18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And 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. -Matthew 16:18-19 Bible, King James Version
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
...[12] From this it can be seen what is signified by the Lord's words to Peter, in Matthew: Jesus said to the disciples, But who say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answering said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in the heavens. I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, that 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. 16:15-19). "Peter" here does not mean Peter, but Divine truth from the Lord (as in the passages cited above) for all the Lord's disciples together represented the church; and each one of them some constituent of the church; "Peter" the truth of the church, "James" its good, and "John" good in act, that is, works; the rest of the disciples represented the truths and goods that are derived from these, just as the twelve tribes of Israel. That this is so will be seen in what follows, where the tribes and the disciples are treated of. This is why these three disciples are mentioned in the Word more than the others. [13] ..."Peter" represented Divine truth from the Lord in the church, and for this reason he was called "a rock," and it is said "thou art a rock, upon this rock I will build My church," which signifies upon Divine truth from the Lord, or what is the same, upon truths from good, for upon these the church is built. That Peter might represent this in the church he was called by the Lord "a rock" as is evident in John: Jesus looking upon him said unto him, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a rock. (John 1:42). Cephas in the Syriac language means a rock, and so Peter in that version is everywhere called "Cephas;" moreover, the same word in the Hebrew means a rock (as is evident in Jer. 4:29; and Job 30:6, where "rocks" are mentioned in the plural number); but Peter is not called a rock in the Greek and Latin because the name was bestowed upon him as a personal name. [14]...Because the hells have no power against Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, or against any man in whom there is Divine truth from the Lord, therefore the Lord says that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." [15] The Lord further said, "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," which signifies that all things are possible to those who are in truths from good from the Lord, in full agreement with these words: All things whatsoever ye ask for, praying, believe that ye are to receive, then shall it be done unto you (Mark 11:24; Matt. 7:8; Luke 11:9). How these words are to be understood see above (n. 405i), namely, that to ask from the faith of charity is to ask not from self but from the Lord, for whatever anyone asks not from self but from the Lord he receives. That such is the signification of these words, "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," is clear from the Lord's words to the disciples and to all who are in truths from good from the Lord, in Matthew: Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens (Matt. 18:18). [16] These words were spoken to all, thus not to Peter only, as the Lord immediately declares in that chapter in these words: I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth in My name respecting anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father, who is in the heavens. For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:19-20). "The Lord's name" means everything by which He is worshiped; and as He is worshiped by means of truth from good, which is from Him, so this is meant by "His name." (That this is what is meant by the "Lord's name," see above, n. 102, 135.) So "every thing they shall ask on earth shall be done for them in the heavens" has a similar signification as "whatsoever ye shall bind and shall loose on earth shall be bound and shall be loosed in the heavens," for the Lord explains the former words by the latter. One who knows the spiritual sense of the Word can know also why it is said "if two agree," and afterwards, "where there are two or three," namely, because "two" is predicated of good, and "three" of truth, consequently "two and three" of all who are in truths from good. (That Divine truth from the Lord has all power in the heavens and on earth, see above, n. 209, 333; and in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 230-231, 539; and Arcana Coelestia, n. 3091, 3563, 6344, 6423, 6948, 8200, 8304, 9643, 10019, 10182. "Two" is predicated of good because it signifies conjunction by love, n. 1686, 5194, 8423; "three" is predicated of truths because it signifies all truths in the complex, in like manner as "twelve," n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913; therefore when "two" and "three" are mentioned in the spiritual world, two and three, are not meant, but all who are in truths from good. That "Peter" signifies truth from good, which is from the Lord, see in the small work on The Last Judgment, n. 57.)
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