Key
Key
It is remarkable that key in the concrete form does not occur in the apostolic writings. The four occurrence in Rev. are symbolical. There are certain passages in Acts where we should expect mention of a key, but the circumstances are exceptional, and key is omitted (Act 12:10; Act 16:26-27). When a porter was in attendance, admittance was given from the inside, and a key to open was not necessary (cf. Act 12:14-15). From the fact that city gates were guarded, the need for a key was in this case also absent. It may be noted that the chains by which prisoners were secured, and the stocks in which their feet were made fast, were in all likelihood secured by the equivalent of a key (Act 12:6-7; Act 16:24 etc.).
We remark the difference between the Hebrew word (), that which opens, and the Greek and Latin (, clavis), that which shuts. This seems to correspond with actual usage. Among the Hebrews the lock was arranged in such a manner that the key was requisitioned only for opening (see illust. in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ii. 836). The bar was shot, and the lock acted of itself, but it could be withdrawn only by aid of a key or opener. This advanced mode of making fast a door was doubtless preceded and attended by a simpler process, whereby the bolt or bar could be moved forwards and backwards by means of a hoot passing through a slit in the door. This served to shut the door, but did not make it absolutely secure as in the other case. For the age with which we have to deal we must think of the key as a device by which one outside held command over the closed door. Having shut it in the first instance, one had power to open it by applying the key.
The imagery of Rev., so far as key is concerned, implies power and authority on the part of one standing outside and having possession of the key. This power is in the hands of angelic beings, who are above earth, and chiefly in the hands of the Risen Christ. Their dominion is manifested upon earth and in the under world, over living and dead.
(1) Christ has the keys of death and of Hades (Rev 1:18, Revised Version ). This power is Imperial, exercised from without and from above. There are interesting parallels to this, apart from Scripture, in literature, both earlier and later. When Itar descended to the land of no-return she called imperiously to the porter to open the door, and threatened in case of refusal to shatter the door and break the bolt. Here the power is primitively conceived, and remains largely with the one within. For later and more advanced conceptions see Dante, Purg. ix. 65ff., and Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 774ff., 850ff. In both these instances the power, although great, is still limited.
(2) Angelic authority is evident in Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1, where the key of the pit or well of the abyss, or of the abyss simply, is spoken of. This power was delegated (was given, 9:1). That some symbol of power was bestowed seems clear from 20:1, where the key and a great chain for binding are seen in the angels hand (or attached to his person). The figure of the key here directs our thought to the pits or wells of ancient times, whose opening was safeguarded against illegitimate use by a covering of some kind. The primitive setting of such coverings would naturally be horizontal, but here the imagery, extending to key, points rather to a door set upright and secured by bolt or lock. The stone doors of tombs may be compared.
(3) Upon earth itself Christs unlimited authority is exercised over the churches, including that in Philadelphia (Rev 3:7). The key of David here mentioned is reminiscent of Isa 22:22, where some sort of investiture is in the writers mind (Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) v. 172). In this instance power is exhibited in the most absolute form, and made over to the Church in the sense of a door opened, for the enjoyment rather than for the extension of the gospel (see R. W. Pounder, Hist. Notes on the Book of Revelation, 1912, p. 140). It is not surprising that the reading of this verse should have been attracted to Rev 1:18, as appears in some inferior Manuscripts ( for ).
See further Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , article Keys. For specimens of actual keys discovered in the course of excavation see R. A. S. Macalister, The Excavation of Gezer, 1912, i. 187 and ii. 271. Further illustrations in A. Rich, Dict. of Roman and Greek Antiquities3, 1873, s.v. Clavis.
W. Cruickshank.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Key
is a common heraldic bearing in the insignia of sees and religious houses, particularly such as are under the patronage of St. Peter. Two keys in salire are frequent, and keys are sometimes interlaced or linked together at the bows, i.e. rings. Keys indorsed are placed side by side, the wards away from each other.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Key (2)
(, maphte’ach, an opener, Jdg 3:25; Isa 22:22; “opening,” 1Ch 9:27; ; from its use in shutting, Mat 16:19; Luk 11:52; Rev 1:18; Rev 3:7; Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1), an instrument frequently mentioned in Scripture, as well in a literal as in a figurative sense. The keys of the ancients were very different from ours, because their doors and trunks were generally closed with bands or bolts, which the key served only to loosen or fasten. Chardin says that a lock in the East is like a little harrow, which enters half way into a wooden staple, and that the key is a wooden handle, with points at the end of it, which are pushed into the staple, and so raise this little harrow. SEE LOCK.
Indeed, early Oriental locks probably consisted merely of a wooden slide, drawn into its place by a string, and fastened there by teeth or catches; the key being a bit of wood, crooked like a sickle, which lifted up the slide and extracted it from its catches, after which it was drawn back by the string. But it is not difficult to open a lock of this kind even without a key, viz. with the finger dipped in paste or other adhesive substance. The passage Son 5:4-5 is thus probably explained (Harmer, Obs. 3:31; vol. i, 394, ed. Clarke; Rauwolff, ap. Ray, Trav. ii, 17). Ancient Egyptian keys are often found figured on the monuments. They were made of bronze or iron, and consisted of a straight shank, about five inches in length, with three or more projecting teeth; others had a nearer resemblance to the wards of modern keys, with a short shank about an inch long; and some resembled a common ring, with the wards at its back. The earliest mention of a key is in Jdg 3:23-25, where Ehud having gone ” through the porch and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them,” it is stated that Eglon’s ” servants took a key and opened them'” Among the Assyrian monuments are extant traces of strong gates, consisting of a single leaf, which was fastened by a huge modern lock, like those still used in the East, of which the key is as much as a man can conveniently carry (Isa 22:22), and also by a bar which moved into a square hole in the wall. SEE DOOR.
The term key is frequently used in Scripture as the symbol of government, power, and authority. Even in modern times, in transferring the government of a city, the keys of the gates are delivered as an emblem of authority. In some parts of the East, for a man to march along with a large key upon his shoulder at once proclaims him to be a person of consequence. The size and weight of these oftentimes require them to be thus carried (Thomson, Land and Book, i, 493). So of Christ it is said, “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” (Isa 22:22; Rev 3:7). He also has the ” keys of hell and of death” (Rev 1:18; comp. 9:1; 20:1). Our Saviour said to Peter, as the representative of the apostles generally, upon whom collectively the same prerogative was on another occasion conferred, ” 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” (Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18)-that is, the power of preaching the Gospel officially, of administering the sacraments as a steward of the mysteries of God, and as a faithful servant, whom the Lord hath set over his household. This general authority is shared in common by all ministers and officers in the Church. The grant doubtless likewise included the authority to establish rules and constitutional orders in the Church, to which Christ himself gave no special ecclesiastical form, but left it to be organized by the apostles after his own resurrection. This power, too, in a subordinate degree, is delegated to the Church of later times; for it is noteworthy .that even the apostles have not definitely prescribed any specific form of Church polity, and this is therefore, in a great measure, left to the discretion of each body of Christians. Indeed, the settlement of the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, as a basis of Church- membership and ecclesiastical discipline, appears to be the only explicit element of the authority conferred in these passages by Christ to his apostles-and this exclusively belonged to them, inasmuch as their office was not transmissible; so that the canon of Scripture, as well as the essential points of Church constitution, have been completed by them for all time. SEE SUCCESSION.
As to Peter himself, it is a gratuitous assumption on the part of Romanists that the authority was conferred upon him personally above his fellow-disciples, since in the other passage the general “ye” is used in place of the individual ” thou.” It is true, however, that as Peter was here addressed as the foreman, so to speak, of the apostolical college, he was eventually honored as the instrument of the introduction of the first Gentile as well as Christian members into the Church (see Acts 2; Acts 10), a fact to which Peter himself alludes in a very unassuming way (Act 15:7). The association of this authority with the power of absolution is another unauthorized gloss of the Roman Catholic Church; for the passage in which this is conferred (Joh 20:23, “Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained”) stands in a very different connection, and is evidently to be interpreted of the exclusively apostolical right to pronounce upon the religious state of those to whom, by the imposition of hands, they imparted the peculiar miraculous gifts of the primitive age (see Act 8:14-17; Act 19:6). In accordance with the above analogies, the “key of knowledge” is the means of attaining to true knowledge in respect to the kingdom of God (Luk 11:25; comp. Mat 23:13; Luk 24:32). It is said that authority to explain the law and the prophets was given among the Jews by the delivery of a key. SEE BIND. The Rabbins say that God has reserved to himself four keys-the kev of rain, the key of the grave, the key of fruitfulness, and the key of barrenness. SEE KEYS, POWER OF THE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Key
frequently mentioned in Scripture. It is called in Hebrew _maphteah_, i.e., the opener (Judg. 3:25); and in the Greek New Testament _kleis_, from its use in shutting (Matt. 16:19; Luke 11:52; Rev. 1:18, etc.). Figures of ancient Egyptian keys are frequently found on the monuments, also of Assyrian locks and keys of wood, and of a large size (comp. Isa. 22:22).
The word is used figuratively of power or authority or office (Isa. 22:22; Rev. 3:7; Rev. 1:8; comp. 9:1; 20:1; comp. also Matt. 16:19; 18:18). The “key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52; comp. Matt. 23:13) is the means of attaining the knowledge regarding the kingdom of God. The “power of the keys” is a phrase in general use to denote the extent of ecclesiastical authority.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Key
Son 5:4-5. A piece of wood, from seven inches to two feet long, fitted with pegs which correspond to small holes in the bolt within; the key put through a hole draws the bolt. The symbol of authority to open or shut (Isa 22:22; Rev 3:7; Rev 1:18). A chamberlain’s (eunuch) badge of office is often a key, hung by a kerchief “on the shoulders” (Isa 9:6). The power of the keys was given to Peter and the other apostles only at times (Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18) when, and in so far as, Christ made him and them infallible. Peter rightly opened the gospel door to the Gentiles (Acts 10; Act 11:17-18; Act 14:27), but he wrongly tried to shut it again (Gal 2:11-18; compare Luk 11:52).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Key
KEY.See House, 6. Of the passages where this word is used in a figurative sense the most important are Isa 22:22 (cf. Rev 3:7), where the key is the symbol of authority and rule; Luk 11:52 the key of knowledge; and the crux interpretum, Mat 16:19, for which see Power of the Keys.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Key
I should not think it necessary to notice this, the thing is so familiar, were it not that the Lord Jesus hath condescended to use the figure with reference to his grace and power. He calls himself the “Key of David, who openeth and none shutteth; who shutteth and none openeth.” (Rev 3:7; Isa 22:22) It is blessed to see in how many ways the Lord manifests the supremacy of his power, He hath the key of heaven, to admit whom he pleaseth: he hath the key of hell, to shut up all his foes; he hath the key of his word, to unfold the mysteries of his kingdom; he hath the key of the heart, to open it, and to render that word effectual. Hence, in all things, from the highest heaven to the lowest hell, Jesus governs. What a sweet thought for all his redeemed to cherish! He it is that opens his church, opens the mouth of his ministers and the souls of his saints, opens the opportunities of ordinances, and gives blessings to ordinances, and the several means of grace upon earth, and finally; fully, and completely opens an entrance for all his redeemed into his everlasting kingdom in heaven. Gracious Lord Jesus, “open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law!”
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Key
ke (, maphteah, an opener; compare , kles, that which shuts): Made of wood, usually with nails which fitted into corresponding holes in the lock, or rather bolt (Jdg 3:25). Same is rendered opening in 1Ch 9:27. See HOUSE.
Figurative: Used figuratively for power, since the key was sometimes worn on the shoulder as a sign of official authority (Isa 22-22). In the New Testament it is used several times thus figuratively: of Peter: the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 16:19); of Christ, in Revelation, having the keys of death and of Hades (Rev 1:18), also having the key of David (Rev 3:7). An angel was given the key of the pit of the abyss (Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1). our Lord accused the teachers of the law of His day of taking away the key of knowledge from men, that is, locking the doors of truth against them (Luk 11:52; compare Mat 23:13).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Key
Used symbolically for authority to open or to shut. Spoken of Eliakim, ‘established by God,’ as having the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder: “he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” Isa 22:22. He is a type of the Lord Jesus, as spoken of in Rev 3:7, who has also the keys of hades and of death. Rev 1:18. To Peter were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 16:19, which he opened to the Jews in Acts 2, and to the Gentiles in Acts 10. The Lord charged the doctors of the law with taking away the key of knowledge. Luk 11:52. This they did by their traditions and by hindering those who would have entered in to the blessings brought by Christ.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Key
General references
Jdg 3:25
A symbol of authority
Isa 22:22; Mat 16:19; Rev 1:18; Rev 3:7; Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1
Figurative
Luk 11:52
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Key
Key. The key of a native Oriental lock is a piece of wood, from seven inches to two feet in length, fitted with the wires or short nails, which, being inserted laterally into the hollow bolt which serves as a lock, raises other pins within the staple so as to allow the bolt to be drawn back.
(Keys were sometimes of bronze or iron, and so large that one was as much as a man could carry. They are used in Scripture as a symbol of authority and power. Giving keys to a person signifies the intrusting of him with an important charge. Mat 16:19. In England, in modern times, certain officers of the government receive, at their induction into office, a golden key. — Editor).
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
KEY
Key signifies power and trust committed. It denotes power either to stop the action or to exert it, according to the circumstances.
So the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 16:19, signify the power to admit into that state, and to confer the graces and benefits thereof. So in Luk 11:52, the key of knowledge, signifies the power of attaining to knowledge, the means of getting knowledge; and, according to the same analogy, to open the Scriptures, Luk 24:32, is to shew the true meaning of them, whereby others may understand them. So in Isa 22:22, the keys of David, signifies the power to rule; and so the Targum hath there dominium.
Thus the heathen, to denote the government of Pluto, and the rest of the infernal gods, assigned to them the keys of the infernal pits.f1 And therefore Pluto and Proserpine were represented with keys in their hands.f2 So Silence, which is inactivity, is represented by a golden key on the tongue in Sophocles.f3 And so in the Arabian writers, Soliman Ben Abddalmalek had the name or title of Meftah Alkhair, the key of goodness, because he had set at liberty all the wretches in prison, and done good to all his subjects.f4
Keys are, in Rev 1:13, the symbols of Christ’s power over Hades, the place of separate spirits, and the grave. Hence Christ saith, Mat 16:18, that the gates of Hades, i.e. death, shall not prevail against his church.
F1 Orph. Argonaut. ver. 1369.
F2 Pausan. Eliac. I. p. 168.
F3 Sophocl. cEd. p. 306. Ed. H. Steph.
F4 Herbelot. in Tit.
Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary
Key
“a key,” is used metaphorically (a) of “the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” which the Lord committed to Peter, Mat 16:19, by which he would open the door of faith, as he did to Jews at Pentecost, and to Gentiles in the person of Cornelius, acting as one commissioned by Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit; he had precedence over his fellow disciples, not in authority, but in the matter of time, on the ground of his confession of Christ (Mat 18:16); equal authority was committed to them (Mat 18:18); (b) of “the key of knowledge,” Luk 11:52, i.e., knowledge of the revealed will of God, by which men entered into the life that pleases God; this the religious leaders of the Jews had presumptuously “taken away,” so that they neither entered in themselves, nor permitted their hearers to do so; (c) of “the keys of death and of Hades,” Rev 1:18, RV (see HADES), indicative of the authority of the Lord over the bodies and souls of men; (d) of “the key of David,” Rev 3:7, a reference to Isa 22:22, speaking of the deposition of Shebna and the investiture of Eliakim, in terms evidently Messianic, the metaphor being that of the right of entrance upon administrative authority; the mention of David is symbolic of complete sovereignty; (e) of “the key of the pit of the abyss,” Rev 9:1; here the symbolism is that of competent authority; the pit represents a shaft or deep entrance into the region (see ABYSS), from whence issued smoke, symbolic of blinding delusion; (f) of “the key of the abyss,” Rev 20:1; this is to be distinguished from (e): the symbolism is that of the complete supremacy of God over the region of the lost, in which, by angelic agency, Satan is destined to be confined for a thousand years.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Key
is frequently mentioned in Scripture, as well in a natural as in a figurative sense. The keys of the ancients were very different from ours; because their doors and trunks were closed generally with bands, and the key served only to loosen or fasten these bands in a certain manner. In a moral sense key has many significations: 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, Isa 22:22,he shall be grand master and principal officer of his prince’s house. Christ promises to St. Peter, that he should first open the gate of his kingdom, both to Jew and Gentile, in making the first converts among them, Mat 16:19.
It is observable that no supremacy is here given to St. Peter; as the power of binding and loosing belonged equally to all the Apostles, Mat 18:18. The term binding and loosing was customarily applied by the Jews to a decision respecting doctrines or rites, establishing which were lawful and which unlawful. (See Bind.) And it may also denote, to bind with sickness, and to loose by restoring to health. Jesus Christ says that he has the key of death and hell, Rev 1:18; that is, it is in his power to bring to the grave, or to deliver from it; to appoint to life or to death.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Key
Isa 22:22 (b) By this figure our Lord is describing the right of JESUS CHRIST to rule and to reign. He only can consign men to Heaven or to hell. He has never delegated this power to another. (See Rev 1:18).
Mat 16:19 The two keys given to Peter were evidently the two Gospels: one Gospel for the Jews which included baptism for the remission of sins; the other Gospel for the Gentiles in which salvation is by faith alone. By means of these two Gospel keys, Peter was used of GOD to bring thousands to CHRIST.
Luk 11:52 (b) This key is probably the person of the Lord Jesus Himself for when He is ignored, overlooked, or denied in the Scriptures, then there can be no knowledge of the truth of GOD, nor of the will of GOD.
Rev 1:18 (a) The Lord JESUS controls the destiny of the soul. He alone can send a man to hell. He alone decides the day of one’s death. His will and decision in these matters is described as a key.
Rev 3:7 (a) This represents the right of the Lord JESUS to erect the throne of David again, to sit upon it, and to execute sovereign powers. This right is described as a key.
Rev 9:1 (a) The key in this passage represents the divine right and power given by GOD to the angel to open and close the pit of hell in order that the purposes of GOD might be performed.