[Bobsvainbabblings]

 

The simple answer is when Jesus was asked to teach us to pray in Matthew 6:8-14.

⁸ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. ⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

      Our Father in heaven,
      Hallowed be Your name.
       ¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
      Your will be done
      On earth as it is in heaven.
       ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
       ¹² And forgive us our debts,
      As we forgive our debtors.
       ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
      But deliver us from the evil one.
      For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.<sup>[c]

14</sup> “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Binding and loosing is not a power or authority one possesses. It is the result of our actions. 

We loose our sins against our Heavenly Father by forgiving the sins of a brother against us. We keep them bound when we don't forgive.

If I ask you to forgive a sin I have committed against you, and you comply, we are both loosed of that sin. Jesus explains in Matthew 18

 

• ¹⁵Moreover 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.

  This is one human who has sinned against anther asking that brother for forgiveness.

   ¹⁶But 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.

  Here that same brother is told to take one or two more. No mention of them being any more than a brother or sister in Christ.

   ¹⁷And 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.

  Here he is told to take it before the church, his local group of brothers and sisters in Christ. The church has no duty other than being a witness that he tried to get the other brother to forgive him. The church forgives no one because they weren't the ones being asked to forgive. The brother has done all he can so that sin is loosed from him even though the other brother didn't forgive him. He is no longer responsible for it. The unforgiving brother has his sins against God bound by his un forgiveness

   ¹⁸Verily 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.

Notice Jesus ends with binding and loosing in context. You have to forgive to be forgiven.

Only the brother who is sinned against has the ability to forgive the sin. He is the only one whose sins against God are bound as a consequence of his non forgiveness. Nowhere does Jesus give any authority to the church.

Let's look at what Jesus told Peter about forgiving sins.

•  

  ²¹Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

  Peter asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive a brother who sins against him, Peter. Brother forgiving brother. 

   ²²Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

I may have missed it but this looks to me like Jesus told Peter he had to forgive a brother who sinned against him, Peter. Not a special gift but a command.

I am still waiting for someone to show me where Jesus specifically gave a man the ability to forgive another man's sin against God for God. Maybe you would be so kind.

May God the Father lead us to His truth, BVB    

 

[metmom]

Ping to great post.

Thanks.