Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 14, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 20.

1237.—“Whatsoever Thou Shalt Bind.”

A SUBSCRIBER sends us a daily paper containing the report of a sermon which uses Matt. 16:19, and asks: “What is meant by ‘whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,’ etc.?” J. B. F.

The whole verse reads as follows:—

“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.”

1. A key is that which opens. The Lord chose Peter to first preach the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. He opened it to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10). Peter refers to this when he says: “Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe.” Acts 15:7. And yet this did not give Peter a position over the other apostles, for the Lord afterward chose Paul as the especial apostle to the Gentiles, and that apostle declared: “For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles.” 2 Cor. 12:11. The same Gospel key used by Paul opened blind eyes, unlocked deaf ears, and swung wide many doors. Similar words are used of Eliakim, who was over Hezekiah’s household. All these servants of Christ but typified their Master, by whose Word and Spirit alone are doors opened. See Rev. 3:7.

2. Binding and loosing, forgiving and condemning, is not a new word to Peter. God had used similar words and stronger long before. He said to Jeremiah (1:10), “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” In chapter 18:7–10 He tells how Jeremiah did this; it was by the word of God that he preached, and which the nations accepted or rejected. Only so it was that the apostles could remit or retain sin. John 20:23. If the message of forgiveness were accepted, the apostles, and any other true minister of God, could declare the sins forgiven; if rejected, if slighted, they could declare the sin retained. For this is God’s word: “He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already.” John 3:18. So the apostle Paul declares of the ministers of Christ: “For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life.” 2 Cor. 2:15, 16. But it was all in the Gospel which the minister bore. That living Word made him all that he was; through that living Word all his work was wrought. The same loosing and binding power is in every Gospel message uttered in the Spirit.

1238.—Lawfully Married.

When are the children of God lawfully married? W. M. W.

There should be conformity to the civil law as regards age, consanguinity, mental condition, racial descent, and marital relations. Civil law, however, permits in many cases divorce for trivial causes. The Word of God permits divorce for fornication. Matt. 5:32; 19:9. The question is too large to discuss in this column. There must be at the foundation of every Scriptural marriage, true principles of righteousness, purity, integrity. It should not be built on fancy, lust, or policy.