Binding and Loosing: What Do They Mean?

There has been a lot of conversation lately over what a church should or should not be and I wanted to see what Jesus had to say about it.

Surprisingly, our Lord only mentions the word “church” two times in the book of Matthew:

¹⁷And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  ¹⁸And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  ¹⁹And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  (Matthew 16:17-19)

¹⁵Moreover 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. ¹⁶But 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.  ¹⁷And 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.  ¹⁸Verily 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. (Matthew 18:15-18)

These two passages also appear to be the only time that Jesus refers to “binding and loosing.”  Since I have an interest in Hebrew idioms, I did some searching to learn more about what these words might mean.

In his book “New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus,” David Biven writes that the asar and hitir, the Hebrew words for bind and loose, have more than one meaning.  During Jesus’ time, asar also meant “forbid” and hitar also meant “permit.”  Prior to our Lord’s time on earth, bind usually meant imprison, hitch, tether, or tie. 

Biven states that the Greek words that are used for bind and loose in Matthew are forms of the verbs dein and luein.  Dein means to tie, bind, and imprison.  Luein means to untie, loose, or release from prison.  Biven points out that this meaning does not seem to fit within the context of what Jesus is saying (and I agree).  He believes that since Jesus was giving Peter authority, He was saying that Peter’s decisions on earth would be upheld in Heaven. 

That explanation, however, does not resonate with me.  I wonder if Jesus was actually telling us that whatever is forbidden on earth shall be forbidden in heaven, and whatever is permitted on earth shall be permitted in heaven? 

The Word of God gives us clear instructions for how we are to live on earth, and perhaps Jesus is telling us that these instructions will also be followed in His Millennial Kingdom.

This is one of many questions I have that I can’t wait to have answered when our Lord returns!