BY BISHOP

CHARLIE BERRIAN
 "The glory which God had in the beginning,
even the unapproachable glory of God, was also the Son's glory.
The Father and the Son exist equally and are
equal in power and possession." ~Watchman Nee

God-Authority
The concept of authority is intricately woven into Scripture. God's authority
is apparent from Genesis to Revelation. The idea of "supremeright" is linked
to God's sovereignty. It is important to understand that authority and Scrip-
ture are inseparable. God's authority is embedded in the scriptures. How-
ever, the true meaning of authority has been misconstrued as illicit forms
and expressions of authority that stem from the abusive use of individual
power, which is a result of selfishness.

Authority, in general, is the power or right to enforce obedience. It is the

right to command or give a final say. Bernard Ramm, a Baptist theologian,
defines "authority"as,"the right or power to command action or compli-
ance or to determine belief or custom, expecting obedience from those
under authority, and in turn giving responsible account for the claim to right
or power."

There are different ways the world views authority and different types of
authority, including oligarchy, democratic, hereditary, despotic and person-
al. The biblical meaning of authority resides with God and Him alone. God
did not inherit His authority, as there was no one to give or transfer it to Him.
It is obvious that God inherently embodies authority, as He regards himself
as "I AM." God's authority became unquestionable as He made the creation
of the heavens and theearth possible, claimed ownership of the earth and
everything therein, and ultimately, designed the total destruction of that
whichHe created."The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those who
live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers"(Psalm 24:1-2).

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To understand and accept God's supreme authority is as simple as accept-
ing the concept of God Himself. The names of God reveal His authority.
Jehovah, Elohim, El-Shaddai, and Adonai are used interchangeably, as they
all share the same meaning - God. The nature of God displays His authority.
He is described in Romans 11:33, as unsearchable; in 1 Timothy 1:17, as
immortal and invisible; in Isaiah 40:28, as not easily understood; in Romans
1:23, as incorruptible; and in Romans 11:33, as unfathomable.

Omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, sovereignty,

eternality, greatness and self-existence are attributes exclusive to God's
authority, which cannot be expressed by anyone else. However, His
authority can be ministered in many different ways, which shows how His
ultimate power is expressed. Qualities like wisdom, forgiveness, justice,
faithfulness, truthfulness, love, goodness, righteousness, mercy, compas-
sion, holiness, patience, peace, kindness, joy, and grace find their ultimate
expression in God.

"Authority" simply means, rightful power to have a complete dominion

over a particular person or thing; the ability to possess power to control
certain things. Authority is mentioned continually throughout the Bible,
ascribing authority to God, Jesus, the apostles and the Church. This authori-
ty has trickled down from God, down to His Son Jesus, to the apostles and
to usas human beings, who are now influenced by it. It is obvious that it is
the same authority from God that is practiced by human beings and
spread in popularity to the government or laws Christians practice today.
God's authority can be seen in His sovereign, universal and eternal rule over
the entire universe. The various verses of scripture in the Bibledepictthe evi-
dence of God's authority. With His supremacy and authority, God does
according to His will both in heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth.His authority also covers or influences His laws and commandments.
The authority Jesus has over the world was given to him by God himself,
but only to a certain extent, as Jesus was unable to reserve what God
decided when He was on the cross of Calvary and could not do anything
other than bow to God's authority and decision.

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Jesus' authority was given to him as God/Man, who God the Father,
called His son, the Savior, Redeemer and a sacrificial lamb for every
human. God made it possible that through Jesus each and every person
can commune with Him. Jesus' authority over things of the world was
given to him by God. However, His authority submits to the obedience
of God's instructions. As theSon of Man, he acts as a representative of
God in bodily form in order to be able to carry out God's instructions in
the midst of Mankind.

Every word that Jesus spoke shows that He acted on behalf of God,
asHe always spoke about His authority as a messenger sent by God. By
acting in the position of God, Jesus was given absolute power, but limit-
ed to a certain extent, and incomparable to God's supreme authority.
He had similar powers as God, as He was able to forgive sins, heal and
raise people from the dead, control nature's power, teach with authori-
ty, require men to submit to His authority and dominate over Satan and
his minions. These powers were given to Jesus in order to save the earth
and retrace man's steps back to God.All power in heaven and on earth
was given to Jesus in order for Him to be able to exercise His supreme
role and complete His task of subduing God's enemies and redeeming
Man back to the Father, God Almighty. It is to this end that Christians
exercise leadership and authority in a providential way over all things for
the good of the Church.

The Power to Bind and Loose

For almost two thousand years, Bible students have debated what
Jesus actually meant when He told Peter:
"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and
the forces of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatev-
er you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven."(Matthew 16:18–19, HCSB)

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In Matthew 16:16, Peter made the confession of all times. He told
Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." In no uncertain
terms, Peter was proclaiming Jesus as God. Jesus applauded
Peter for his confession, indicating that Peter could not have
known this if it had not been revealed to him from heaven. Then
Jesus went on to give Peter the authority to "bind" and "loose"—a
saying that has puzzled Bible readers ever since. Later, Jesus
gave the same authority to bind and loose to all of His disciples
(Matthew 18:18). To clearly understand the authority Jesus was
giving to the disciples, we have to understand how the Greek
words for "bind" and "loose" were used in Jesus' day.

The words "bind" and "loose" are translations of two Greek

words, which were themselves translations of two Aramaic
words—the language spoken by Jesus and His contemporaries.
These two Aramaic words were often used as technical rabbin-
ic terms. They referred to the verdict of a teacher of the Law
who, on the basis of his authority as an expert in the interpreta-
tion of the Mosaic Law, could declare some action bound (for-
bidden),or loosed (permitted). Among the greatest Jewish
rabbis, Shammai bound many actions that the more liberal
rabbi, Hillel, loosed. These terms also refer to the imposition or
the removal of a ban or judgment by a judge. In this legal con-
text, the Aramaic word for "bound" means to
“condemn" or "to imprison," and the Aramaic word for
"loose" means"to absolve" or "to set free."

According to Matthew 23:13, the scribes were supposed to be

the guardians of the kingdom, since the knowledge of God had
been entrusted to them (Luke 11:52). But they had not fulfilled
their trust. They shut the doors of the kingdom to those who
wanted to enter. Therefore, Jesus was transferring their author-
ity to Peter, the spokesman for the twelve disciples who were
representatives of a new Israel, the Church (see Matthew 21:43).
As those entrusted with the keys to the kingdom, Peter and the
disciples were given the task to open God's kingdom to all
seekers and to protect it against the forces of evil. ( In Baker
encyclopedia of the Bible)

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Matthew 16:19, is a symbolic description of the authority given by
Jesus to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what-
ever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."Many ancient peo-
ples believed that heaven and hell were closed by gates to which
certain deities and angelic beings had keys. In Greek mythology,
Pluto kept the key to Hades. Jewish writings near the time of Jesus
give God the key to the abode of the dead. In the Book of Revelation,
John sees Christ holding the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation
1:18; and Revelation 3:7).

In Matthew's Gospel, the keys symbolize the authority to open and

shut the kingdom of heaven. Keys lock and keys unlock. They grant
access and they deny access (Revelation 9:1-6; Revelation
20:1-3).They grant entry and they deny entry. The fact that there is
such a thing as the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" implies that the
kingdom of heaven must be entered and that this entry may be
opened to some and shut to others. Matthew 5:20, states that
"…unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven." In the same way, Matthew 7:21
says,"Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven
but those who do the will of my father who is in heaven…"

The keys belong by right to the Messiah alone. And yet if the keys
are His, then they are His to give – if He should choose to entrust
them to another. But that seems preposterous. Who could even
dare to imagine that the Messiah would ever give these keys to
someone else? Who could possibly imagine being the one who is
entrusted with these keys? Could you imagine? And yet Jesus
said to Peter, the uneducated fisherman from Galilee, "I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

In response to Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son

of the living God (Matthew 16:16), Jesus entrusts authority to bind
and loose to Peter. This authority is later extended to the other
disciples (Matthew 18:18).

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The words "bind" and "loose" were used by rabbis near the time of Christ to
declare someone under a ban (bind) and relief of the ban (loose). Sometimes this
referred to expulsion or reinstatement at a synagogue. At other times, binding
and loosing indicated consignment to God's judgment or acquittal from it. The
power of the keys (or binding and loosing) of which Jesus speaks is a spiritual
authority like that He gave to the disciples in John 20:23, "Whose soever sins ye
remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they
are retained."

This does not mean that men have the power to forgive sins. Only God and His
son Jesus Christ have this power (Mark 2:7,10). However, this verse states that
Jesus has given to the apostles and to all His ministers the authority to tell people
that their sins have been forgiven by God. The pronoun,"ye" in this verse of scrip-
ture indicates that Christ is speaking to all of the apostles. Today, when ministers
baptize and lay hands on people (Acts 2:38and Acts 8:17), they can tell the repen-
tant sinner that through the power of God and Jesus Christ their sins have been
forgiven. Man cannot forgive sins, but God can. The Pharisees and scribes
assumed that as teachers of the Law, they had power to "shut the kingdom of
heaven against men" (Matthew 23:13). Yet as "blind guides" they failed to
recognize, as Peter had, that Jesus was the one in whom God's kingdom had
come. The keys of the kingdom authorized the pronouncement of judgment and
the promise of forgiveness—not on the basis of human authority, but on the basis
of Christ's Word.

Compared to Isaiah and Revelation, we see that Jesus changes the imagery from
opening and shutting to that of binding and loosing. The one who holds the keys
of the kingdom of heaven has the authority to bind and to loose. Notice how
Jesus used the word "loose" in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:19,
"Therefore whoever "looses" one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of
heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in
the kingdom of heaven."

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The things that are forbidden are the things that are bound. You can see that this
was really a binding and loosing of men and women. If a certain kind of conduct
was "loosed," then you were also "loosed" to engage in that conduct and enjoy
the favor of God. But if a certain kind of conduct was "bound," then you were also
"bound" to abstain from that conduct or else risk the judgment of God. The Phari-
sees binding and loosing was really a declaration of who was and who was not in
God's favor. But as it turns out, all these Pharisees really knew how to do was
"bind" and even their "binding" was illegitimate.

In Peter's mouth, the word of the kingdom was powerful to do and accomplish all
that it proclaimed – to open the doors of the kingdom to those who believe and
shut the doors of the kingdom to those who refuse to believe! Notice that Jesus
says,"And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what-
ever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." As Peter faithfully pro-
claims and applies the word of the kingdom to people's lives, he can be sure that
he is truly acting in the Messiah's stead, and that the Messiah Himself guarantees
and validates his word. He can be sure that there is true agreement between earth
and heaven, between his decisions and declarations and the decisions and decla-
rations of the exalted Messiah.

Jesus has granted to His church the authority and power of the keys of the king-
dom of heaven. In full Christian perspective, the kingdom will be consummated in
sudden, apocalyptic fashion at the coming of Christ, when God's actions are final
and quite independent of human means. But now, the keys of the kingdom are
confided to men. Who would have ever dared to imagine that the Messiah would
entrust to us the keys of His kingdom? Who is sufficient for these things? We must
simply be faithful to proclaim and apply the word of the kingdom, knowing that in
our mouth this word of the kingdom is active and powerful to accomplish all that it
proclaims, to open the doors of the kingdom to those who believe, and shut the
doors of the kingdom to those who refuse to believe.

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We can know that as we faithfully proclaim and apply the word of the kingdom
to people's lives, there is true agreement between earth and heaven, between
our declarations and the declarations of the exalted King. Jesus has entrusted
to us the authority of the keys, and yet we can know that even as we are exer-
cising the authority of the keys, it is Jesus who is building His church. What an
amazing thought. What a comforting and encouraging thought. Our work on
earth is not in vain, because heaven itself is in full agreement. When we
become discouraged with the humanness, and earthliness, and weakness,
and littleness of who we are, then let us remember what it is that we hold in our
hand.

In our ministry of the Gospel here on earth, whether as elders, or as deacons,

or as Sunday School teachers, or as fathers and mothers, or as husbands and
wives, or as brothers and sisters, or as family members or friends, we are exer-
cising nothing less than the full power and authority of the keys of the king-
dom of heaven which have been entrusted to us by the King Himself. Now,
that's truly an encouraging thought and something worth thinking about and
then acting upon. It has been given to the Church to share in the authority of
heaven. In all of our dealings with one another, with our families, with our
neighbors, and with the world around us, may we faithfully fulfill our steward-
ship of the keys of the kingdom of heaven knowing that as we exercise the
authority of the keys, it is Jesus who is building His Church.

A Key on the Shoulder

"I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put
your authority into his hand, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah. I will place the key of the House
of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he
closes, no one can open." (Isaiah 22:21-22)

The key figuratively depicts the responsibility of a position and the power to
make decisions in that position—i.e, to open and close doors. Placing the key
on someone's shoulder, as referenced in Isaiah 22:22, denotes giving that
person the power and responsibility of a certain position. In our text, Shebna,
the treasurer of Hezekiah, is warned that Eliakim will carry "the key to the
house of David." This is a figurative way of expressing what was already said
in verse 21,"I will hand your authority over to him."A trusted servant to the
king wore the key to the king's house on a hook on his shoulder. Therefore, he
had the authority to open or close the king's house.

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The idea contained in both passages is expressed in Isaiah 9:6, where it is
said of the Messiah, "the government will be on his shoulders." The
word "keys" is used figuratively again when Jesus says to Peter, "I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be
loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19).

Matthew 16:18, has caused considerable controversy, but verse 19 has

been even more fiercely debated. Nothing in either verse suggests the
possibility that Peter or any of the apostles were given authority to forgive
sins. As discussed earlier, the words bind and loose are rabbinic terms
meaning to forbid and to permit. Keys were the symbol of knowledge or
the fruit of the scribal or teaching office. This is clearly shown in Luke 11:52,
where Jesus says to the lawyers, "Woe to you experts in the law, because
you have taken away the key to knowledge." Peter and the apostles were
given the "keys of the kingdom," that is the gospel of Christ that would
loose those who received it and bind those who did not.

Jesus showed that the religious teachers of His day who had access to the
knowledge of God's ways, had failed in this duty. Occasionally, the ministry
has the sad duty to inform some that because of their choices and actions,
the doors to the kingdom are being closed to them unless they repent.
This is apparent in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 3:14.

Therefore, Jesus' statements in Matthew 16:19, as well as in Matthew

18:18, show that His apostles had authority to represent Him, to teach as
He taught them and to be instruments in helping people live the way of
the Kingdom of God. Jesus still lends His authority to His true ministers
today to do the same work.

Even if we don't know what the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" are, we
can't help but feel that this is a very, very big deal, the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. Surely, whoever holds these keys must be in some special posi-
tion of authority and privilege and great responsibility. Can you imagine
possessing the keys of the kingdom of heaven?

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The use of those keys—knowledge of the gospel—would build the Church.
Peter did precisely this at Pentecost (Acts 2:14), at Samaria (Acts 8:14), and for
Cornelius the Gentile (Acts 10). Phillip did it at Samaria (Acts 8:5), and Paul did
it throughout all of Asia (Acts 19:10). To say that only Peter had the keys to
heaven would give the power of salvation to Peter and not to the gospel. The
gospel is "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes,
first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Romans 1:16).

The expressions "will be bound in heaven" and "will be loosed in heaven," as

rendered in Matthew 16:19, are examples in the Greek of the periphrastic
future, perfect passive construction and should therefore be translated "will
have been bound already" and "will have been loosed already" in heaven. In
other words, Peter's pronouncement of binding or loosing is dependent upon
what heaven has already willed, rather than earth giving direction to heaven. It
is illogical and unscriptural to think that heaven is subject to earth and must
follow what it directs. Earth is always subject to heaven. Only that which
heaven has already willed can be done on earth.

For some reason, perhaps lack of courage or bondage to tradition by other

Bible translators, only the New American Standard Bible renders Matthew
16:19 correctly: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and
whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatev-
er you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." See Revelation
1:18 and Revelation 3:7, for who truly has the keys. Revelation 3:7, uses similar
symbolism, speaking plainly of Jesus having the key of David. In ancient Israel,
the king was in fact the steward of God, the true King of the land. Similarly,
Jesus Christ is the steward of His Father's Kingdom. With that authority, only
Jesus can allow or disallow someone entrance into the Kingdom, but no man
had or has that authority. It is important to note that the "rock"referred to in
Matthew 16:18, is Jesus, not Peter. Peter was a leading apostle of the early
New Testament Church for many years, but not its chief cornerstone—that
was and is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:20). Scripture calls Jesus "that Rock" in 1
Corinthians 10:4. It is upon this rock, Jesus Christ, which our faith stands, Mat-
thew 7:24-25.With regard to Matthew 16:18, in the King James Version, the
words "thee" and "thou" are singular forms of the second person personal
pronoun"you." Jesus Christ was specifically referring to Peter in this passage.
Peter was often the spokesman for the others and had a leading role in the
early Church. We must also note, however, that all the other disciples were in
Jesus' presence at that time.

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In Matthew 18:18, the same command is given, but this time to all the apostles.
Here, note that the second and third occurrences of the personal pronoun, as
shown in the King James Version, is "ye" (the second person plural form of
you), indicating that Christ is addressing more than one person—that is, all of
His faithful apostles. So, not only was authority given to Peter (Matthew 16:19),
great authority was indeed given to all these men. After they were converted
they spread the true gospel to the whole world. Of course, it is erroneous to
think any man could allow someone into the Kingdom of God whom God
would not allow into it. Similarly, no man could disallow someone access to the
Kingdom whom God would invite into it.

The Detriment of
Misunderstanding Authority
When Yeshua (Jesus) spoke of binding and loosing, He wasn't talking about
spiritual warfare. The people to whom He spoke understood that He was
talking about what was consistent with the Torah and what was not consistent
with the Torah. This matter of binding and loosing was not unique to Yeshua.
It was entirely familiar to them all, because it was how the rabbis would sanc-
tion something or ban it according to the teachings in the Torah. Here is one
of those areas where knowledge of Hebrew as a language and of the culture
in which Yeshua lived are now bringing clarity to some scriptures we have not
understood properly for centuries. This provides a deeper revelation of
Yeshua Himself, as well as further insight into how He intended for His follow-
ers to function. Had the translators of our English Bibles used words that more
correctly conveyed the meaning of certain passages, we would see how they
fit like puzzle pieces into a Hebrew mindset. With all due respect to the men
who translated the King James Version of the Bible, they knew nothing of the
science of linguistics at that time, nor did they have any insight into Hebrew
culture. They basically, translated it word for word from Greek to English,
which introduces concepts that were never intended. For example, our
English Bibles quote Yeshua as saying, "Do not think that I came to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill" (Matthew
5:17, HCSB, emphasis added).

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When Jesus said, "I did not come" or elsewhere "I have come," have you
interpreted that to mean He was referring to His incarnation? That is not what
He meant. "I have come" is an idiom, meaning "intent" or "purpose.""It is
my purpose," is what He was saying in Matthew 5:17. He is not referring to His
coming from heaven, but His intent and purpose was to fulfill the Torah by
raising it to God's intention for it. It is a major part of His Messianic purpose to
elevate the Torah to the fullest significance and meaning.

Centuries of misinterpretations are only now being corrected. When the

Greek text is translated back into Hebrew, some very interesting adjustments
in our understanding of Yeshua and, consequently, of our roles as His follow-
ers, emerge. It's almost as if God is doing again what Yeshua did in the begin-
ning, bringing truth to people's misunderstanding of the Torah so that our
understanding of God is correct. The implication of that is incredible. The
Church has not had the power it did in the first century since those days. Un-
derstandingthe Torah properly is probably the key to unlocking what has
been imprisoned for centuries.

Let me mention here that the Torah can mean the first five books of the Bible
that God gave to Moses, but it can also mean the entire Hebrew scriptures.
The prophets were all about getting Israel to keep the Torah, so they were not
a separate issue. How many of you have regarded the New Testament as the
"real" Bible and the Hebrew scriptures or the Old Testament as less import-
ant. When I ask that question, many of you will say, "of course not." But there
has been for millennia, since Constantine, the sense that God's real message
is in the New Testament and the Old Testament is just that,"old." It is unfortu-
nate that it assumed that label. God doesn't see it as old.

People often use the passage,"bind the devil." Yeshua did say that the
strongman needed to be bound. We assume He meant the devil (Matthew
12:39; Mark 3:27). Some think that Yeshua bound the strongman (the devil)
when He was resurrected from the dead. When we come to Yeshua and are
born from above, we become new persons in Him and we are empowered by
God to no longer sin. Now we can see sin for what it is, which we could not see
before we were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In that sense, the strongman has
been bound in the lives of believers and we are free from Satan's power,
because Yeshua has given us authority over Satan and his ways. As long as we
believe that and live it out by faith, we are loosed from Satan's grip. It is also
true that we have been given the authority in Yeshua's name to command
demons to cease their influence and to leave.

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But that's not what these particular verses are about. Let's see what we
find out as we eavesdrop on a conversation between Yeshua and Peter,
though all the disciples were present. Peter has just responded to Yesh-
ua's question, "Who do you say that I am?" to which Peterreplies,
"You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to
him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, (son of Jona), because flesh
and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in
heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I
will build My church; and the gates of Hades (Hell) will not over-
power it" (Matthew 16:16-18).

This scene has some pretty significant things going on. I would even say
this conversation is a pivotal one in history. Peter was blessed by God
with the revelation of who Yeshua really is. Up until that moment, no
one "got it." It's finally out — Immanuel! God is with us! When Yeshua
then says, "upon this rock," He means that His Kingdom would be
built on the revelation that Peter received of who Yeshua is — the Mes-
siah, the Son of God, not built upon Peter himself. He was not making
a statement of "apostolic succession"or making Peter the head of the
Church. If God had intended for Peter to be the head of the Church, He
would have given Peter, and not John or Paul, the increased revelations
they received, revelations which far exceeded what the apostles knew
even at the time of the Resurrection. Nor would Paul have had to
rebuke Peter when Peter erred in judgment over a significant issue (see
Galatians 2:11-14).

He was saying that those who receive from God the revelation of who
He is and surrender their lives to His Lordship are those with whom He
will build His kingdom. What He says next confirms this is what He
meant.He continued to say, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound
in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed
in heaven" (Matthew 16:19).

What does having these keys to the kingdom mean? First, you need to
understand that the translation that says, "the Kingdom is at hand"
(Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15) gives us the impression that it is
on its way, but not here yet. The Hebrew word, karav means it is here

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now. This was a statement by Yeshua not of some future event, but His
present kingdom. Christians often have the sense that the real Kingdom is
in the "sweet by-and-by," but not really now. No. When He spoke of His
Kingdom He wasn't talking about heaven one day. He was talking about
anything that was of Him, about Him or with Him. It was meant to be a
present reality for Peter, as it is for us. Those keys are important to us as
well.

So, how were Peter and the rest of His followers to use the keys? What
would the keys open?What did they mean in reality? Notice it is not one
key. There are several keys. These are keys to His kingdom which still have
much to do with the revelation of who Yeshua is. Revelation always brings
a certain level of authority in the one who has received the revelation. To
the extent that we have "seen" Yeshua, we will become like Him. That is
just a biblical fact."We know that when He appears, we will be like
Him, because we will see Him just as He is" (1 John 3:2). That does
mean when we see Him for real, when one wonderful day we are able to
come before Him. But it is also true that each revelation we receive of Him
changes us somehow and we become more like Him in character and
nature. Amazing! Surely, something only God can do.

The same principle is at work in life here and now, to the extent that
Yeshua is revealed to us primarily through His word or in a personal inter-
action with Him. We gain Kingdom authority based on seeing something
about Him. We can speak with assurance. It is not hearsay. No one can tell
you that you did not experience what experienced. You can speak about
your experience with confidence that you have experienced truth. He has
given us keys of authority to reach out in confidence that what we have is
real, powerful, ultimate and eternal. On the other hand, what you gain by
revelation comes from the Father and, as a result of your revelation, you
now have an authority, a kind of authenticity in how the revelation changes
you and what you learned through the revelation.

Let's look again at Matthew 16:19, in a more correct reading. The words
"binding and loosing" do not convey what Yeshua meant. Here is one of
those places where a knowledge of Hebrew roots straightens out a whole
doctrinal conundrum. Again, the Hebrew word for "binding" is to disallow
or forbid, and the Hebrew word for "loosing" is to allow or permit. So, the
verse should read, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatever you forbid on earth shall have been forbidden in
heaven, and whatever you permit on earth shall have been permit-
ted in heaven." Yeshua was saying that binding and loosing, or rather
permitting and forbidding, are directly connected to this issue of authority.
So, what is being forbidden or permitted?

BISHOP CHARLIE BERRIAN • WWW.BISHOPBERRIAN.COM pg 14

It is all about how to observe the Torah. For centuries, the rabbis had
been making decisions about what was "kosher" or Torah-compli-
ant, and what was not; what was permitted and what was forbidden
according to the laws of the Torah or the Talmudic writings, which
are commentaries on the Torah. The reason is that the Torah teach-
ings (laws) still need interpretation. For instance, the Torah says to
observe the Sabbath, but it does not describe how to observe it. A
day of rest can mean many things to many people. How much is one
allowed to do on the day of rest? Can you carry things, cook food,
ride a horse, drive a wagon or a car, light a fire?

The rabbis deliberated, and this one said this and that one said that,
and all is recorded in the Talmud. Once the Talmud was closed or
completed, no more commentaries were included. Jewish learning
was largely about quoting what this or that rabbi said in the past, but
it would be the local rabbi(s) who would be consulted about any
given issue for a ruling on whether something was "permitted" or
"forbidden." When it was allowed, or permitted, it was loosed from
restriction. When it was forbidden, it was bound from use or action.
So,"loose" means permit; "bind" means forbid. Questions were
continually presented to the rabbis to find out what was "kosher" so
to speak. What the rabbis permitted was loosed; what was forbidden
was "bound," meaning tied up, disallowed or imprisoned.

Yeshua, acting as a rabbi, was continually bringing a reassessment of

correct Torah interpretation. Most of His teachings were to correct
erroneous understandings of what God originally meant when He
gave Israel the Torah instructions. Yeshua was conferring upon Peter
and the others the authority to permit or forbid, to make decisions
on issues as He would have by the Spirit of God. This is an important
point. What the rabbis would decide based on their scholastic rea-
soning and familiarity with the Torah, the Spirit filled believers would
know by the Spirit. You can read the Torah as information or you can
perceive the mind of the Spirit in reading the Torah. The believers
did not have to follow hundreds of added rules to try and avoid
offending God. Yeshua had paid the price to release them from the
fear of God's displeasure. They were free from the rigidity of legal-
ism (those rules which were added to the Torah) and were function-
ing by the Spirit of holiness.

BISHOP CHARLIE BERRIAN • WWW.BISHOPBERRIAN.COM pg 15

Do you realize what an incredible power that is? These men were
certainly not rabbis or scholars or Pharisees or scribes or Torah
teachers. They were fishermen and a tax collector, and Yeshua is
giving them that kind of authority? They were completely outside of
the hierarchical religious system, but He releasedto them the power
and authority to make decisions that He said heaven would back up,
because they would be entirely in tandem with God. These decisions
would affect thousands, even millions of lives, and even us today.

That is how assured Yeshua was that His followers would be entirely
in tune with the will of God through the Holy Spirit so that He could
trust them with that kind of authority. His followers would be so at
one with Him and His Father that they would be the expressions of
God's will, just as He had been.When we read the book of Acts we
see incredible power and effectiveness in the lives and relationships
of the early believers, all of whom, I might add, were living To-
rah-compliant lives by the Spirit of God. But in the course of time,
things were incorporated into the doctrines and practices of the
Church that were apart from the Torah. Looking back, we see that
the wisdom of men in authority replaced the authority of heaven in
the lives of men.

But here is the exciting part. God is reversing the whole thing and
bringing His people back to a correct understanding of the place of
the Torah, not in any legalistic, performance-based rigidity, but in
our Spirit-led lives. God is restoring the authority of the believer so
that the supernatural that was there in the first century is restored.
Yes, there are always frontrunners who God teaches first, but they
present a picture of what is possible in God. So, if it is not happening
in your life yet, realize that God is restoring to the end time body of
believers the revelationof Yeshua in Spirit and in truth, which
includes Him being the Torah made flesh, the embodiment of all
God revealed of Himself and set forth for the wellbeing of His
people. Power and authority laced with humility, obedience to the
Word of God and the leading of the Spirit of holiness.

BISHOP CHARLIE BERRIAN • WWW.BISHOPBERRIAN.COM pg 16

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