Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
Binding, Loosing, and Justice for the Community

Binding, Loosing, and Justice for the Community

Last updated on: September 2, 2026 at 11:39 am by Herb Montgomery

Binding, Loosing, and Justice for the Community 2026-09-02T11:39:08-04:00 Herb Montgomery

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Photo Credit: Kier in Sight Archives

Next, Jesus makes the statement, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” These words place remarkable responsibility in the hands of the community, and there is a risk they might be coopted. These words are not primarily about supernatural power or individual religious authority. They instead concern communities’ ethical responsibility to decide what relationships, practices, and systems will be upheld or released. Jesus presents the community as an active participant in creating the kind of world that reflects Love’s purposes.

Welcome Readers

Subscribe -> Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here.

This is Part 2 of the series Working Together for Liberation and Justice

(Read this series from its beginning here.)

The language of “binding” and “loosing” had important Jewish roots, referring to making authoritative decisions about what was permitted or prohibited and how people should live together. In our reading this week, however, these words occur within Jesus’ teaching about conflict, reconciliation, accountability, forgiveness, and recovering those who have been harmed or excluded. The surrounding context suggests that authority is not given for domination. It is given instead for restoration.

This distinction is essential to restorative justice. “Binding” can mean holding people and communities accountable to standards of justice. It can also mean refusing to tolerate exploitation, abuse, discrimination, or practices that diminish human dignity. A community can bind itself to principles of compassion, equality, truth, and mutual responsibility. Conversely, “loosing” can mean releasing people from conditions that imprison them: shame, exclusion, poverty, oppressive expectations, cycles of retaliation, or systems that deny them a meaningful place within the community.

Jesus is offering an alternative to using authority as a tool to control other people. The purpose of this communal authority is to repair relationships and protect human dignity. Decisions made by a community have consequences, and Jesus insists that such decisions matter before the Divine. This means that “heaven” is not disconnected from the moral choices human beings make here on earth.

These words also include a warning. If human decisions are understood as having heavenly significance, communities must exercise authority with extraordinary humility. This verse cannot legitimately become a blank check for religious leaders to declare their own preferences to be the will of the Divine. When authority becomes a tool for silencing vulnerable people, protecting privilege, or punishing dissent, it contradicts the restorative purpose of Jesus’ teaching.

The significance of “binding and loosing” is therefore found in the community’s responsibility to discern what must be resisted and what must be released. Communities are called to bind themselves to justice and loose themselves from injustice. They are called to bind themselves to solidarity with the vulnerable and loose themselves from indifference, to bind themselves to truth and loose themselves from systems of deception and oppression.

Jesus’ words ultimately suggest that the work of justice is not merely about changing private beliefs. It is also about making concrete decisions about how people will treat one another. What a community permits, prohibits, forgives, confronts, protects, or releases becomes an expression of its understanding of the Divine.

“Whatever you bind” and “whatever you loose” can therefore be heard as a summons to moral responsibility. As humans, we participate in shaping the social world, and our choices matter. Jesus’ “kingdom of God” is not simply something awaited in heaven; it is something communities are called to embody on earth through justice, reconciliation, accountability, compassion, and liberation.

Lastly this week, we read words that I believe the author of Matthew’s Gospel intended to be a source of hope, justice, and transformation. “If two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for” is not simply a promise that we will get whatever we desire. Within the context of the rest of Matthew 18 where Jesus has been speaking about confronting wrongdoing, reconciliation, accountability, and restoring relationships, these words point toward the power of people joining together to seek what is right.

Jesus’ words, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them,” likely echo a Jewish tradition that emphasized God’s presence when people gathered together to study Torah. Rabbinic tradition later preserved this idea explicitly: when two people sit together and engage with the words of Torah, the Divine presence is understood to be among them. Matthew’s formulation resonates with that cultural world but sharpens its focus toward justice. The significance is therefore communal: sacred authority is not confined to priests, rulers, or institutions. When ordinary people gather in Jesus’ name to discern truth, seek justice, reconcile relationships, and challenge oppression, they become a community where Jesus is present.

Societal justice is not achieved by isolated individuals. But when people come together in solidarity, they can challenge systems of exploitation, discrimination, poverty, and oppression that are too powerful for one person to confront alone. Agreement becomes meaningful when rooted in a shared commitment to human dignity and the common good.

Jesus’ declaration, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them”, also challenges the assumption that change happens primarily through powerful institutions or large gatherings. Change can begin with the collective efforts of merely two or three. As the saying goes, usually attributed to Margaret Mead, “Never Doubt That a Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Can Change the World; Indeed, It’s the Only Thing That Ever Has.”

Our reading this week offers both encouragement and responsibility. When Christians unite around justice, their collective voice matters. Their gathering becomes an expression of Jesus’ presence in our world today. Wherever people today stand together against oppression and work toward reconciliation, they still embody the liberating community that Jesus envisioned and taught his followers to build.

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.

General Christian

Politics and Religion

About Herb Montgomery

Herb Montgomery, director of Renewed Heart Ministries, is an author and adult religious educator helping Christians explore the intersection of their faith with love, compassion, action, and societal justice. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

September 1, 2026

Learning To Do Life As Community

Next Post

September 8, 2026 Forgiveness: Healing or a Tool of Oppression?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ableism Abolition Advent Anti Semitism Christianity Christmas Climate Justice Criminal Justice Democracy Disability Justice Distributive Justice Easter Economic Justice Environmental Justice Equity Feminism Government Immigration Justice Indigenous Justice Interfaith Law and Order LGBTQ Affirmation Liberation Theology Migrant Justice Myth of Redemptive Suffering Nonviolence Prayer Racial Justice Reparation Resistance Resurrection Social Gospel Social Justice Survival Uncategorized Womanism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Jesus heal the mute and deaf man in Decapolis?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Anointed his head Put fingers in ears and touched tongue Gave bread Said "Go in peace"