Only twice in the Gospels do we find Jesus’ words, “Whatever you shall bind on earth shall be [or ‘have been’] bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be [or ‘have been’] loosed in heaven.” Both instances are recorded in Matthew’s gospel.
Was Jesus teaching us that we can and should “bind” demonic spirits in the atmosphere?
First, let’s consider His words, binding and loosing. Jesus’ use of those words is obviously figurative, as He certainly did not mean that His followers would be taking physical ropes or cords and literally binding anything or literally loosing anything that was bound with physical ropes or cords. So what did Jesus mean?
For the answer, we should look at His use of the words binding and loosing within the context of whatever He was speaking of at the time. Was He talking on the subject of evil spirits? If so, we could conclude that His words about binding have application to the binding of evil spirits.
Let’s examine the first passage where Jesus mentioned binding and loosing:
He [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. (Matt. 16:15-19, emphasis added).
No doubt the reason this passage has been interpreted in so many ways is that it contains at least five metaphorical expressions: (1) “flesh and blood,” (2) “rock,” (3) “gates of Hades,” (4) “keys of the kingdom of heaven,” and (5) “binding/loosing.” All of these expressions are figurative, speaking of something else.
