Hello brother,<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Matthew 16:19 is phrased as such:<\/p>\n
“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth\u00a0WILL BE<\/u>\u00a0bound in heaven<\/b>, and whatever you loose on earth\u00a0WILL BE<\/u>\u00a0loosed in heaven<\/b>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Same in Matthew 18:18.<\/p>\n
Now, to me, what I immediately understand just from reading this is that whatever the Apostles forbade here on earth will also be<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n
To be clear,<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n
I hope you can help me understand this accurately, brother.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
In grammar, there are different voices:<\/p>\n
\n
- Active voice is used when the sentence’s subject affects another thing. “Joe hit the ball.”<\/li>\n
- Passive voice is used when the sentence’s subject is affected by another thing. “Joe was hit by the ball.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound<\/strong> in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed<\/strong> in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 16:19).<\/p>\n
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound<\/strong> in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed<\/strong> in heaven<\/em>” (Mathew 18:18).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The apostles are not acting as lawmakers but ambassadors charged with enforcing heaven’s laws on mankind.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thank you very much, brother Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
God bless you!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[170,78,708],"class_list":["post-67958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-apostles","tag-authority","tag-matthew"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-authority-of-the-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":67958,"position":0},"title":"The Authority of the Apostles (Johnson)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson Many acknowledge the authority of God and Christ but do not accept or understand the authority of the Apostles. Some people today say we only need the words of Jesus to guide us. Some who take this position place a great deal of emphasis on the red-letter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-john-2023-say-that-priests-can-forgive-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":67958,"position":1},"title":"Doesn’t John 20:23 say that priests can forgive sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You commented on priests not being able to forgive sins. What about John 20:21-23? Answer: After Jesus' resurrection, he appeared to the apostles. \"Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wouldnt-it-be-reasonable-for-jesus-to-appoint-a-prime-minister-thus-establishing-the-papacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":67958,"position":2},"title":"Wouldn’t it be reasonable for Jesus to appoint a prime minister, thus establishing the papacy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If Jesus came as the son of David to reign upon the throne of David (St. Peter says as much in his pentecostal sermon in Acts of the Apostles with regard to the resurrection of Jesus), and if one of the key institutions of the Davidic Covenant Kingdom was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44443,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-apostles-have-the-right-to-forgive-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":67958,"position":3},"title":"Did the apostles have the right to forgive sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, A question was posted a decade or so ago on John 20:21-23 and whether or not all men could forgive sins. I couldn't see that the responder actually addressed what was meant by the Apostles having the authority to forgive sins, except to say that they could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89510,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/heaven-on-earth-no\/","url_meta":{"origin":67958,"position":4},"title":"Heaven on Earth? No!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garland M. Robinson Where will the redeemed be in eternity when this life is over? The Bible teaches they will go to be with the Lord in heaven (John 14:1-3). Yet, some are saying the heaven we've always hoped for does not exist -that it's not going to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57025,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-proper-source-of-authority\/","url_meta":{"origin":67958,"position":5},"title":"The Proper Source of Authority","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Heath Rogers \"Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, \u02dcBy what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?'\" (Matthew 21:23). The chief priests and elders who confronted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}