Binding and Loosing
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Mat 18:18
When Jesus spoke these words His listeners already knew something about binding and loosing. In the Jewish tradition these we called “
asar ve-hitir“…or “what is prohibited and what is permitted.” Basically they amounted to a list of do’s (
heterim) and don’ts (
isourim) concerning the law of Moses. By interpretation, the Torah lists 365
isourim and 248
heterim; when added together these make up the 613 laws of the Torah common to Judaism. The religious leaders of the day, the rabbis, were the ones who interpreted the practical applications of these laws for the people. This gave them a position of authority over them. And this is still the case till this very day.
All this, of course, is (was) under the law. But we are no longer under the law if we are in Christ. We are under
grace. So what did Jesus mean when He said… whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven?? Was He creating a new rabbinic order (as in Judaism) with the requisite knowledge and understanding to interpret what is true for others? Are men to rule over the faith of other men? The answer to that is a resounding NO!
Men cannot be trusted to rule over others in a way that is even close to being perfect and certainly not while under grace. In fact men have proved themselves very far from perfect in this regard.
“They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. Mat. 23:4
Giving power to men corrupts them. Giving men religious power over others has only ever served to bring people into bondage. It is certainly not God’s way to have His own authority superseded by mere mortals. Of course we can’t say that this effort by the flesh to rule over the faith of others has not been repeatedly attempted over and over again…even till our day. Even in the church that is called by the name of Christ. This ought not to be. Jesus never meant for His disciples to lord it over others but rather He sent them out as “sheep among wolves”(Mat. 10:16), not as lords (dogs) over the flock.
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. 2Cor. 1:24
I find it interesting what Jesus said right before He made the 'binding and loosing' comment. Let's read it:
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."
From what I can read it sounds like Jesus is giving authority to His church to kick out people that have a disagreement with the body of believers. It seems rather contradictory to your interpretation of Jesus not giving man any authority over anyone else (in the sense of someone being able to criticize someone else).
While I agree that someone in a position of authority shouldn't lord their position over their followers by putting heavy loads, rather we should practice what we preach/teach. This is different from what you are sharing, however.
I get the impression that the main purpose of what you shared is a way to escape accountability from others in the body. By taking a "who are you to judge me" approach, you are robbing yourself from the lesson that this person is sharing with you. Jesus clearly teaches that we should go to a brother who committed a fault and tell them what they did in order to a) let them know of their sin, and b) so we can be reconciled and not hold onto any bitterness towards that person.
If done according to the spirit of God, then this kind of accountability is beneficial for the body. Let's be honest, if we are that spiritual that we know when we are at fault and we apologize and repent of it all the time, then we wouldn't be criticized by others, because there would be nothing to criticize you over! This isn't the truth, however. We ALL fall short to the glory of God, so it is helpful to have others to call you out when you are dancing with sin and set you back on the right path. And these same people should hear criticism from
you when they are dancing with sin, also. The issue is when the people correcting others feel like they are above criticism so they can be dishing it out, without receiving it from others. This is the same attitude that the Pharisees had when they kicked out the blind man that Jesus healed. They said," you are not learnt in the law and yet you are trying to teach us", or something to that effect. This shows that they had a self-righteous spirit, rather than the spirit of God.
I do agree, however, that being led by the holy spirit is what we should be aiming towards. I just find it rare that anybody
is truly following every prompting of the Holy spirit, so having others around to share those blind spots in us, are a key component to an effective body.
In peace