Home Topics Index Download
Transcript 394C
"Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth" [Mt 16:19]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes, Mr. Camping. I have a question. In Matthew 16:19 and in Matthew 18:18, in two different settings, it gives the words, whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. And I was wondering if that relates to John 20:23. And if so, what does it all mean? I'll take my answer over the air.
HC: All right. Fine. Thank you very much. Good night.
The question is raised concerning the statements that we find in three places: Matthew 16, Matthew 18 and John 20:23. And indeed, these three passages are very much related.
In Matthew 16 Jesus has just asked the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" And then Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And then Jesus responded by saying, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you, but My Father which is in Heaven." And then He said, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock" This rock of course is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. "I will build My church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom, that whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."
Actually, the tense of the verb, I think, if read absolutely correctly, should read, "And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall having been bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall having been loosed in Heaven."
You see, the keys of the Kingdom that God gives the church is the Gospel. Now these keys work in two directions. As we bring the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are those who are slaves of Satan, who are in Satan's prison house, if you will. And the Gospel is the key that unlocks that prison house, so that that individual is free to come out of Satan's kingdom.
But it is also the key that unlocks the gate into the Kingdom of God, into the body of Christ, if you will, into the holy eternal Jerusalem. They are the keys of the Kingdom. It is the Gospel that unlocks hell and opens up Heaven for those who respond to it.
Now the Gospel is a two-edged sword. It is never neutral. Never is it neutral. As it goes out it does one of two things. It either binds men more tightly in their sins. That is, they face the Gospel, but they don't want the Gospel. They don't want to leave their sins. They don't want to humble themselves before God. And therefore they stand under greater condemnation, so that they were already bound and now they are even bound more tightly in their sins.
Or the Gospel is the fragrance of the Lord so that it causes them to be freed, to be loosed from their sins, so that they are free to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They become a child of God.
Actually, it is God who is ultimately doing the loosing and the binding. All the church really is is the vehicle that God is using. We are the custodians, the stewards, of the Gospel. We share it, and it is God who applies it to the hearts of those who are listening. But the church takes credit in a real sense, because it is they who are the ambassadors of Christ as the Gospel goes forth.
The fact is, when someone does become saved, it is the church, the corporate body, as we find it amongst the congregations and denominations and groups of believers, which officially welcomes this person into the body of Christ. Now actually, he came into the body of Christ when he became born again. This is altogether the act of God. But to give official recognition to this, the church accepts this person into its membership, the church baptizes this person, the church hears the confession of this person that indeed he has become a child of God. It is ultimately, however, God who is doing it all.
Now we see the same thing in Matthew 18:18, and in John 20:23, where Christ indicates, "Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained." That's saying the same thing in slightly different language. As we bring the Gospel, those who are exercised by the Gospel, as God applies the keys of the Kingdom to that person's life - their sins are remitted. Their sins are forgiven. And as for those whom God does not exercise, that is, who do not respond to the Gospel, their sins are retained. There is no change in their position before God. They still stand guilty before God with all of their sins.