Is it Truth or Tradition?
In the gospel of John, Jesus taught about binding and loosing in the context of forgiveness, but did not specifically mention the words “binding” and “loosing.” Jesus said, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven (John 20:23). It is impossible for a leader to run a congregation without making decisions about “binding” and “loosing.”
Now that we know that the word “bind” means “forbid,” and “loose” means “permit,” we need to properly translate the verses that contain them. Almost every English version translates Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 in a way similar to the NIV: “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). According to this translation, we, as disciples, make a decision to bind or loose, and God then follows our lead.
This translation has produced wrong doctrine in the Church. For example, the commentator Albert Barnes, author of the well known commentary set, Barnes’ Notes, writes: “The meaning of this verse is, whatever you shall do in the discipline of the church shall be approved by God….”
[6] That is not a correct interpretation of the verse, and not the way ministry works.
God’s ministers do not make commands that God must approve and follow. Rather, God’s ministers must become aware of what God wants done, and then follow His lead. Jesus himself worked that way, as Scripture makes clear.
John 5:19
Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
John 5:30
By myself I can do nothing;
I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
John 8:28
…I do nothing on my own
but speak just what the Father has taught me.
Jesus’ disciples, like Jesus himself, are to follow God’s leading, as the correct translation of Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 makes clear. The 1995 revision of the
New American Standard Bible does a good job translating Matthew 16:19 and 18:18.
Matthew 18:18 (1995 NASB) [7]
“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.
The Greek text in the phrase that most versions translate as, “will be bound in heaven” does not have a simple future tense, as “will be” implies, and the verb “bind” is passive in the Greek text, so “shall have been bound” or “must have been bound” are good translations of the Greek.
[8] An excellent translation of Matthew 18:18 was done by Charles Williams.
Matthew 18:18 (Williams’ Translation) [9]
I solemnly say to you, whatever you forbid on earth must be already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth must be already permitted in heaven.”
Julius R. Mantey, the Greek grammarian and scholar who co-authored
A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, wrote that Williams’ translation did a better job of translating the Greek verb into English than any other New Testament he had studied, and he gave Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 as examples of verses that Williams translated very well.
[10]
Once Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 are properly translated, we have clear teaching on how to act before God. It is not that we bind or loose and then God backs up what we do. It is God who first binds or looses, and then we follow His leading and do the same on earth. As we have seen, even Jesus did not bind and loose on his own without knowing the Father’s will.
One of the most important lessons we can learn is that God may lead us in a decision that we make. If we pray and look for His guidance, it is usually there. James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).
We now have enough information to clearly understand what Jesus was teaching to his disciples. Jesus looked to God to know what to do in situations not covered in the Torah. In contrast, Jesus’ disciples had looked to him for direction, but what would they do when he was gone? He knew his disciples needed instruction in how to run the fellowships that would spring up all over the globe, so he taught them to be sure to follow God’s lead in what they forbade or permitted. Jesus’ instruction to his disciples made perfect sense in the culture of his day, and still makes perfect sense today. We are always to look for God’s guidance before we make rules that forbid or permit people’s actions.
Binding and Loosing | Truth Or Tradition?
It is written;
Matt 6:
10........Thy will be done in earth, as
it is in heaven.
not
Thy will be done in heaven, as
it is in earth.