Binding and Loosing

Today I want to look at two verses of scripture used by many people as an act of authority granted to them by Jesus when they pray about a need of some kind.

The first is Matthew 18:18 … "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Jesus wasn't the first to use these words. The phrase to bind and to loose was often used by the Jews. It meant to prohibit and to permit. To bind a thing was to forbid it; to loose it was to allow it to be done.

Binding something was commonly understood by the Jews at that time, to be a declaration that signified some particular thing was unlawful to be done; and by loosing something signified the opposite, being a declaration that something could lawfully be done.

Jesus spoke to His disciples in a language which they understood, so that they were not in the least at a loss to comprehend His meaning even though today it is a strange and obsolete phrase to us. The words bind and loose, are both used in a declaratory sense … of things, actions or deeds done or to be done.

This also refers to rites and ceremonies in the church. Such customs as they should forbid were to be forbidden, and such as they thought proper to permit were to be allowed. Such rites as they should appoint in the church were to have the force of divine authority.

Accordingly, they organized the New Testament Church, and directed what was to be observed and what was to be avoided. The rules laid down by them in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles in connection with the teachings of Jesus, constitute the only law binding on Christians in regard to the order of the church, and the rites and ceremonies to be observed in it.

When Jesus gave this power of binding and loosing to the apostles, He meant that whatsoever they forbid in the church should have divine authority; whatever they permitted, should also have divine authority … that is, should also be bound or loosed in heaven and meet the approval of God.

The apostles were, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to establish the rules of church discipline, as found in Acts and the Epistles; which in essence … bind or prohibit things and loose or permit actions undertaken by men in the church. The phrase "in heaven" declares that the rules of discipline, used when necessary for correction in the church, would also be ratified and declared so in heaven.

"Whatsoever ye shall bind" … whatever determinations you make in conformity to these directions for your conduct concerning an offending brother, will be accounted just, and ratified or approved by the Lord in heaven.

The second verse is Matthew 18:19 … "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven."

Now this prayer of agreement refers in all probability, to the binding and loosing in the preceding verse. The phrase … "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree ..." is connected with the previous verses. Notice the first word … "Again."

The connection is this … the obstinate and stubborn man who does not listen after committing a wrong, after being spoken to … if two of you shall agree … is to be excluded from the church. Jesus is saying, the care of the church and the power of admitting or excluding members are committed to you, the apostles. Yet there is not need of the whole company to give validity to the action. When two of you agree, (have the same mind, feelings, and opinion) about the operation of the church or about things desired for its welfare, and you ask of God, it shall be done for them.

Albert Barnes speaks to verse 19 … "The promise here has respect to the apostles in organizing the church. It cannot with any propriety (correct or appropriate behavior) be applied to the ordinary prayers of believers. Other promises are made to them, and while it is true that the prayer of faith will be answered, that is not the truth taught here."

Vines Word Studies concerning verse 19 states …

The words shall agree means … together, in sound or voice … in symphony. The word thing means … deed … by extension … a matter, affair, business; something to be done.

According to Vines Word Studies, the literal rendering has, if any thing … a stronger meaning … everything, whatever it be, for which they may have asked. Vines puts it this way … "My Father shall consent of everything, whatever they shall ask and shall agree in any manner thing whatsoever they shall desire."

"Shall be done" … means … it shall come to pass, (come into being.)

The terms "binding and loosing and agreeing together" as found in Matthew 18:18-19, is generally interpreted to mean … concerning matters of discipline and authority.

But even so … if you have the faith to use these phrases of binding and loosing as a promise of authority given to believers, or the prayer of agreement concerning matters other than discipline … then I say … may God honor your prayer and confession of faith in the matter.

It's always been a matter of the heart with God anyway.


Comments welcome.