Jesus said to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
There are some 613 laws in the Old Testament that Jews were required to keep. Keeping track of these laws and how they applied to everyday life was often very complicated. When a Jew was unclear on how to apply a law in their particular circumstance or if a particular law was binding in a particular case he would ask his rabbi. The power to bind and loose was religious law was a rabbinical authority. So, when Jesus says this to Peter he is giving him authority over religious law, not here giving him the power to bind or loose sin (that happens in John 20).
But Jesus goes one step further, he tells Peter that when he exercises this religious authority here on earth that heaven will abide by it as well. So, when Peter declares on earth that something is immoral heaven too will ascribe to this. Since heaven cannot hold to error Jesus must be promising that Peter cannot teach error when it comes to religious law (Catholics would say when the teaching deals with faith or morals). Peter’s successor, the Pope, exercises this authority when, “he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals…” (CCC #891)
As Catholics we should not just accept infallible pronouncements, but we should accept all that the Church teaches (through what is called Ordinary Magisterium) with an assent of faith. The promise of infallibility is not a promise that the Pope can never be wrong, nor is it a promise that the Pope is perfectly holy. In fact, if you read one verse past the passage we are considering, namely read Matthew 16:21-23 you will find that Peter is very capable of personal failure and error. It is only when he is teaching something to the whole Church that the gift of infallibility applies.
Tomorrow I would like to look at why that gift is so important to the Church.
There are some 613 laws in the Old Testament that Jews were required to keep. Keeping track of these laws and how they applied to everyday life was often very complicated. When a Jew was unclear on how to apply a law in their particular circumstance or if a particular law was binding in a particular case he would ask his rabbi. The power to bind and loose was religious law was a rabbinical authority. So, when Jesus says this to Peter he is giving him authority over religious law, not here giving him the power to bind or loose sin (that happens in John 20).
But Jesus goes one step further, he tells Peter that when he exercises this religious authority here on earth that heaven will abide by it as well. So, when Peter declares on earth that something is immoral heaven too will ascribe to this. Since heaven cannot hold to error Jesus must be promising that Peter cannot teach error when it comes to religious law (Catholics would say when the teaching deals with faith or morals). Peter’s successor, the Pope, exercises this authority when, “he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals…” (CCC #891)
As Catholics we should not just accept infallible pronouncements, but we should accept all that the Church teaches (through what is called Ordinary Magisterium) with an assent of faith. The promise of infallibility is not a promise that the Pope can never be wrong, nor is it a promise that the Pope is perfectly holy. In fact, if you read one verse past the passage we are considering, namely read Matthew 16:21-23 you will find that Peter is very capable of personal failure and error. It is only when he is teaching something to the whole Church that the gift of infallibility applies.
Tomorrow I would like to look at why that gift is so important to the Church.
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