Matthew 18

Agreeing in prayer

18 "Assuredly I say to you, whatever (pl.) you (pl.) may bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.*The tense of the Greek verb phrase here is a periphrastic future perfect, passive voice (so also in 16:18). Thus, "will have been bound/loosed" not "will be bound/loosed". We are not telling God what to do; we are to apply down here that which He has already done in heaven. What had been just for Peter is now given to all the disciples. For more discussion, please see the Appendix: Do we command God? Matthew 18:18.