This is a famous passage used by Catholic apologists to prove that one can confess sins to a church leader, and that leader has the power to forgive sins. They insist that the Holy Mother church, the Roman Catholic Church, has the power to forgive sins.
Matthew 16:18-19 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The Roman Catholic Church assumes Peter as the first pope, and we agree that Peter was the number 1 church leader.
But what does “binding” and “loosing” mean here? The Catholic church believes that one has the power to “bind a person’s sin”, so that person’s sin is bound and retained and he goes to hell. That is why the Catholic canons have an anathema creed where so-and-so person is accursed and damned. They reason they say this is because they believe the church has that kind of power, based on verse 18.
What about “loosing”? They believe that one can “loose certain sins”, and that is why Catholic church leaders have the power to forgive sins today. They believe that confession is biblical.
Matthew 18:15, 18 “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
John 20:23 “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
The Catholic church believes in confession of sins, as do all the modern Bible versions that say “confess your sins” instead of “faults”. Modern Bible versions support Catholic doctrine.
The whole church has the power to loose and bind sins, not just Catholic Church leaders
Let us debunk this belief.
In Matthew 16:18, the “church” is mentioned. Catholic apologist say that the Holy Mother “church” has the power to forgive sins based on wordplay, but what they are fooling you into thinking is that priests, popes and church leaders have the power to forgive sins. But this is actually a dead giveaway.
When they say the “church has the power to forgive sins”, that means that every single saved Christian, who is part of the church, has the power to forgive sins. That is why this makes sense in Revelation 1 that we are all priests and kings. Not just the Roman Catholic priests over there at the confessional!
Revelation 1:6 “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
Who Jesus was actually addressing here when referring to the “keys of kingdom of heaven”, was to a group of people, His disciples, and not just Peter.
Matthew 16:20 “Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.”
The power to forgive is not in just the pope or priests, it is in Christians itself. For example, if a brother has wronged another brother, they should confess that wrong to the person, either personally or with two or three witnesses, and even to the entire church.
Matthew 18:15-18 “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
This proves that every single Christian has the power of forgiveness of sins. If the brother who committed that wrong refuses to confess to the church, everybody in the church can treat him as an outcast (heathen man or publican). Hence, this explains verse 18. Being treated as an outcast is this brother’s sins retained, and “bound in heaven”. If this brother’s sins are forgiven, he remains in the church and sins are forgiven and “loosed in heaven.”
You have the power to forgive sins! You are doing it in the stead of Jesus Christ! Notice what Paul says with this particular person who sinned against the church, and Paul recognised that he could be forgiven.
2 Corinthians 2:10 “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;”
We are all the body of Christ. If Christ forgives, we forgive. If there is a brother who forgives, we forgive. We are all synced as a church, a church is the body of Jesus Christ.
We forgive people for Christ’s sake!
Ephesians 4:30-32 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
What happens to the sin of a Christian?
The sins of a Christian can be forgiven or retained. All Christians have the power to do this, we saw this with fellow Christians. Let’s assume that the fellow Christian’s sin is retained, does this mean that the Christian is going to hell? No, that sin of a Christian is not going to burn in hell, but will be exposed at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
Notice right there that the bad is sins retained. Let’s assume for a moment that a fellow Christian does not forgive another Christian, does this mean that the one seeking forgiveness has his sins retained? No it does not. It means that the unforgiving Christian’s sin is the one being retained now, because his job is to forgive the one seeking forgiveness in Christ’s stead. He is supposed to do it for Christ’s stead! If he fails to do that, then another Christian or Jesus Christ Himself will do that for him. We are all as a church and Jesus Christ synced together, forgiving that person.
What about loosing and binding the sins of a lost person?
Now that we have seen how a Christian has power to bind and loose sin with fellow saved Christians, how does that work with lost people?
Acts 13:38-41 “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”
How a Christian forgives the sins of lost people, is when one gives them the forgiveness of sins by the gospel. If a lost person rejects this forgiveness, there is going to be a binding, a retaining of those sins. When the gospel is rejected, their sins are retained.
The ministry of reconciliation
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
Christians have the power to give lost people the forgiveness of sins, it is not just priests. We are representing Jesus Christ as ambassadors! God is beseeching them to receive the forgiveness through us, and we are doing this in Christ’s stead, to help lost people get reconciled to God.
The lost people’s sins are retained when they reject Jesus Christ for salvation.
John 8:24 “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
There’s the power of binding and loosing sins. For Christians, it is with fellow Christians. Christians are supposed to do that, and if they don’t do that, then some other Christian or Jesus Christ will do it. Christians are one body with Jesus Christ. If the Christian’s sins are not forgiven but retained, they are judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
For lost people, it is the gospel, and if they reject that, it is hell fire. God retains this sin and judges them at the Great White Throne Judgment. Christians are the jury who will help in the condemnation of that lost sinner.
As Christians, we cannot hold bitterness against anybody in the church, we need to forgive that brother or sister in Jesus Christ. We should love one another even if we do not want to. If they seek forgiveness, forgive them!
If a Christian has done wrong and has not sought forgiveness, they face the Lord Jesus at the Judgment Seat of Christ, and maybe their wronged brother would be on the jury!