Verily I say to you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on the earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The Lord has been speaking about a straying sheep and a brother who has sinned. Now He moves to the last resort: telling it to the assembly — and then backs that assembly's decision with heaven itself. That raises three questions: who holds this authority, what forgiveness it involves, and how far it reaches.
Who receives the authority
The Lord spoke these same words earlier to Peter alone. Here the "you" is plural. One writer traces where the authority now rests, and names a limit on it.
When the Lord Jesus spoke these words the Church was still future. In Matthew 16 He speaks of it as a building He would build. Verse 20 describes the make-up of the Church — two or three gathered to His name, and Himself with them in their midst. It is in direct connection with such a gathering that the Lord gives this promise about binding and loosing. So the Church in chapter 18 received the power given to Peter in chapter 16. Peter has passed away, but the assembly remains, and the Lord is with those gathered to His name. It is His presence and His word that gives authority to their acts. Notice that the Lord does not call those so gathered infallible. He says they have authority. Their acts are ratified in heaven.
What binding and loosing do
The pronoun changes from singular to plural here. Both halves matter: the putting out and the taking back.
Verse 18 does not speak directly of assembly action, but it implies it. The word "you" is no longer singular but plural. God fully backs up the assembly when it binds on the offender the guilt of his arrogance. That means putting him away from their fellowship. Loosing matters just as much. If putting away drives the soul in self-judgment to the Lord to find restoration, then the assembly is to be ready to restore him publicly too. Heaven will ratify that as well.
Not the forgiveness that God alone gives
One writer draws a sharp line between what an assembly can do and what only God does.
Do not confuse two things. What the Church binds is bound in heaven, but the Church cannot bind and loose all that Heaven can. What the Church — that is, two or three gathered in Christ's name — binds in the sphere committed to them according to the word, that is sanctioned by Heaven. But the Church has nothing to do with forgiving sins in the sense of not counting guilt, or making a person righteous. This Heaven, that is, God Himself, has done as regards the believer, and the Church can neither bind nor loose it. It has a sphere of discipline in which it forgives or judges, and its righteous acts in that sphere are sanctioned on high.
Why heaven stands behind the decision
The promise is not attached to a title or an office, but to a manner of gathering.
If a person was wronged, he was to speak to the wrongdoer and win him if he could. If not, he was to take two or three more. If that failed, he was to tell it — not to the clergy, not to any priest, but to the assembly. If the wrongdoer would not listen to the assembly, the person was free to treat him as outside it. And the reason is given. Wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, He is there according to this promise. They are really met and looking to Him, so as to act truly and humbly in His name. Then the act carries Christ's authority in ordinary church discipline, and He owns and sanctions it.
The weight of the words "on earth"
One writer weighs the exact words the Lord chose, and finds they reach wider than the assembly that acts.
Notice the Lord did not say, "Whatever you bind in the Church or Assembly shall be bound in heaven." He said, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." This expression "on earth" certainly covers more than the local Assembly where the discipline is carried out. These words of Christ show what follows. When one Assembly acts in discipline in the name of the Lord, that act is binding on all other Assemblies on earth.
The order: earth first, then heaven
Some read the verse as though heaven had already decided and earth only announced it. One writer tested that against the Greek and rejected it, giving his own literal rendering of the words.
In my opinion the grammar gives no ground for taking the participle "bound" as past time, coming before the future verb "shall be." Nor does the scope of our Lord's teaching. The idea is a condition viewed in itself, apart from actual time. "Whatever you may bind on the earth shall be a thing bound in the heavens." The form used here views the result as permanent. But it is beyond doubt the result of a future act.
Summary
- Given — the authority first spoken to Peter now rests with those gathered to Christ's name, not with a priest or a clergy class.
- Grounded — it rests on His presence with the two or three, so an act truly done in His name carries His authority.
- Governmental — it binds or looses a person's place in fellowship. It never touches the forgiveness that clears guilt and makes a person righteous, which God alone gives.
- Global — the Lord said "on earth," not "in the assembly," so a right act in one place is to be owned everywhere.
- Guaranteed — earth acts first, then heaven ratifies. Those gathered are not promised to be always right, but heaven backs their righteous acts.