What is Binding and Loosing?
What is Binding and Loosing?
These were familiar terms to the Jews. Their whole lives
were bound
up by laws forbidding them to do certain things, as well as loosing
or permitting them, to do others, regarding their ceremonies
and
customs. A modern day example, would be car drivers being bound
by a
certain speed limit law.
Now, unlike some Christians today who feel they have some
“god” given
authority to determine heaven’s policies here on earth, with loud and
impressive prayers that command God to ‘do this’ or ‘do that, the
scriptures
say the opposite.
When Christ addresses Peter saying “…whatsoever thou
shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven…” (Matt 16:19), he
is
saying “Peter, you shall forbid (bind) and permit (loose)
only
what is already forbidden and permitted in heaven.” In other
words,
“Peter, what you bind or loose here on earth, shall already have
been
bound or loosed in heaven.” Indeed, the Lord was only confirming what
he had
already said a few chapters earlier in the Lord’s Prayer “…Thy will
be done,
as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10).
Peter was to carry out heaven’s instructions and not
the other
way around, declaring what was lawful, or not, as determined by God.
Furthermore, all the disciples, not just Peter, were given the
privilege
to bind and loose (Matt 18:18).
Peter had the privilege, to be given the keys of the
kingdom of
heaven, which allowed him to bind and loose, as he
was the
first to correctly answer Christ’s question “…But whom say ye that
I am?”
(Matt 16:15).
The keys of the kingdom of heaven
Now there is nothing mysterious about keys as they simply
open doors.
The key was a sign, not of a priestly office, but the office of the
gatekeeper,
with Christ saying “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the
key of knowledge:…” (Lk 11:52). As the Lord’s doorman,
Peter was not
given ‘the keys of heaven’ or the keys of the church’, but the keys to
the
knowledge about the kingdom of heaven.
Indeed, John the Baptist was the first to preach
“…the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 3:2), followed by the Lord
himself
(Matt 4:17), to be followed by Peter and the disciples,
who were
to be the official custodians regarding the purity of the ‘Matthew
5-7
manifesto’, about the rules governing the kingdom of
heaven.
Why was this necessary?
Like many churches today “Making the word of God of
none effect
through … tradition…” (Mark 7:13), Christ condemns the
Pharisees
saying “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
shut
up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in
yourselves, neither
suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” (Matt 23:13) and
again “Woe
unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge:
…”
(Luke 11:52) for you “… bind heavy burdens and grievous to
be borne,
and lay them on men's shoulders; …” (Matt 23:4). Although
not
entering into heaven themselves, their real crime was stopping others.
What is the kingdom of heaven?
Many people assume that the kingdom of heaven and the
kingdom of God are
the same, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Because “God is a Spirit…” (John
4:24) this means
the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. Conversely,
as heaven
is God’s physical creation (Gen 1:1), the kingdom of heaven
is a
physical kingdom.
The first example of the kingdom of heaven on earth is
the Garden of
Eden, where Adam has God’s instructions (Gen 1:28-31) to run it “as
it is
in heaven” (Matt 6:10).
Since Eden, God has appointed different men over this
earthly kingdom
(Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon) until Jeremiah 22:30 when God calls a
halt,
sending Israel into captivity in Babylon, and ushering in the “times
of
the
Gentiles” (Lk 21:24).
Then 400 hundred years after the book of Malachi is
closed, God sends
the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to be king of the Jews, for they knew that
God had
promised them an earthly kingdom (Is 2:1-5; Jer 23:5-6; Luke 1:31-32),
and so,
this was another chance for the Jews to usher back in, their promised
kingdom
of heaven on earth.
But with the Jews saying “…We have no king but
Caesar.” (John
19:15), they rejected Jesus and his promised kingdom of heaven he
would set
up on earth, and so it was not restored to Israel at that time.
After the
resurrection when they asked “…Lord, wilt thou at this time restore
again
the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6-7), they were not asking
him to
restore the spiritual kingdom of God (Rom 14:17), which they’d
never
had, as they were never born again by the Holy Ghost.
Repeatedly praying
“…thy kingdom come …” (Matt 6:10), they just wanted their
kingdom
of heaven to be returned on earth.
What is the kingdom of God?
Jesus states that “…the kingdom of God is within
you.” (Lk
17:21) and Paul says “For the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink;
but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Rom 14:17).
It
is a spiritual kingdom presently within the hearts of Christians.
Those who
“…believe on the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Acts 16:31), are already
in
the kingdom of God, having been spiritually “…translated
…into
the kingdom of his dear Son:” (Col 1:13), being made to “…sit
together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” (Eph 2:6).
How is the kingdom of God superior?
In two words – eternal security. Once Jesus died,
and “…the
veil … was rent in twain …” (Matt 27:51), the kingdom of heaven was
replaced
by the kingdom of God. You see, prior to the shed blood of Jesus, a
Jew, at
best, could only get a temporary salvation of a remittance
of sins with animal blood, which could only cover his past
sins (Ps 32:1; Rom 3:25) on a daily basis.
(A practical explanation of remittance is the
example of a person
with a cancer in remission - it runs the risk of returning.)
Hence ongoing
animal blood sacrifices were needed to keep covering over past sins.
Because the Jew could never have his sins washed
away (Rev
1:5) with animal blood, the best he could hope for was a temporary
forgiveness, a remittance for past sins, resulting only in temporary
salvation.
But with the shed blood of Jesus, Paul’s
gospel of the
kingdom of God redemption plan, meant not only past
sins,
but present and future sins, would not only be covered,
but
completely washed away. Paul clearly states “In whom we have redemption
(not just remission) through his blood, even the forgiveness
of
sins:” (Col 1:14). The only rule for entry into kingdom of God
is by “…my
(Paul’s) gospel…” of “…Believe on the
Lord Jesus
Christ….” (Acts 16:31)
So Peter and the other disciples, were the
official gatekeepers
to the knowledge of the operations of the kingdom of heaven, a
righteousness of works, summed up by Christ saying “… That except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of
heaven.” (Matt 5:20).
The Jew had to be meek, pure of heart, a peacemaker and
merciful to name
a few (Matt 5:5, 7, 8, 9) and of course, with the inevitable failure
and sin, forgiveness
was temporarily obtained as their sins were covered by
the imperfect
blood of animals.
Now Christians fail to realize, that perfect
works is still
the only entry requirement into the kingdom of God, but in their case, Christ’s
perfect works have been imputed to their accounts and all
sins have already
been paid for by Christ’s perfect blood.
The kingdom of heaven prayer
Did you know that the kingdom of heaven Lord’s prayer has
the condition
attached “…if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your
Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt 6:15).
This is not a Christian’s prayer, as our sins have been
forgiven even if
we don’t forgive others.
But doesn’t the Bible say the disciples could forgive
sins?
No, because even the Jews knew “…who can forgive
sins, but God
only.” (Mark 2:7). No, Jesus says to the assembled disciples
“Whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whose
soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” (John
20:23).
Should a Jew believe, and act upon, the Sermon on the
Mount, only their
past sins would be forgiven, if not, their sins would remain. As
Peter
says “…whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of
sins.” (Acts 10:43), with the ‘believing’ coming first,
followed by
‘remission’.
Similarly, Paul, with his kingdom of God gospel, could
declare with
certainty “…thou shalt be saved…” if you “…Believe
on
the Lord Jesus Christ ….” (Acts 16:31). Indeed, all
Christians can
affirm to anyone that redemption, not just remission, is available to
those
that will believe.
Paul replaces Peter
When Christ died, Peter’s kingdom of heaven gospel to the
circumcised
Jew, was replaced by Paul’s gospel of the kingdom of God to all.
As the Pope considers himself to be a direct descendant
of Peter, mistakenly
clutching Peter’s keys of the kingdom of heaven, the best he can
produce, is to
bind, loose and inform people of the laws concerning the
kingdom of heaven according to the Sermon on the Mount.
Harley Hitchcock
Australian
Bible Ministries, PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
