Binding and Loosing Using Matthew 16:19
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Mat 16:19)
From this very verse a theology has arisen within Christianity. It is the verse that is used to bind Satan. Christians will use this verse as their authority to bind Satan and cast out demons. It is interesting that only the first part is used but the second part of the phrase is not used. It is understandable as what Christian wants to loose Satan? Christians want to bind him, not set him loose. Yet, did Jesus have Satan in mind when He uttered these words? What did He really mean?
When Jesus was on earth, He primarily was speaking to His brethren, fellow Jews with a few exceptions. They had their own culture that was different than the Roman culture in which they lived. This phrase was not a new phrase but a very old phrase that can be found in the Jewish Talmud. This phrase cannot be understood to mean either binding Satan, binding or loosing the sins of man. It was a common Jewish phrase that meant a declaration what was lawful or unlawful. A Rabbi would use it to forbid or permit an activity according to their interpretation of the law. This was a rabbinic way of establishing “halakah” or rules of conduct. The Jewish Encyclopedia states:
“BINDING AND LOOSING (Hebrew, asar ve-hittir) . . . Rabbinical term for ‘forbidding and permitting.’ . . . “The power of binding and loosing as always claimed by the Pharisees. Under Queen Alexandra the Pharisees, says Josephus (Wars of the Jews 1:5:2), ‘became the administrators of all public affairs so as to be empowered to banish and readmit whom they pleased, as well as to loose and to bind.’ . . . The various schools had the power ‘to bind and to loose’; that is, to forbid and to permit (Talmud: Chagigah 3b); and they could also bind any day by declaring it a fast-day ( . . . Talmud: Ta’anit 12a . . .). This power and authority, vested in the rabbinical body of each age of the Sanhedrin, received its ratification and final sanction from the celestial court of justice (Sifra, Emor, 9; Talmud: Makkot 23b).”
On the authority of our Lord, Jesus, He informed the disciples who were to go out and spread the Gospel and establish His church that they have the authority to establish rules of conduct for the Christian community based on His teachings. He was speaking to Jews and the term was understood by them to mean just that. It was their culture and was part of their Jewish faith. Jewish rabbis “bound” the law when they determined that a commandment was applicable to a particular situation, and they “loosed” the law when they determined that a word of scripture (while eternally valid) was not applicable under certain specific circumstances.
For example of the Jewish use of their phrase, in the Talmud, the application of binding & loosing is applied as such. A question was raised regarding theft and guilt if one finds something but does not search for the rightful owner. When is such a search required and how extensive must the search be? The Talmud states “If a fledgling bird is found within fifty cubits of a dovecote, it belongs to the owner of the dovecote. If it is found outside the limits of fifty cubits, it belongs to the person who finds it” (Bava Batra 23b). (4). The “do not steal” command was bound (or declared theft) if the bird was found within proximity to its likely owner but loosed (or declared not a theft) if found at a distance from a likely owner. The view is taken that that the law of “do not steal” is not done away with but the interpretation of the law.
It is exactly this Jewish phraseology that Jesus was using with His Jewish disciples.
In our language, we have phraseology that is part of our culture that would not make sense in another culture. I recall listening to someone who was not a native to English but was well spoken in English. His formal English was meticulous yet the nuances of the English language escaped him. When he came to the United States, he had to learn the phraseology that was not part of the English formal language. For instance, when someone said to him “what’s up” he immediately look upwards not realizing that the term “what’s up” was a greeting. The term “the boy who cried wolf” would have no meaning to someone unless they knew the story.
We have to understand Jesus’ teachings from the Jewish perspective for He was a Jew, lived with Jews, was raised by Jewish parents and trained Jewish disciples for three and a half years. Western culture was not part of His teachings. To understand His teachings from the perspective in which He taught sheds new light on difficult passages.
In our Western culture, we have misunderstood and misappropriated this very important Jewish phrase.
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Tishrei:
Thank you for the wonderful enlightenment on this (often mis-qouted) verse… It is one that this old man was going to spend time taking pen to paper on …
You not only have now allowed that time to be invested in other endeavors… It has been done with a far more readable flair than could have been done with my country school education….
Even though my searches have never found a direct reference to it, a facet of my belief is that Our Triune God is The God of Common Sense.
May Our Lord continue to prosper the work of your hands, by the ability to focus the minds of others, on common sense teachings..
Thank you for your very kind words. It may have been a bit easier for me to make the link as I am a speaker of a semetic language and realize that some ‘sayings’ in one language, if translated literally, do not mean the same thing in the translated language. A friend of mine, who is a Jew happened to mention that this saying appears in the Talmud — which was long before Jesus appeared on the earth. Thus began my search.
This is interesting. So are you saying that “binding and loosing” may not refer to spiritual beings, but instead could be about person-to-person matters?
Here’s my understanding about the second part of the verse, “loosing” — when an evil force is bound, it leaves a spiritual vacuum in the person. An emptiness. That’s why binding is followed by loosing of God’s Kingdom in their life, through the Holy Spirit. Whether or not this verse specifically applies to spiritual warfare, of course, would make all the difference.
Hi, no it does not refer to spiritual beings at all. In the Hebrew language, the Rabbis would use that term to declare unlawful (bind) or lawful (loose). It had to do with the Rabbi’s interpretation of the spirit of the law, though not declaring that a particular commandment should be obeyed. They were not discussing if a commandment should be obeyed but how it should be obeyed, or the intent of the law. Because generally we have not taken the time to learn the Hebrew/Jewish roots of the sayings, we have misapplied our western meanings to their phrases. Jesus was using a common Jewish phrase and directed it to Jews who would know the meaning much like if I say to you “what’s up” you will answer my greeting, not look upwards to see what is in the sky or on the ceiling.
Thanks for the excellent information. I have bookmarked your site and have been looking for new articles. I appreciate the time you take to provide this information
Thanks for reading. I think this is one of the most misused verses (though there are others that I will probably blog about) so I wanted to get my thoughts down on this verse. A whole theology has developed around this verse when that was not the meaning nor intent of the verse.
On your suggestion at my blog I cam to read this one. Yes! I actually intended to post on this someday from a slightly different perspective. When I do I think I will leave a link to this post because I think what you have written here is great.