"'''I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven'''" Matthew 16:19. The Greek word '''σοι''' "''to you''" here is singular, not plural '''ὑμῖν''' "''to you''", and therefore this declaration was not addressed to the entire immediate group of his assembled disciples, ''[[Eisegesis|as some would have it]]'', but only to Peter. The structure of Greek grammar in this text clearly permits no other reading.
In the later apparently parallel text of Matthew 18:18 the phrase "''keys of the Kingdom of Heaven''" does not appear (see verses 15-20). On the principle of ''sola scriptura'', there is no linguistic textual basis for saying that Jesus gave the "''keys''" to all the apostles on that occasion, but only that he gave them all the collective authority to bind and loose together, an authority which is distinctly different from the authority to open and shut the "''Kingdom of Heaven''" (see Revelation 1:17-18; 3:7). Catholics maintain that there is a significant distinction here, and that the previous occasion in Matthew 16:18 is a specific fulfillment of the prophesy of the keys in '''[http://www.biblehub.com/commentaries/isaiah/22-22.htm Isaiah 22:22 ]''' pointing to one man, not many. Other Christians maintain that the "''keys''" are necessary to bind and to loose, to "''open and no man shall shut, and shut and no man opens''" (Revelation 3:7), thus equating binding and loosing with opening and shutting, and that this therefore does linguistically imply that all of the apostles were each given the "''keys of the Kingdom of Heaven''" simultaneously together in Matthew 18:18, so that what he had conferred on Peter is now expanded and conferred on them. However, the exact reading of Matthew 18:18 according to the principle of ''sola scriptura'' demonstrates clearly and beyond doubt that here in the context of verses 15-20 of chapter 18 the "keys" are not mentioned by Jesus, and that it does not say that he gives to all of them the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
'''Old Testament parallels''' show that God gave to particular men divine authority to act, and that He obeyed their word: Exodus 14:15-16 and Joshua 10:12-14; see also 1 Kings 17:1, 2 Kings 20:9-11, Matthew 9:8, Luke 2:51, and John 9:31 and 20:21-23; Romans 13:1-2, 1 Timothy 1:19-20, Hebrews 13:17, and Revelation 3:7. Compare the Catholic Bible [http://usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible/index.cfm footnotes] on these verses with [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/1-1.htm multiple Protestant commentaries]. The controversy over divine authority is a key doctrinal issue in the [[Protestant Reformation]]. See [[Apostolic succession]].