Binding and Loosing

[Pekoudah]

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 It is certainly not God’s way to have His own authority superseded by mere mortals.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

[Pekoudah]

A person who seeks to have authority over another is ALWAYS doing so by the power of the flesh. It is a denial of grace. It is an effort to dominate through the law and this is in stark contrast to grace. Being under grace means that we have ceased from our own efforts in favour of an empowerment (grace) from God. The anointing of a person under grace is by the will of God, not men.

There is One Teacher (Mat. 23:8) and we are all brethren. The Head of every man is Christ (1 Cor.11:3). There is no need of rabbis and interpreters of laws in the Body of Christ. We have no need for a shepherd (pastor) or any other authority over our heads other than Jesus Christ Himself. We each have recourse to a direct guidance by the Holy Spirit.

But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. Mat. 23:8

Under grace, we are to walk in the Spirit and speak the truth in love without thinking or worrying who will understand or believe. The minister of God simply obeys the directives of the Spirit. The binding and loosing happen automatically, as it were, as men receive or reject the display of holiness in the form of a visitation by a person who is an ambassador or “sent one” of Christ. Holiness, as does the truth, divides people between those who are consequently bound or loosed by the reaction to the words or the very presence of one who brings Christ into their midst. In regard to binding and loosing, God retains complete authority as to who is doing the promoting of truth. Again, under grace, it is the Holy Spirit at work; the efforts of men to choose who is to be bound or loosed is not required or even desirable. It is in fact forbidden. It is the Spirit that guides us into all truth. The flesh profits nothing.

The one who walks in the power of the Spirit is alive to both the kingdom of heaven and this temporal world. Everything a person so empowered does affects the temporal world one way or another. The subsequent binding or loosing that takes place when the kingdom of heaven (by word or presence) encounters the temporal world brings an opportunity of life for they who are still in the bondage of an existence outside the direct fellowship with God. How many realize what is really at play when a person neglects to discern the Body of Christ? As it is written…”what you have done to the least of these My brethren, you have done it to Me.” (Mat. 25:40)

“The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” Luke 10:16

Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit. 1 Thess. 4:8

So we could say that the spin-off of holiness in the world is either righteousness or rebellion. Righteousness is either being loosed or being bound up by the receiving or rejection of the truth. This is as true IN the church as outside the church. Too often we see grace being frustrated, or outright rejected, by a reliance on a human effort towards the law rather than a faith in God’s grace. Few people, it seems, trust that God can build His own church.

When the mob challenged Jesus to judge the case of a woman caught in adultery on whether she should be put to death according to the law, they sought to bind Him and justify their action by His agreement. But Jesus in turn bound them by stating “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus tied their hands, so to speak, so that the woman was “loosed” from her condemnation.

But the presence of holiness is often enough, even when no words are spoken, to divide people by who is being bound and who is being loosed. The 2 thieves on the cross who were crucified with Jesus illustrate this.

[Pekoudah]

Holiness divides the world into they who are loosed into righteousness and those who are bound into condemnation. Jesus came to bring a sword and a challenge to mankind in the form of an invitation into the truth.

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

It is unavoidable that many be bound up by the introduction of truth and holiness and the challenge that entails to the limitations we may have grown accustomed to. But we can know that as easily as we can reject the truth..we can also receive the truth so as to be loosed (set free). At one time or other we have all rejected the truth. We have all experienced being bound by the light of the truth; the penetrating light of truth that sought to expose the dark corners of our souls. What we do when this happens determines the possibility of intimacy with God. As we try to interpret the truth, the truth is interpreting us. Seeing that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and the grasp of the truth, we ought to go easy on those who react negatively towards it. We need to treat others with the kind of patience that God has shown (and continues to show) towards us. People, instinctively, tend to resist the efforts of eternal truth to break them out of the constraints that they have imposed upon what is possible for God to do both in and through them. But those who try to bind up the truth will themselves be bound up by it. We imprison ourselves, and even build thicker walls, as we reject God’s efforts to free us into a larger world where God dwells. He calls to all those who listen for His word.

A spiritual person can discern others by watching the effect that the truth has on them. Those who receive the larger vision of eternal truth will be set free or “loosed.” These have been “enlarged” into a greater realm. They have been “edified”….or “built up.” But those who have reduced the truth and continue to resist any enlargement into the bigger world of God through submission to the truth by a humble and teachable spirit…these bring condemnation on themselves. We limit ourselves through our lack of faith…or we grab hold of grace by faith. Our character and our openness to the truth determines the outcome. We are to receive the things of God like little children, hoping and believing that with God nothing is impossible. If we remain teachable, God will draw us into His kingdom where there is life and peace forevermore.

 

 

[Pekoudah]

Authority from God comes with responsibility. But God never expects us to follow our own understanding. We are never to judge....we must only speak what God is saying....no more, no less. Have we not read where it is written...lean not on your own understanding. So then every scenario is meant for us to look to God for help and guidance. Jesus said "I ONLY do what I see My father doing". You'd think that Jesus, of all people, would be able to make His own decisions...no? Are we more capable than Jesus? Our opinions so often are crying out for satisfaction. But this is by the power of the flesh. Even Jesus put no confidence in the flesh....but looked above for guidance. If this does not paint a clear picture...then we are willful and blind to the truth.

God never delegates authority. All authority is His and remains His. He allows us to partake in His will by coming under HIS authority. In the church only men who are following Christ and doing as Jesus does...have any authority. It is God's authority THROUGH an obedient vessel that any real authority is perceived in a man. There is a demonic exousia that raises men up to be as gods. THAT is what we sometimes confuse real authority with.

Men understand authority as a hierarchy of luminaries. But Jesus submitted to the baptism of John...even thought the authority of John was far less than that of Jesus. Jesus respected the order given to John from God to baptize and preach. Jesus respected GOD'S authority...not John's. John received his authority from God. Jesus was obeying God not John. Jesus does not respect men. Jesus does not do things to please men...or receive honour from men. We would be wise to do likewise. We are to receive men in HIS name. Or we reject men in HIS name. No opinions are necessary or sought after.

They who reject a man sent from God are not rejecting the man....but God who sent him.

THAT is what authority is about in Christ. Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My brethren...you did it to Me!

Edited May 12, 2019 by Pekoudah

[Daniel Marsh]

Matthew 23 American Standard Version (ASV)
23 Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat: 3 all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.

Acts 15

^22-29 Then the apostles, the elders and the whole Church agreed to choose representatives and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Their names were Judas, surnamed Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men of the brotherhood. They carried with them a letter bearing this message: “The apostles and elders who are your brothers send their greetings to the brothers who are Gentiles in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. Since we have heard that some of our number have caused you deep distress and have unsettled your minds by giving you a message which certainly did not originate from us, we are unanimously agreed to send you chosen representatives with our well-loved Barnabas and Paul—men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[Daniel Marsh]

Romans 13 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

13 1-2 Every Christian ought to obey the civil authorities, for all legitimate authority is derived from God’s authority, and the existing authority is appointed under God. To oppose authority then is to oppose God, and such opposition is bound to be punished.

Ephesians 5:22-24 [ Christ and the Church the pattern relationship for husband and wife ] You wives must learn to adapt yourselves to your husbands, as you submit yourselves to the Lord, for the husband is the “head” of the wife in the same way that Christ is head of the Church and saviour of the body. The willing subjection of the Church to Christ should be reproduced in the submission of wives to their husbands.

Titus 1:5 [ Titus' Work in Crete ] I left you in Crete, so that you could put in order the things that still needed doing and appoint church elders in every town. Remember my instructions:

 

off top of my head the above are delegated authority. 

 

 

 

 

[Daniel Marsh]

"

Acts 20:17 speaks about church government, specifically that of the large church of Ephesus in Asia Minor: “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.” These were men who were appointed and ordained by God, the Holy Spirit. In Acts 20:28 Paul directed them, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God.” My mother used to tell me the same thing. “Before you start preaching,” she would say, “watch out for yourself.” Pastors and elders are to keep watch over themselves first, in terms of a holy life. They should not be thieves, liars, deceivers, drug addicts, or fornicators. Additionally, their children should not be wild and disobedient (Titus 1:6).

Ephesians 4:11-13 also speaks of the divine appointment of church government: “It was he”-that is, the resurrected Christ, the Sovereign Lord and Head of the church-“who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” And 1 Corinthians 12:28 says, “In the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles,” and so on. The authority of the church and its ministers comes from Christ."https://gracevalley.org/sermon/gods-delegated-authorities/

[Daniel Marsh]

Hebrews 13:17 Good News Translation (GNT)
17 Obey your leaders and follow their orders. They watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not, they will do it with sadness, and that would be of no help to you.