―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.‖
YHWH is revealed to us in His attributes of both justice and mercy. Justice is seen in this teaching. Compare
this to the mercy taught in the parable beginning in verse 23.
18:18-20 If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask...
―(18) 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. (19) Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on
earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. (20)
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them‖.
Exactly how is Y‘shua "in our midst" if He is presently seated at the right hand of the Father? Does this mean
He is simply looking down at us? Or is there a literal presence in the spiritual realm that surrounds us here
on earth - and if so, how does this all work?
Although Y‘shua's statement can in a simple sense be accepted in faith, the concept of YHWH's presence
within creation is actually a very complex area of Bible study.
The Messianic Sanhedrin
Having dealt with the question of "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven" and all it's implications,
Y‘shua returns to his original topic about the authority that is given to the disciples. After he has finished
telling them how to restore a member of the congregation who had gone astray, he now tells them they can
respond to people's questions with the authority to decide what is permitted and what is prohibited.
Matt 18:18-20 is commonly misinterpreted to mean that we can bind demons and then throw them out. It is
also sometimes taken to mean that all our intercessory prayers will be answered as long as there are two
people who agree. The latter we know must be incorrect because some prayers don't get answered
regardless of how many people are in agreement about it.
The real meaning of this passage is that Y‘shua wanted his disciples to set up a ruling council that would be
able to make decisions on the interpretation of the Torah. They were to have their own Messianic Sanhedrin
that would replace the corrupted one that had rejected him. The terms binding and loosing were to do with
prohibition and permission. If something was bound, it was prohibited on earth; and since the Sanhedrin was
representing YHWH, it was also prohibited in heaven. The same is true of loosing. Anything that is permitted
on earth is also permitted in heaven.
The requirement that "two or three are gathered together in my name" refers to the quorum that is needed to
make a decision. It wasn't necessary to have the whole council together to make minor decisions, but there
had to be a minimum of two.
This was not the first time Y‘shua had spoken about binding and loosing. He had already discussed it in
Matt 16:18-19, and on this occasion he told Peter he would give him the "keys of the kingdom of heaven".
This is a reference to the authority of the Sanhedrin, and Y‘shua was appointing Peter as one of the
members. There is only one set of keys; and if the new Messianic Sanhedrin had them, it means the existing
corrupted Sanhedrin had lost them. No wonder Y‘shua told his disciples to keep quiet about it! (Matt 16:20).
In the days of the early church, they did have a Messianic Sanhedrin based in Jerusalem that was capable of
making decisions on behalf of all the assemblies in Israel and in the Diaspora. It is important to understand
that this meeting at Jerusalem was a formal council of the apostles and elders who governed the
congregations of YHWH. This was not just an informal gathering of a few of the elect; this was a meeting to
resolve major issues that affected the entire body of the elect and needed to be resolved by those who were
in authority. We see this council in action when Paul and Barnabas went to them to resolve the Judaising
Controversy (Acts 15). It consisted of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem; and on this occasion as it was a
matter of great importance, they appear to have consulted the entire Jerusalem assembly. The ruling was
sent out to all the congregations, and they were happy with it.
When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the Jerusalem assembly was scattered and there was no longer
a Messianic Sanhedrin. The Roman Catholic Church claims to have taken up the mantle of authority with
their doctrine of Apostolic Succession; but they have departed so much from the original Messianic faith that
they cannot be taken seriously. The Protestant Church is divided into many denominations; each with their