Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be what has been bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be what has been loosed in heaven.
Read Chapter 18
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
This then is what we have heard the Lord advising, and with such great particularity that he himself adds, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” So the very moment you begin to hold your brother as an outsider to the covenant community, “you bind him on earth.” But see to it that you bind him justly. For unjust bonds will by justice soon be burst apart …. When you have admonished him and have been “reconciled to your brother,” you have thereby “loosed him on earth.” And when “you shall have loosed him on earth, he shall be loosed in heaven” also. So this is a weighty matter. You do this not for yourself but for him. For the harm he has done is not primarily to you but to himself.
Whatsoever you shall bind The power of binding and loosing, which in a more eminent manner was promised to St. Peter, is here promised to the other apostles and their successors, bishops and priests. (Witham)
The power of binding and loosing, conferred on St. Peter, excelled that granted to the other apostles, inasmuch as to St. Peter, who was head and pastor of the whole Church, was granted jurisdiction over the other apostles, while these received no power over each other, much less over St. Peter. (Tirinus)
Priests receive a power not only to loose, but also to bind, as St. Ambrose writeth against the Novatians, who allowed the latter, but denied the former power to priests. (Lib. i. de poenit. chap. ii.) (Bristow)
He did not say to the leader of the church, “bind him” but “if you bind him,” leaving the whole entire decision to the one aggrieved. Only after a due process do the bonds remain unbreakable, and so he will suffer the worst fate. It is not the one who has called for accountability that is to blame but the one who had not been willing to be persuaded. Do you see how Christ has bound him with a twofold constraint, both by the chastisement here and by the punishment hereafter? He threatens the one punishment to prevent the other from happening. Thus, by fearing both rejection from the church and the threat of being bound in heaven, he may become better behaved. And knowing these things, if not at the beginning, at any rate through so many judgments he will put off his anger. For this reason, Jesus set up a first and a second and a third judging. He does not immediately cut him down, so that if he does not obey the first, he may still yield to the second. But if he rejects that too, he may...
But why did He set him with these? To soothe the person wronged, and to alarm him. Is this only then the punishment? Nay, but hear also what follows. Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. And He did not say to the ruler of the church, Bind such a man, but, If you bind, committing the whole matter to the person himself, who is aggrieved, and the bonds abide indissoluble. Therefore he will suffer the utmost ills; but not he who has brought him to account is to blame, but he who has not been willing to be persuaded.
Do you see how He has bound him down with twofold constraint, both by the vengeance here, and by the punishment hereafter? But these things has He threatened, that these circumstances may not arise, but that fearing, at once the being cast out of the church, and the danger from the bond, and the being bound in Heaven, he may become more gentle. And knowing these things, if not at the beginning, at any rate in the multitude of the tribunals he will put...
. If you, He says, who have been wronged deem the wrongdoer a publican and a Gentile, he shall be so in heaven as well. And if you loose, that is, forgive him, he shall be forgiven in heaven as well. For it is not only what the priests loose that is loosed, but also whatever we who have been wronged bind or loose, those things too shall be either bound or loosed.
