And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And 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.
Matthew 16:18-19
We need to keep the context.
Matthew 16:13-17 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Here Peter is confessing what we all must to be saved.
Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
This is not something you realize in the flesh but is revealed to us by God from heaven via the Holy Spirit. It is up to us to believe or not believe.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
This, of course, is pre-atonement so there is no receiving of the Holy Spirit or eternal salvation until after.
John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
It is the faith and confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God that is the focal point of the passage. Jesus, himself, is the rock upon which the Church is built.
1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-8 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious… 7Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
As far as binding and loosing, it is the Church in Matthew 18 and has to do with judging in this life. The church would be the whole or representative assembly.
Matthew 18:17-18 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. 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.
It must be remembered that the passage is the Lord still dealing with Israel and the kingdom of heaven is the physical kingdom on earth.
I hope this helps in your effort to understand this passage. It would seem to me that any interpretation not along these lines would contradict many other passages.
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