ArchivedConfession- question for CatholicsAh, how Catholics love to ignore Hebrew idioms while at the same time basing dogma and doctrine on slivers of Scripture. I would point out to our Catholic posters the use of the word "disciples" and not "apostles" in vs. 19 of John 20. Since we are all disciples of Jesus then we all have the authority to forgive sins, at least according to your use of this section of Scripture. Matthew 16:13-20
[Whatsoever thou shalt bind ...]The phrase "to bind" and "to loose" was often used by the Jews. It meant to prohibit and to permit. To bind a thing was to forbid it; to loose it, to allow it to be done. Thus, they said about gathering wood on the Sabbath day, "The school of Shammei binds it" - i.e., forbids it; "the school of Hillel looses it" - i.e., allows it. When Jesus gave this power to the apostles, he meant that whatsoever they forbade in the church should have divine authority; whatever they permitted, or commanded, should also have divine authority-that is, should be bound or loosed in heaven, or meet the approbation of God. They were to be guided infallibly in the organization of the church:
1. by the teaching of Christ, and,
2. by the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
This does not refer to persons, but to things - "whatsoever," not whosoever. It refers to rites and ceremonies in the church. Such of the Jewish customs as they should forbid were to be forbidden, and such as they thought proper to permit were to be allowed. Such rites as they should appoint in the church were to have the force of divine authority. Accordingly, they commanded the Gentile converts to "abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood" (Acts 15:20); and, in general, they organized the church, and directed what was to be observed and what was to be avoided. The rules laid down by them in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, in connection with the teachings of the Saviour as recorded in the evangelists, constitute the only law binding on Christians in regard to the order of the church, and the rites and ceremonies to be observed in it.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
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