The Scribal Duties of a Minister

SOURCE: https://nikeinsights.famguardian.org/forums/topic/matthew-1619-keys-to-the-kingdom/

EDITORIAL:

Ever since we began our study of law in 2000, we’ve always described ourself as “the scribe for the freedom community”. Now, after 25 years of doing that job, we FINALLY understand the BIBLICAL reason for that and the divine calling we are engaged in.

SEDM is a starting point for fulfilling said duties of ALL ministers described in this article. That, in fact, is why we describe this as a MINISTRY.

The “law of sanctification” mentioned in this article is further explored in the article below:

The Role of the Law in Sanctification, Biblehub
https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_role_of_the_law_in_sanctification.htm

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Matthew 16:19 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.

Q: What does it mean when Jesus said, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven?”

Great families, kings and queens, gave the keys of their castle to their most trusted servant — the chief of staff.

Keys to the House of David

The background of this text is the case of Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was given the keys to the House of David by Hezekiah.

Isaiah 22:22 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.

A key is a symbol of authority over the gates, the house, and the treasury of David; that is, he was appointed the royal steward, chief of staff, prime minister, and secretary of the treasury. No one could enter the royal house or meet with Hezekiah without going through the chief of staff.

In an ultimate sense the key of the house of David belonged to Christ Himself as the King. It was He who “opened and none could shut, who shut and none could open.”

Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.”

Men cannot “choose” to enter the kingdom. That choice rests with Jesus, the eternal Gatekeeper. He opens doors, and closes doors. He accepts some, and rejects others.

Peter the Gatekeeper

While men joke about meeting Peter “at the pearly gates,” it was no joke that he was given the keys of the kingdom — a metaphorical statement. Figuratively speaking, Peter became a doorkeeper — implying authority to open and shut doors to the kingdom; to make ministerial decisions about who could and who could not enter the kingdom of God.

Mentioning Peter by name, Peter opened the door of salvation to the Jews in Acts 2 and to the Gentiles in Acts 10. He became the Chief Steward over the House of David which we call “the True Israel of God.”

Entrance into the kingdom of God came through Peter specifically and in a wider sense through the apostles.

Keys and Scribes

But, Peter is more than a gatekeeper. Peter (and the apostles) replaced the scribes and Pharisees who were considered guardians of Judaism.

The scribes where thought of as a class of Hebrew scholars who had the keys to the understanding of Scripture; and, here the keys represent words, the definition of terms, their grammatical usage, and the context in which ideas are presented.

Matthew 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

Upon entering the office of a scribe, the Rabbis considered these lawyers as having the “key of knowledge.’” They became guardians over Beth-Midrash (commentaries) — the entire history of interpretation of the Torah and Rabbinical case law.

This position shares the powers of a grammarian, an attorney, chief magistrate, attorney general at the DOJ, Secretary of State, or Chief of Staff at the White House, and chief justice at the Supreme Court.

But, Jesus condemned these trustees because commitment to “approval by men” replaced loyalty to interpreting the Scripture correctly — all wanted to be “politically correct.” Like federal statutes often overstep the Constitution, rabbinical case law cast a long shadow over the Light of Torah. And, these Scribes loved the shadows.

To the scribes, Jesus said:

Matthew 15:3 . . . Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Luke 11:52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

John 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

A new class of Scribes

Our Lord’s work involved training a new class of competent scribal-lawyers. The Savior was successful. He appointed Peter to be the seigneur (chief) or prime minister of His kingdom offer to men on earth.

Jesus announced to Peter that he was now qualified to undertake the duties of a scribe-lawyer and to open and shut the doors of the kingdom. Christ gave him the authority to make legal rulings on what knowledge was true and not true about the kingdom of heaven; that is to bring out of the kingdom “treasures things new and old” Matthew 13:52).

In relation to the terms of salvation, Benson describes this power as the authority to “refuse admission into it to all those who did not comply with those terms, and to exclude from it all such as should violate those laws.” This power was given to Peter, and not to the church; not to an organization; not to a corporation; and certainly not to every synagogue in the empire.

He adds this, “included a power of declaring the laws of the gospel and the terms of salvation, as well as all those acts of discipline which Peter and his brethren performed as apostles.”

The keys to the kingdom was given to Peter, not as a priest, but as a scribe-lawyer, interpreter, and teacher of holy things. He was given power to make law and to abolish law.

“binding” and “loosing“

The word “bind” refers to a legislative act that prohibits, restrains, proscribes, forbids, or outlaws certain behavior.

The word “loose” involves a ruling, decree, or directive that releases, liberates, emancipates, unchains, unfetters, and unshackles a man to do a thing.

The words that follow represent the formal confirmation in words of Christ’s appointment of Peter to the position of royal steward or chief counsel of His House. This appointment as a scribal-lawyer came with the duty of “legal-judicial” review. This authorized the scribe (Peter) to review laws, actions, and teachings of claimants and the power to declare them scriptural or non-scriptural based on the teachings of Jesus about kingdom-law.

This new authority was connected to the office of a scribe, not the office of a priest. The authority to sustain a guilty verdict and forgive sins rested with the priesthood. Peter had the power to proclaim forgiveness of sins (John 20:23), but the power of keys to the kingdom were scribal, legislative, interpretive, and hermeneutic, and not priestly.

During the time of Christ, there were two schools of theological thought regarding the legality of divorce: the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai. When asked about the justification of divorce (Matthew 19), Jesus sided with the school of Shammai which took the conservative position that divorce could only be justified by an act of adultery. The school of Hillel took a liberal position regarding divorce — a position that set men free from their marital covenant for any cause.

Paul, the apostle-scribe-lawyer, added a second cause for divorce in 1 Corinthians 7 — that of abandonment.

When the Judaizers sought to “put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples” (Acts 15:10), Peter, remembering our Lord’s teaching, loosened what was also loosed in heaven. Peter unshackled Gentiles setting them free from Judaism and the chains of rabbinical case law. This authority to interpret and set rules in relation to the legal issues as a scribal-lawyer-apostle bestowed on Peter was later conferred on all the disciples — even to the point of ex-communicating lawless members in the church.

Matthew 18:18 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.

Acts 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

In Acts 15, we see Peter exercising his royal scribal-lawyer duty during the Jerusalem council, but he bound men to the duties of holiness required by Torah in his epistles (1 Peter; 2 Peter).

Peter as the Rock

Ellicott warns about reading to much in this statement as to whether or not Peter was the rock upon which the church was formed.

“The claims of the Church of Rome rest, such as they are, on the greatness of her history, on her association with the imperial city, on the work done by her as the “light of the wide West” in ages of darkness, on the imposing aspect of her imagined unity; but to build them upon the promise to Peter is but the idlest of fantastic dreams, fit only to find its place in that Limbo of vanities which contains, among other abortive or morbid growths, the monstrosities of interpretation.”

Importance of law

As a scribe-lawyer-apostle, Peter had to make ruling about laws applicable to the church.

Law is necessary because law defines right and wrong. That the Christian is not under law is an overly broad statement. He is not under law for salvation, but he is under law for sanctification. Men enter the kingdom, not by keeping the law, but by accepting Christ’s authority and receiving the benefits of grace by faith (sola fide). If the door swing open, and a man is invited into the kingdom, he is duty bound to obey the rules of the Household. Likewise, he must not be shackled by presumptive duties in his service of the Lord.

If God’s law is not the standard for ethics and morality, what is? Nothing is more derelict than the notion that men are free to choose the law they will serve. Men are not saved by law, but they are saved in order to have the power to keep the law (James 4:12). One cannot love unless he knows the law for love is the fulfillment of law.

Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Conclusion

There is one absolute God and one absolute law order. When questions arise on the moral-social-doctrinal issues of our time, it is the duty of ministers to declare Heaven’s position — to open the doors of salvation to those seeking entrance by faith in Christ and to close the doors to wolves in sheep’s clothing: hypocrites, pretenders, and enemy combatants.

All of God’s ministers are called to be scribes, lawyers, and interpreters of kingdom matters — to know the law, to interpret it correctly, and to apply is accurately — to forbid what the law prohibits; to make rulings that (1) set men free from sin and presumption and (2) rulings that bind men to kingdom duty. The apostles set men free from the Judaic laws of circumcision, but bound them to the laws of holiness and love (1 Peter 1:15ff).

And, to be a good scribe, Christian-ministers would do well to learn Greek, Hebrew, the laws of grammar, theology, the maxims of law, and the rules of hermeneutics.

Brooky Stockton, ret. pastor / teacher