Upon this same Rock (Petra) I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail over it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens Matt. xvi 18, 19.

The Divine Truth that is understood by the 'Rock' (Petra) upon which the Lord is going to build His Church is what Peter then confessed, which was (verse 16 there):-

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

By 'the keys of the kingdom of the heavens', which are that whatsoever that 'Rock', which is the Lord, 'shall bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever He shall loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens', is understood that the Lord has authority over heaven and earth, as He also says (Matt. xxviii 18), thus the authority for saving the men who from a faith of the heart are in that confession of Peter's. [2] The Lord's Divine operation for saving men is from first things by means of ultimates, and this is what is understood by 'whatsoever He shall bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven'. The ultimates by means of which the Lord operates are on earth, and are indeed with men. On account of this He came into the world and put on the Human so that the Lord Himself might be in ultimates just as He is in first things. That every Divine operation of the Lord is from first things by means of ultimates, thus from Himself in first things and from Himself in ultimates, may be seen in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 217-219, 221); and that as a result of this the Lord is termed 'the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the Almighty', may be seen above (n. 29-31, 38, 57). [3] Who cannot see, if he will, that the salvation of a man is the Lord's continuous operation with the man from the first moment of his infancy to the last moment of his life, and that this is a purely Divine thing and never assignable to any man? This is so Divine that it is the operation at the same time of Omnipresence, Omniscience and Omnipotence. Also that a man's reformation and regeneration, thus his salvation, is all of the Lord's Divine Providence can be seen in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE PROVIDENCE from beginning to end. [4] The actual coming of the Lord into the world was solely for the sake of man's salvation. For the sake of this He assumed the Human, removed the hells, also glorified Himself and put on Omnipotence even in ultimates, which is understood by 'to sit at the right hand of God'. What therefore is more abominable than to fashion a form of religion by means of which it is sanctioned that a man has that Divine authority and power, and no longer the Lord; and that heaven is opened and shut if only a priest (canonicus) says, 'I absolve' or 'I excommunicate'; and that even an enormous sin is remitted if he only says 'I remit'? There are many devils in the world who, for the purpose of avoiding the temporal penalties, seek and obtain absolution from a diabolical crime by means of stratagems and gifts. Who can be so insane as to believe that authority is given to admit devils into heaven? [5] It was said above (n. 790 at the end) that Peter represented the Church's truth of faith, James the Church's good of charity, and John the good works of the men of the Church, and that the twelve apostles together represented the Church as to all the things thereof. That they did represent those things is quite clear from the Lord's words to them in Matthew:-

When the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Matt. xix 28; Luke xxii 30.

By those words nothing else can be signified than that the Lord is going to judge all in accordance with the goods and truths of the Church. If these things were not understood by those words, but the apostles themselves, all those in the great city Babylon who say they are the successors of the apostles might have also claimed for themselves that from pontiff down to monk they are going to sit upon thrones as many in number as themselves, and are going to judge all in the whole wide world.