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Matthew 18 · a question people ask

What is the binding and releasing of 18:18?

In the text

Matthew doesn't explain it here. Jesus says, "Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven" (18:18). Words like these come earlier, in 16:19: "I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven." (16:19). Favor's Matthew 16 asks who or what "this rock" is and what the keys are, quotes 18:18 there, and sets out the main ways Christians read the rock. This chapter doesn't answer it or ask it again.

The verses

“Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”
Matthew 18:18 · World English Bible
“I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.””
Matthew 16:19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Matthew 18

Matthew 18: As little children

In Matthew the disciples themselves bring Jesus the question of who is greatest (18:1), and he answers with a little child (18:2-4). His parable of the sheep ends on "these little ones" (18:14). And in the parable of the king, the fellow servant begs with almost the very words the first servant used: "Have patience with me, and I will repay you!" (18:29).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions