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Jews
living at that time understood the terms “bind and loose.” In a legislative sense,
the word “bind” means “to forbid something” and the word “loose” means “to
permit something.” In a judicial sense,
to “bind” means “to punish” and to “loose” means “to release from punishment.” It
is important to understand the unique role given by Christ to the apostles to
“bind and loose.” Christ gave Peter and the other apostles the authority to
legislatively bind and loose (to permit or to forbid). Under the guidance and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostles exercised this authority in the
epistles, sermons and prophecy recorded in the New Testament. Only documents
that had the approval or ‘backing’ of the apostles were included in the New
Testament.
faithequip.org
The only two
explicit references in the entire New Testament to the terms “bind and loose”
appear in Matthew (but see also John 20:23).
The first
reference appears when Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the
living God (Matthew 16:16).
As the first
among equals, Simon Peter is then blessed, given the keys of the kingdom of
heaven as well as the authority to “bind and loose” (Matthew 16:19).
The second
reference appears as part of the community or Church discourse where, in the
context of Church discipline, all the apostles are given the authority to “bind
and loose” (Matthew 18:18).
Since these
terms appear nowhere else in the New Testament, how would Peter and the other
apostles have understood this?
Jews living at that time understood
the terms “bind and loose” in two ways.
According
to Edersheim (cited in Constable 2017:284; cf. Wiersbe 2007:49), these “two
powers — the legislative [i.e., binding and loosing] and judicial [i.e.,
remitting and retaining] — which belonged to the Rabbinic office, Christ now
transferred, and that not in their pretension, but in their reality, to His
Apostles.”
In a legislative sense, the word “bind” means
“to forbid something” and the word “loose” means “to permit something” (cf. Toussaint
1980:206).
In a judicial sense, to “bind” means “to
punish” and to “loose” means “to release from punishment” (Fruchtenbaum
2005:9).
It is important to understand the
unique role given by Christ to the apostles to “bind and loose”.
Christ gave
Peter and the other apostles the authority to legislatively bind and loose (to
permit or to forbid).
Under the
guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostles exercised this
authority in the epistles, sermons and prophecy recorded in the New Testament.
Only documents
that had the approval or ‘backing’ of the apostles were included in the New
Testament.
The result of
the inspired New Testament writings is that we have the Law of Christ – the
legislative foundation for believers in Christ living under the New Covenant.
Don’t dare
adding or subtracting from it (cf. Revelation 22:18-19).
The prime example of legislative
binding and loosing is found in Acts 15, where the apostles, under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, decide what to permit and what to forbid regarding Gentile
believers in Christ.
Another example:
when he emphasises that he is an apostle of Lord Jesus Christ, Paul is
reminding his readers that whatever he is forbidding on earth will have been
forbidden in heaven, and whatever he was permitting on earth will have been
permitted in heaven.
While the apostles of Christ were
still on earth, they also decided judicial matters in the Church, based on the
Old Testament, Christ’s teachings, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and
whichever New Testament documents had already been written.
A prime example
of judicial binding and loosing is found in Acts 5, when Peter, using his apostolic
authority, “binds” (meaning: punishes) Ananias and Sapphira because they
lied to the Holy Spirit.
Paul judicially “binds”
in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 and he judicially “looses” in 2 Corinthians
2:4-8.
Once the last apostle (the apostle
John) passed away, and with the New Testament canon closed, the legislative
foundation was laid.
The authority to
bind and loose was given uniquely and solely to the apostles.
Having been
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, the foundation for the Church has been laid, once
and for all (Ephesians 2:19-22) — you lay a foundation only once,
don’t you?
There is no
Scriptural ground whatsoever to argue that this apostolic authority has been
passed on to others subsequently.
Although many
parade themselves as such, there are no apostles today — the last apostle
(John) passed away about 1,915 years ago.
Given that the legislative foundation
has been laid, how should local churches decide judicial matters?
Church discipline
is clearly called for (Matthew 18:16-20) and, in this area, to bind would
mean “to excommunicate” and to loose would mean “not to excommunicate” (Fruchtenbaum
2005:10).
Local churches
must take care to decide judicial matters in accordance with the New Testament
and not with man-made laws or rules not found in Scripture.
The only two explicit New Testament
references to “bind and loose” appear in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18.
It is only from
these contexts that one can start to investigate what the terms meant for the
Jews living at that time.
From
such a Jewish frame of reference, one can conclude that “the confession of
Peter and the response of Yeshua [Jesus] set the stage for the establishment of
the Church and the recording of New Testament Scriptures through apostolic
authority” (Fruchtenbaum 2005:10).
https://faithequip.org/binding-and-loosing/
