TRANSLATION MATTHEW 18:18

“Amen I tell you that whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. Again, amen I tell you, if two of you on earth come to agreement about something you ask for, whatever it is, it will be done for you by my father in heaven. For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there amongst them.”

Matthew has already told how the power of binding and loosing – in this context, the power to exclude an unrepentant brother- has been given to Peter, but we see here that he holds that power on behalf of the assembled community. I think we should not read this to mean that God will back up whatever the Assembly decides, but rather that the assembly, blessed by Jesus’ presence, will decide in accordance with God’s will. Matthew’s magical realism extends to the pupils of Jesus: human as they are, sinful as they are, they implement the will of God, which they discern because Jesus is amongst them.

This empowering presence which enables faithful people to discern God’s will is modelled on the experience of the Rabbis in understanding Torah, as witness the Mishnah:

“When two sit together and words of Torah pass between them, the Divine Presence rests between them” Mishnah Avot

Clearly the privilege of binding and loosing, that is, of making an authoritative interpretation of God’s will for matters not covered in scripture, has been abused in different ways in different denominations of the Christian church. That fact should lead them to ask whether this teaching is from Jesus or Matthew. In either case we should see it as qualified by the parable of the unforgiving slave which follows.