Dist. 18, Part 1, Art. 3, Q. 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/18/q/bon-sent-IV-d18-p1-a3-q1
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### Article III. *On the key of knowledge specifically.*

Next, with respect to the third article, inquiry is made specifically concerning the key which is called knowledge. And concerning this two things are asked. First it is asked whether knowledge is a key. Second it is asked whether it is a key other than power.

### Question I. *Whether knowledge is a key.*

Concerning the first point it is shown that knowledge is a key. First thus.

1. On that text of Matthew, chapter sixteen: *To thee I will give the keys*; the Gloss: « The key is called knowledge and power, by which one ought to receive the worthy and repel the unworthy »: therefore knowledge is a key.

2. Likewise, in a certain sermon on the Apostles Peter and Paul it is said: « Peter received the key of power, Paul the key of knowledge »: therefore knowledge is a key.

3. Likewise, by reason it seems so: for everything that directly opposes error is knowledge, or of the genus of knowledge; but some key is of this kind: therefore etc.

*Proof of the minor.* Jerome on that text: *To thee I will give the keys* etc.: « Let the prudent reader know that this was promised concerning the future, because, if they had been given at once, no error of perverse confession would ever have had place in him »; therefore some one of the keys excludes error.

4. Likewise, Augustine says, and it is held in the text, in the preceding distinction: « Let him who wishes to confess his sins, that he may find grace, seek a priest who knows how to bind and to loose, lest, when he has been negligent about himself, he be neglected »: therefore it is necessary for the one absolving to have knowledge: therefore if that which holds the account for opening is a key, it seems that knowledge is a key.

**On the contrary:**
1. On that text: *To thee I will give the keys* etc.; the Gloss: « The power of present judgment »: therefore it seems that each key is a power, therefore not knowledge.

2. Likewise, the keys are given in ordination and follow precisely upon ordination; but many have ordination

who do not have knowledge, and conversely: therefore knowledge is not a key.

3. Likewise, a key once had is never lost, just as neither is ordination; but knowledge once had can be lost: therefore knowledge is not a key.

4. Likewise, if knowledge is a key, either knowledge is *innate*, or *acquired*, or *infused*. If *innate*; then the keys are from nature. If knowledge is *acquired*; then the keys are by acquisition, not by grace. If *infused*; but there are many who have come to know nothing by infusion on account of their wickedness: therefore the wicked do not have the keys. If you say that knowledge is infused which is freely given, as to Solomon; we see the contrary plainly, because almost all are as simple and ignorant after receiving the priesthood as before.

> **Conclusion.**
> Knowledge is not a key insofar as it denotes a habit, but insofar as it denotes the authority or office of discerning.

**I respond:** It must be said that concerning this there was a twofold opinion of the ancients.

For some said that knowledge is a key, insofar as knowledge names the habit of knowing how to discern. But it is not a key *principally* nor *of itself*, but insofar as it is joined to the *authority* of loosing and binding; and this key is not of the *being* of ordination, but of its *well-being*, so that, if someone in fact receives *ordination* without having knowledge, it has been done; but he does not receive the *exercise* of jurisdiction in absolving without peril to the soul, because he lacks one of the keys. And these said that some have the knowledge of *keys*, as those who have acquired knowledge; some a *little key*, as those who lack acquired knowledge yet by natural industry know what art and Scripture teach; some none at all, as those who lack both. And this seems to have been the opinion of the Master — But this does not seem able to be well sustained — although it has some probability — since we say that these keys follow ordination and are thus given just as ordination is, and so endure as ordination endures.

And therefore there is a second opinion, that knowledge is not a key insofar as it denotes a habit; but insofar as it denotes the authority or office of discerning; and this office or this authority follows ordination inseparably; and this is a key essentially. — And this was the opinion of Praepositivus, and the doctors commonly hold it, adding this, that knowledge-as-habit is like a disposition making for *well-being*, or even like a *material* disposition, without which the other key cannot pass into act. For just as the power of sight is not the crystalline humor, yet requires it for its operation; so the very *authority* of discerning requires the habit of knowledge; and the better knowledge is had, the better the manner in which the key is had. And therefore the Saints preferred to call this key by this name rather than by another. — From these things the objections to each side are evident.

1. 2. For the first authorities, which call knowledge a key, are understood of knowledge insofar as it denotes the *authority of discerning*.

3. To that which is objected from Jerome, it must be said that he does not understand it only with respect to being, nor even only with respect to well-being, but further also with respect to *perfect being*; as it was in the Apostles, who after the coming of the Holy Spirit were not deceived nor led away from the truth.

4. To that which is objected from Augustine, that only one who knows can usefully bind; it must be said that this is not because the habit of knowledge is a key, but because it is a disposition toward the key, as has been said.

But the things adduced for the opposite are to be conceded, since they conclude what is true, namely that knowledge, insofar as it denotes a *habit*, is not a key.