onemangang said:
Phineas
I think you have taken the view that many BIBLE ONLY Christians should take, if one is of the belief that, there was never any conferring given by God, to men. If that be true, then the natural conclusion to your premise is logical.
**No, I have never, and do not think most “Bible first” advocates have ever, believed that God has never conferred upon men positions of authority in His church on earth. **I firmly believe it is scriptural that Christians unite, organize in local, regional or even worldwide churches and ordain leaders as moved by the Holy Spirit. Such church organizations have the authority to bind and to loose, but only in accordance with the word of God. God is the author of all scripture it would be utterly chaotic to have church leaders so presumptuous as to bind and loose in direct opposition to the teachings of scripture. God is not an author of confusion and the scriptures are not to be altered or broken. (Matt 5:17-19 and John 10:35).
The authority to bind and to loose was not given only to Peter (Matt 16:19) but to the apostles and the church ( Matt 18:18) The concept of “binding and loosing was commonly used among the Jewish people in relation to the authority of the rabbis to forbid and permit certain practices. Jesus gave Peter and the apostles authority over both the doctrine and practices of the first-century church. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, they would be given wisdom to know what to forbid and what to permit.
When looking at the context of Matthew 18:18. one can see what was to be bound or loosed . The passages of Matt15-17 speak of a “brother [who] transgresses” (verse 15), reprove him (verse 15), “witnesses” (verse 16), “church” (verse 17), and excommunication (“let him be to you as a “heathen man and a publican”” (verse 17, ) leave no doubt that the passage is about church discipline. Including excommunication. This is the context for verse 18 , which says “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Taking Matthew 18:15–20 in context, Jesus was authorizing church leaders to follow a specific process to preserve the purity and witness of the church. Leaders are designated to protect the honor of God and His church, and, to rebuke, correct or, if need be, dismiss members who persist in sinful lifestyles. Their decisions are authoritative and binding.
According to Greek grammarians, the tense in Matt. 16:19 and Matt 18:18 are periphrastic future perfect, which is the equivalent of the future perfect. This type of construction occurs rarely in the New Testament “The future perfect denotes an action that will be already finished at some future time. It is thus a perfect transferred to the future.” “It is a future action as completed in relation to another future action. Hence a future prior to another future.” In other words,whatever has been first approved in Heaven will done by his true church on earth .
Good explanation of this is as follows:
“Lest we take the traditional translation of these words to the extreme, we need to note that this text does not grant unbridled human influence on the decrees of God. Authoritative Greek reference grammars note that we need to render verse 18: “whatever you shall bind on earth shall have [already] been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have [already] been loosed in heaven.”
Christian leaders are to reflect the will of God in their decision making, not generate it. A**s with many other Scripture passages, this one teaches us as His servants to do His will rather than requiring that He do our will (Matthew 6:10; 7:21; 26:39; Romans 12:1; Ephesians 5:10,17; Col 1:9,10).” ** W.E. Nunnally, Ph.D., professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins, Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri
Code:
**Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven**.Matt 6:10
It is definitely not God’s will, as has been clearly stated by Jesus, that the church on earth break any one of His ten commandments or strip Him of His Lordship of the Sabbath.
