Jesus had already made the same statement in Matt16.-
17And Jesus answering, said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona! For flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father in the heavens. 18And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades not will prevail against it. 19I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you might bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you might loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens.”
And as the context shows, this has nothing to do with forgiveness, but spiritual warfare of the ekklesia, which the gates of Hell would not be able to stop.
In any war, physical or spiritual, the objective is to bind or destroy your enemy, and that is made clear in Mark.-
Mark3v27But no one is able, having entered into the house of the strong man, to plunder his goods, unless first he binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
Being involved with deliverance and spiritual warfare for over 40 years, I know this is true and have witnessed the results many times.
(Ref
@ARBITER01 )
Thank you - Let's look at both of those in context, shall we?
First let's go to Matt 16 Let's star in verse 13:
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
The reader will note the subject of the conversation is the revelation of Jesus as the Christ. There is zero mention of demons, but a mentions of Heaven and the Church.
Now let's look at the verse in question here:
v19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The cross reference to this is found in
John 20:“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven refers to the finished work of Jesus Christ - His death burial and resurrection. It is when we find forgiveness of sins.
Just two chapters later Jesus once again brings up forgiveness
Matt 18:15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Keep reading:
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
No where in these scripture verses are demonic forces mentioned - the ONLY way to take these verses and to attribute them to spiritual warfare is to take them out of context and make them say something they do not say.
Now let's look at Mark 3
20 Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
Look closely in context of what is being said: They thought Jesus was out of His mind"crazy", the scribes from Jerusalem accused Him of driving out demons by the power of Satan.
Following me?
VS 23 - Jesus spoke to them in parables - Parables def: " a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle" Parables CANNOT be taken literally, because they are NOT literal. He is expressing a truth to the Scribes in a way that they could understand.
The accusation:
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
Jesus illustrating why they are wrong using a parable:
“How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
Notice the very next verses"
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
There it is - Jesus is once again addressing a sin issue and forgiveness - NOT driving out demons.
Very well said my friend.
The teaching is there for us to learn from The Holy Spirit, and to follow through and have results. If you're like me, you only hold onto that which has actual results.
Amen to that - setting people free, healing the sick, casting out demons is part and parcel the Great Comission and it works! Always has and always will.
Approaching this mature aspect of Christianity with only book knowledge gives disastrous results. Look up Win Worley. He would argue and fight with demons for hours trying to cast them out of people by his words instead of by the power of The Holy Spirit, and he really thought he was doing it right.
Some spiritual things are just beyond some people's comprehension.
We are called to be people of the Book - those who delve outside of Scripture and assign meaning to verses that are not contextually sound are not on solid ground. IMHO
