Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Henry Hudson: Declaring of True and False Doctrines are Encompassed in "Binding" and "Loosing" in Matthew 16


In a rather hit-and-miss (largely miss, to be honest) critique of Catholic teachings about the papacy, one Protestant (Calvary Chapel) apologist, wrote the following about the meaning of “binding and loosing,” and (perhaps unintentionally) argues for a rather Catholic/Eastern Orthodoxy/LDS understanding thereof, as it relates, not just to morals, but also the issue of declaring doctrines (something many Protestant apologists claim is not in view in Matt 16:18-19; cf. D&C 124:93):

What the notion of this authoritative binding and loosing means can be gleaned from both biblical and contemporary rabbinical source. John Lightfoot wrote of the possibility of producing thousands of examples of this particular concept from rabbinical writings. He asked, ‘To think that Christ, when he used the common phrase, was not understood by his headers in the common and vulgar sense, shall I call it a matter of laughter or of madness?’ (Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations [Oxford: University Press, 1859], p. 234-40) From all examples cited from the school of Shammai, and from the school of Hillel, both of which were influential in the days of Christ, the meaning of quite clear. The phrase was used with reference to doctrines and judgements, and the idea of binding conveyed the meaning of forbidding and loosing signified permission. That such was indeed the intention may be inferred from such New Testament references as Matthew 13:52; 23:13; Luke 11:52. The last reference is particularly noteworthy for it connects the concept of ‘the key of knowledge’, that is, the truth concerning entrance into the kingdom of God. Peter and the other apostles were instructed in this matter, and they exercised their binding and loosing authority frequently throughout the early history of the book of Acts (see Acts 2:37-47; 3:1-26; 4:1-12; 5:17-32; 15:1-29; 21:17-26). (Henry T. Hudson, Papal Power: Its Origins and Developments [Evangelical Press, 1981], 103, emphasis added)