Matthew 18:18

[godrulz]

Both contexts deal with forgiveness (John is not talking about Catholic priests forgiving sins= weak prooftext). The church affirms God's forgiveness based on the person's repentance and faith.

[Adstar]

Here's a verse I found in John that may be related to the Matthew 16:19, 18:18 verse:

John 20:23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

This verse was used when Jesus said to the disciples, As the Father has sent me, I also send you.

Then He breathed on them and said to them, "Recieve the Holy Spirit."

Then He said the above verse.

Are we given the power to bind and loose, and to forgive sins???????????????  Is binding and loosing the same as or similar to or related to forgiveness of sins?????????????

hey those are some deep questions One Accord. When I read your post these scriptures poped into my head.

Matthew 25

41"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'

44"Then they also will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45Then He will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

Could it be that when we have the Spirit we are connected to Jesus in such a way that He feels every emotion we are going through?

So maybe if someone hurts us unjustly and never says sorry maybe they are condemned? Maybe that is why we must be quick to forgive our enemies? It is a scary thought.

All praise The Ancient Of Days

[OneAccord]

Jesus was very express about forgiveness, not just seven times, but seventy times seven.

Could this be because when we, as His disciples, practice unforgiveness we are binding someone, holding them in bondage? In forgiving someone we are loosing them, setting them free?

If so, this is a heavy responsibility...........

The context of Matthew 18:18 is around someone who has sinned:

15 "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

18 Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

About the above verse in John, one of the questions that I would have to resolve is whether He was speaking to His chosen apostles only or if all believers are supposed to carry out these verses.

Is there ever a difference between the original twelve (well, eleven) and the believers that came after, in the gifts and abilities and responsibilites that were given?

Also, yes, the Catholic church certainly did run away with this verse.

Adstar: Good verse, good concept. It reminds me also if the verse when Saul was knocked off his horse and the Lord said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Jesus was vitally concerned with the persecution against His body.

[Guest caffeineyellow5]

The verse in Matthew 18:18 ins definately in context of the church forgiving a brother of a sin that he has committed. If he repeatedly refuses to repent, then he is to be put out of the church and not accepted until that repentance is come to him. This is evidenced in the man who had relations with his father's wife in 1Corinthians and restored in 2Corinthians. The binding of this man in his sin was enough to be put out of the church and the loosing of that sin was enough by the time 2Cor was written that it was forgiven by the church and he was free to attend once again. The whole time that sin was on him by the steps of Matthew 16:15-19 by men on Earth, the sin was on him by God in Heaven. When the sin was bound to him on Earth, it was bound to him in Heaven. The same is the concept in Matthew 16, but it was explained three chapters later.

BTW, Peter was not given the keys to Heaven or eternal life, he was the recipient for the promise of the keys to "the kingdom of heaven." Heaven is God's dwelling place; ie. the third heaven spoken of by Paul. Th kingdom of heaven is the physical literal kingdom of the millenium here on Earth ruled by Jesus with David sitting on his throne. The kingdom of God is the makeup of Jesus Christ living in the hearts of all believers in the form of the Holy Ghost that makeup the inhabitants of the kingdom of heaven with others present besides us.

Kingdom of God = Jesus Christ in us all

Kingdom of Heaven = literal and physical millenial rule of Jesus Christ on Earth

first heaven = our atmosphere

second heaven = the cosmos outside our atmosphere

third Heaven = place where God is and Jesus is at His right hand seated on His throne

BTW again, Matthew 16:18, the concept is not that Peter was made the rock of the church, because we know by clear teaching that Jesus is the rock of the church. It is as if Jesus pointed at Peter and said "That thou art Peter"; Peter meaning a little stone, because his name was really Cephas meaning a rock and Jesus changed that from the start. He said, thou art a stone or a pebble, and "upon this rock I will build my church" pointing at Himself and the word he used for this rock carries the meaning of a rockledge or long rock vein that would travel down the Rockys or some similar range.

THe other way I have heard this that makes sense is that Jesus is saying that Peter for example, the little stone or pebble, was what He was going to build His church upon; ie. little stones. God is in the buisiness of using the least to achieve the most, so He says here that He will cause the little stones (cf. 1Peter 2:5-8 and Ephesians 2:18-22) to be as strong as the rockledge of a mountain range. Like the faith of a mustard seed thing, small things become large when Jesus gets involved in the transaction!