19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Binding and loosing was common language among 1st century Jewish rabbis to refer to their authoritative interpretations of the Law. They were “binding” and “loosing” the meaning of God’s Word. In time the rabbinic teachings covering roughly from 300 BC to AD 200 were written down in what is called the Mishnah, with further commentary in the massive and authoritative Talmud.
Jesus here conferred on His twelve disciples authority for disseminating the truth about Jesus and His life after His departure. Indeed, this authority was validated on a number of fronts. After the resurrection, as recorded in Acts 1:8, Jesus authorized them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Although there is a sense in which this applies to all believers, the primary audience was the apostles (see Acts 1:2-7). The eleven saw the importance of the divine requirement for bringing the number back up to twelve, replacing Judas (Acts 1:16-26).
Further, at the initial formation of the church at Pentecost, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…” Their teachings served as the authorized retelling of the teachings and life of Jesus. That is why Paul later wrote that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone” (Eph 2:20b). Since the apostles couldn’t be everywhere present as the church spread in the initial stages, God used prophets to communicate the truth. However, the ultimate arbiters of truth were the apostles, clarifying for believers what stories and teaching circulating were genuinely of Christ and what were not, that is, binding and loosing the truth. They bore witness to what God had already determined to be truth (the Greek grammar is very specific about this in the verse).
After the apostles passed away, the immediate subsequent generations of Christians sought to preserve the authentic teachings of the apostles into an authoritative written collection—this would distinguish what was genuine from what was spurious or inauthentic. The main criteria for including a document was whether it bore apostolic authority. If it did, the Christians treated it as authoritative. Today, Christians stand squarely on the foundation of Jesus Christ, as reflected in the preserved teachings of apostolic authority – who bound and loosed the truth for us.
Lord, thank You for preserving the teachings of Your Son. And thank You for all those who have faithfully copied and translated them through the centuries.
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