The Power of the Church and the Necessity of Faith

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2)| John 20:19-31| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| April 27, 2025

What is the Office of the Keys? Our Small Catechism states, “The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.” The Catechism then quotes from our Gospel lesson for today, “This is what St. John the Evangelist writes in chapter twenty: The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’” (John 20:22–23) The Catechism concludes its instruction on the Office of the Keys with these words, “What do you believe according to these words? I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”

This is why we open our Divine Service with the Confession and Absolution, the pastor forgiving the congregation in the stead and by the command of Christ Jesus. This is also why we practice private confession and absolution, where a sinner can meet privately with the pastor and confess his sins with confidence that the pastor will not repeat what he hears and that the forgiveness he declares is from God in heaven. The Church calls this authority the Office of the Keys, because Christ said to St. Peter in Matthew 16, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” He repeated this statement about binding and loosing to all His disciples in Matthew 18, showing that these keys to the kingdom of heaven are exercised by the whole church to let people into heaven by forgiving their sins, but to lock them out of heaven by withholding forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.

However, this teaching from our Catechism is one of the most controversial teachings of our church. It offends many that a pastor, a mere man, would have the authority to forgive sins. Only God has authority to forgive sins, they say. Yet, despite ignoring the clear meaning of Jesus’ words in John 20 and Matthew 16 and 18, this objection misses the point of the entire mission of the Church. The Office of the Keys is not simply about a rite of corporate or private absolution. The Office of the Keys encompasses the entire authority, mission, and activity of the Christian Church on earth. The Church has no authority on earth except to open and close the gates of heaven.

When Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” to His disciples as He appeared to them after rising from the dead, He declared peace not only to those eleven individuals but to the entire Christian Church. The message of God’s peace won by the innocent sufferings and death of Christ and secured eternally by His resurrection is the message of Christ’s Church for all eternity. All who receive the message of God’s peace for Christ’s sake are members of the Christian Church and owners of the message of peace. When Jesus breathed on His disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit, He was indicating that He would give the Holy Spirit to His entire Church, to lead them, grow them, and sanctify them until they received their inheritance in heaven. And when He told them that whosoever sins they forgive, they are forgiven, He was granting special authority to His entire Church, so Christians may know that wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, there is Christ in their midst exercising the authority to forgive and withhold forgiveness of sins.

There are three things you must know about the power of Office of the keys. First, the Office of the Keys is the power to forgive sins. Second, the Office of the Keys receives its power from the Word of Christ. Third, the Office of the Keys gives you what Christ won for you by His suffering, death, and resurrection. And so, Baptism is the same power as the Office of the Keys. Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water does the great things done in Baptism. And what are these great things? Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe. Baptism gives you peace with God, the Holy Spirit, and forgiveness of sins, all won for you by Christ’s death and resurrection.

The preaching of the Gospel is an excise of the Office of the Keys, because the preaching of the Gospel opens the kingdom of heaven to all who believe. The preaching of the Gospel declares God’s peace for Christ’s sake, gives the Holy Spirit, and grants forgiveness of sins to all who believe, all for the sake of Christ who died and rose for us. Yet, the preaching of the Gospel is never without the preaching of the Law, which threatens punishment to all who break the commandments. So, the office of preaching is the office of closing the gates of heaven to all who refuse to repent, but of opening the gates of heaven to all who repent and believe the Gospel.

The Sacrament of the Altar declares God’s peace to you and grants forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake.  Yet, St. Paul warns that those who do not discern the body of Christ should not receive the Sacrament lest they receive it to their judgment. And so, in giving the Sacrament to the faithful, but withholding it from the unbelievers and those who refuse to repent, the Church opens and closes the kingdom of heaven. The Office of the Keys is not only the greatest power the Church has, but it is the essentially the only power the Church has. Christ has given His Church the authority to open His kingdom to believers, but to close it to the unrepentant and unbelievers.

The second half of our Gospel lesson focuses on the importance of faith for the reception of this great power Christ has given to His Church. St. Thomas doubted that Jesus rose from the dead. Like the disciples who did not believe the women, who reported to them that Jesus had risen, so Thomas would not believe the disciples unless he saw with his own eyes and touched with his own fingers the risen Christ. So, Jesus converts Thomas by appearing to him and receives Thomas’s great confession, “My Lord and my God,” to which Jesus answers, “Do you believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And here, Jesus declares who will receive the benefits of the Church’s power of the keys, namely, those who believe.

Hebrews 11 states, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This does not mean that a person simply believes whatever he hears. People were not being faithful when they believed the lies of Mohammad and Joseph Smith, who were false prophets. Thomas wasn’t simply being skeptical of farfetched stories. Jesus repeatedly told Thomas that He would rise. Jesus had done many miracles, which bore witness to His trustworthiness. The prophets testified of Jesus’s death and resurrection. And many witnesses affirmed that Jesus had risen. Thomas was not doing his due diligence. He was obstinately refusing to believe the testimony of truth.

Unbelief causes the gates of heaven to be closed. Unbelief is the cause of all unrepentant sin. The reason a person continues in impenitent sin is because the person does not have true faith. Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18) Again, Jesus says in Mark 16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Unbelief prevents a sinner from receiving God’s peace, Holy Spirit, forgiveness, and keeps the gates of heaven closed.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” Jesus says. Believed what? First, that Jesus is their Lord and God. Jesus was not in the room when Thomas made skeptic speech, “Unless I see with my eyes the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails, I will never believe.” Yet, He knew that Thomas had said these words, as evident by Him directing him to touch His scars. Because Jesus was in the room. Jesus is God. That means that He is present whether you see Him or not. That is why Jesus is with us always even to the end of the age. That is why whenever two or three are gathered in His name, He is there with them. This is why He can be present with His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Just as He was able to enter the room with the locked door, so He can be with us as both God and man anytime and anywhere.

Second, blessed are they that believe that Christ is our risen Savior, who suffered and died for our sins. When Jesus showed Thomas the mark of the nails, He proclaimed to Thomas what He had done for the sins of the world. And so, based on the testimony of Scripture, we confess Jesus as our God and Lord, who suffered, died, and rose for us.

Finally, blessed are they that believe that Christ has given His Church on earth the power to forgive sins. The Church is the bride of Christ. She is united to Christ through faith. Whatever a husband owns, so does His wife. They are not two, but one flesh. So, the forgiveness Christ won for the world, He gives to His Church for her forgiveness and so that she may give this forgiveness to others through the Office of the Keys.

St. John tells us that these things are written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, we may have life in His name. That is the reason why Christ gave His Church the Office of the Keys. This power to open heaven’s doors is exercised wherever the Gospel of Christ is proclaimed. And to those who believe it, the gates of heaven open. Yet, to those who refuse to believe, who continue in their sin without repenting, to them the gates remain closed.

Yet, how can one believe? How does one get saving faith? The Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of the Gospel to create faith where and when it pleases God. It is not faith that causes a person to be forgiven. Forgiveness was won by Christ for everyone. It is forgiveness that produces faith. The Holy Spirit works through the ministry of the Church to create faith, so that sinners may receive forgiveness and be saved.

Without the Office of the Keys, there is no Church, because without the Office of the Keys there are no Christians. The Office of the Keys is the office of the Gospel, which proclaims forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ’s suffering and death for our sins. Only this can create faith. Only this can open the gates of heaven to us. Because only this can join us to Christ our Savior. And by the Office of the Keys, we will remain standing even against the gates of hell. Amen.