Were the apostles given authority to bind laws in heaven?
Question:
Hello brother,
Matthew 16:18ff is one of those many verses that we more frequently use. As I continue to read and study it, though, I realize I have not studied it as well as I thought.
Matthew 16:19 is phrased as such:
"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth WILL BE bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth WILL BE loosed in heaven."
Same in Matthew 18:18.
Now, to me, what I immediately understand just from reading this is that whatever the Apostles forbade here on earth will also be forbidden there in heaven, and the same goes with those things that they permit. The immediate implication is that heaven is now the one that's dependent on the Apostles' judgment or discernment as to what's forbidden and permitted.
To be clear, I know this isn't so, as that will cause problems with what the other verses teach us. But I guess I'm saying, why did they phrase it like that? "Will be"? As if it's the Apostles that have the control? Or am I the one who's misunderstanding the verse? Or is this one of those that are poorly translated into English? I tried to refer to an Interlinear to make more sense of this. Unfortunately, I'm not quite there yet, so I can use an Interlinear effectively.
I hope you can help me understand this accurately, brother.
Answer:
In grammar, there are different voices:
- Active voice is used when the sentence's subject affects another thing. "Joe hit the ball."
- Passive voice is used when the sentence's subject is affected by another thing. "Joe was hit by the ball."
Some languages, such as Greek, have a third option called the middle voice. The middle voice is used when the action goes both ways. English doesn't have a middle voice, but the Greeks would use it in a situation where Joe and Sally collided with each other. Joe running into Sally affects her but the rebound also affects Joe.
Because the middle voice is difficult to translate into English, translators use another voice that they think is close instead of adding extra words to approximate the meaning.
"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" (Matthew 16:19).
"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven" (Mathew 18:18).
The "shall have been bound" or "shall have been loosed" in Matthew 16:9 and Matthew 18:18 are in perfect middle voice. "Perfect" is used when a completed action affects the subject in the present. "Will be" is a poor translation because doesn't capture the idea of "perfect." It places the action in the future instead of it being a past completed action. "Middle" indicates that the action done by the subject affects itself. Thus, what the apostles may bind on earth are things already bound in heaven. Those things the apostles bind on others also bind themselves because they fall under the same laws.
The apostles are not acting as lawmakers but ambassadors charged with enforcing heaven's laws on mankind.
Response:
Thank you very much, brother Jeffrey,
As mentioned, I knew I was wrong with my immediate understanding of the verse; I just couldn't put the finger on why. But with this, I finally found the link I was looking for.
God bless you!
