Matthew 16:17–19, Keys of the kingdom…bind … loose. Yeshua is here giving his disciples the authority of Elohim on earth to judge and make ecclesiastical decisions.
Bind…loose. Here, Yeshua clearly gave the ecclesiastical authority of the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of Jewish leaders in Yeshua’s day) over to his disciples. No longer do we need to look to the authority of the Jewish leaders for determining how to obey YHVH, or for making rulings pertaining to religious service.
First of all, there is no Sanhedrin today to tell us these things.
Secondly, in Matthew 16:17–19, Yeshua clearly transferred to his apostles—the church leaders of that time—the authority of the Sanhedrin to make binding ruling and decisions about spiritual matters pertaining to his kahal (congregation or church).
This authority would include making determinations about the biblical calendars. No longer, does the congregation or kahal of Yeshua have to wait for a Jewish Sanhedrin to form to tell them how to follow the Word of Elohim with regard to the biblical calendar or any other subjects for that matter.
Yeshua here permits and empowers the spiritual leaders of the saints to simply teach and do what the Bible says, and heaven will honor or endorse their decisions (called “binding” and “loosing”)! That’s what Yeshua says in Matthew 16:19, and this is exactly what his apostolic leaders did in Acts 15 at the first apostolic counsel.
Yeshua gave his disciples the authority over his church to bind (to prohibit, forbid) and loose (to permit), and he said that heaven would respect their decisions (Matt 16:17–19). They, in fact, exercised this divine authority in Acts chapter 15 at the first Jerusalem counsel.
Bind as used in the Matt 16:19 and Matt 18:18 is the Greek word deo meaning “to bind tie, fasten, to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains, being bound by Satan or his demons, put under obligation of the law, to be bound to one, a wife, a husband, to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit.” The counterpart to binding is loosing, which is the Greek word luo meaning “to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened, to loose one bound (i.e. to unbind, release from bonds, set free), to loosen, undo, dissolve, anything bound, tied, or compacted together.
The concept of binding and loosing was also a first century Jewish colloquial expressions relating to correctly or incorrectly interpreting the Torah. If the Jewish legal scholars believed that a person was incorrectly interpreting the meaning of a Torah law or one of the traditions of the elders, they accused him of breaking or loosening (luo) the law or making it less binding or less strict (deo). This was the case when Yeshua picked some grain to eat on the Sabbath in John 5:18. The NKJV and most English translations of this verse incorrectly state that “he broke the Sabbath.” This is a misleading, faulty and unfortunate translation of the Greek word luo. It is unthinkable and unscriptural that the perfect Yeshua actually sinned by violating the fourth commandment. In reality, he loosened the Jewish extra-biblical legal restrictions that forbad anyone from picking a handful of grain on the Sabbath to eat—something the Torah doesn’t consider work (as opposed to harvesting a field of grain), and thus doesn’t forbid. Luo in this sense may possibly be read into Matt 5:19, John 7:23, and 10:35 as well.
It’s interesting that the Sanhedrin assumed the power and here Yeshua empowers His disciples (He empowers whom He employs)
Also reminds me of Matt 21:23-27-LOVE IT!
I agree, and want to make some commnents here. Yeshua then and now is calling people to the COVENANT not to Christianity (any kind) not to Judiaism (any kind). Any kind of religion or system that is not the COVENANT of YHVH is out of His will, repent! (which by biblical definition is stop breaking the Torah and start or restart keeping it) The Kingdom of Heaven has come near you….that means: “come to the COVENANT, whoever you are and be part of my people and live according to my TORAH and you shall live”, that is also the Gospel message. Torahless people won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So loosing and biding is directly related to Torah observance, and Yeshúa trust His disciples will be Torah keepers all the time.
Please consider this. What is Torahlessness? It is violating the commandments of Elohim in the Torah, obviously. The Torah states, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt commit adultery, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, do not practice witchcraft, do not practice abortion, homosexuality, incest, bestiality, etc., etc., etc. I know a lot of Christians who follow these aspects of the Torah. So do you. So are they Torahless? Well, not exactly. They’re following some if not many aspects of the Torah, but, agreeably disregarding others such as the big three: Shabbat, the Moedim/biblical feasts, and kashrut/the biblical dietary laws. At the same time, I know many (after having been a head pastor of a Torah-teaching, Yeshua-centered congregation for 18 years) that there are many self-proclaimed Torah-keepers who lie, cheat, gossip, defraud, steal, don’t put leavening out of their houses during Unleavened Bread, work on the Shabbat, don’t wear tzitzits etc., etc., etc., when they know better. Many of these people I have personally warned, discipled and led them by examples and they still violate Torah in spite of it all. So who is better off? Those who know to do the good of Torah and don’t, or those who live up to the light of Torah that they have, while offending—often ignorantly—some aspects of Torah like Sabbath, the moedim and kashrut?
The point is this: I think we need to be careful about broad-brushing people-groups and putting labels on them, and then including or excluding these people on this basis. This is NOT how the Father judges things. He judges not by appearance but by righteousness and looking at one’s character, heart, and the fruits of their lives based on the level of understanding or the light of truth that they have. If he didn’t, then none of us would stand a chance before his judgment seat, since we all fail miserably in so many areas.
We have to be careful when saying that this group is such and such and that group is not. That is to say that all Christians are Torahless and all those who claim to have come out of the Babylonian church system and are now purporting to follow Torah are okay, even when they really aren’t following Torah to the fullest degree that they know. A more nuanced and parsed view of this matter is needed here.
Can we agree on this?
Natan, I just found your website and blog today. It is quite interesting, and I look forward to learning more in the future.
This is not a big deal, and I wouldn’t normally comment, but I am just wondering if you meant to use the word “Bind” (as opposed to “Loose”) at the beginning of the next to the last paragraph:
“Loose as used in the Matt 16:19 and Matt 18:18 is the Greek word deo meaning “to bind tie, fasten, to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains, being bound by Satan or his demons. . . .”
Feel free to delete this comment, if you like! I won’t be offended.
Thank you for all of the work you and your wife have put into training and teaching. It is quite astounding what you have done!
Blessings
You are absolutely correct. Thank you for being a careful Berean and catching that typo. I have changed it to read:
Bind as used in the Matt 16:19 and Matt 18:18 is the Greek word deo meaning “to bind tie, fasten, to bind, fasten with chains, to throw into chains, being bound by Satan or his demons, put under obligation of the law, to be bound to one, a wife, a husband, to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit.” The counterpart to binding is loosing, which is the Greek word luo meaning “to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened, to loose one bound (i.e. to unbind, release from bonds, set free), to loosen, undo, dissolve, anything bound, tied, or compacted together.
Also I’m glad that you found us and that we can be a blessing to you. Praise Yah!
James 2:10-11 Pretty well covers all of us, doesn’t it?
John