ministry; 'thou art Peter', He said, 'I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom', and that was final.

On the day of Pentecost, while fulfilling His promise to send the Holy Ghost to all His disciples, the Lord also kept His personal promise to Peter. That day the apostle received power and authority to use the keys to the Kingdom. From that time forward, to him alone belonged the privilege of opening the Kingdom of God to the whole world of men.

.... and in Samaria

Reading carefully through this book, we find that from the very day the Lord inaugurated the Church, this is exactly what Peter did. Because in him personally was vested this great authority, upon him also lay great responsibility. He alone had been given the keys so he must discharge his duty. With faithfulness he opened the Kingdom of God to the peoples of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria respectively, and finally also to the Gentile nations.

Therefore, having already been the key man in Jerusalem and Judea, upon hearing of the Samaritans' response, by common consent of the Apostolate, Peter accompanied by John is sent to Samaria that he might be the key man there also. Just because the Holy Ghost had not been poured out upon the Samaritans during Philip's ministry, they must not be denied their blood-bought right to be born from above.

These men had been chosen by God to be the foundation upon which He would build the Church. To them it was anomalous that people should believe and not receive the Spirit, or be dipped in water and not be baptised in Spirit also. Beside this, because the kingdom had not been opened to them, the Samaritan believers were neither in life nor in the Kingdom, and the fault was not theirs; it was simply because Peter, with his initiating ministry had not yet gone there. Therefore, upon hearing of the results of Philip's visit to Samaria, Peter was immediately sent from Jerusalem and promptly went to fulfil his ministry to the Samaritans.