The False Teaching of "Binding & Loosing" Satan.
How many times have you heard the statement, “ I bind you Satan” or “Satan I bind you in the name of Jesus”? If you have spent any time with or listening to Pentecostal churches or Charismatic Church preachers and their attenders you have most likely heard of this terminology. It seems of late this terminology has been popping up a lot in the area of social networking like Facebook and Twitter. Also it seems that this has branched out to the New Apostolic Reformation crowd, which has adopted this term for its own. The NAR has taken this "bind ... loosen" claptrap to a new level by the institution of the use of "prayer walks" and "prayer staking". These are both occultic practices in which one you either walk an area and bind Satan from that area or you drive a stake into the Ground kind "stake" that area in the name of Christ. Problem is that both of these practices are not found in the bible. Instead these practices are found in occult worship.
Now the question hear is, even though this phrase has of late become more widely used within Christianity, does the bible actually teach that we can “bind Satan”? Also if people have “bound” Satan who keeps letting him go?
To answer this question we must first understand where the Pentecostal, the New Apostolic Reformation crowd, and the Charismatics get their belief of binding Satan from. The strongest argument for the misleading teaching comes from the book of Matthew in Chapter 18 verse 18 where Jesus says;
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Denominations and groups often misconstrue this verse into something that it is not. Due to poor or improper exegesis Pastors and church attenders often eisegete that we can “bind” Satan from this text. Do to their poor exegesis of the text they fail to realize that what Jesus is talking about here is not a literal binding or loosing. As in most cases when it comes to a false teaching that has been promulgated among a group of people all you have to do is look closer and you will find that the teaching is built on a simplistic view of Scripture. They do not build their teachings on a proper hermeneutic view of Scripture from the text around the text they are taking out of context. This is true to form with people who teach and believe that we can bind Satan from Matthew 18:18.
When we look at the whole chapter of Matthew 18 and read verse 18 in context along with the rest of the chapter we see that Matthew 18:18 has nothing to do with “binding” Satan.
Matthew Chapter 18:
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 [“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] 12 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? 13 “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
14 “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”21Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
As we see from reading the whole chapter of Matthew 18 verse 18 has nothing do to with what the binding Satan crowd teaches. Instead verse 18 in its correct context of the whole chapter has to do with church discipline.
More over lets take a closer look verse 18 inparticularitly when it talks about “bind…loose”. These words could be rendered “forbid” and “permit.” Further more these words were both rabbinical terms for legal decisions about how the Law should be applied to a current situation. Not meaning to literally “bind...loose” anything here on earth or in heaven. When we look at the Greek for the words bind and loose or deo and lyo we find that they are periphrastic perfect passive participles which is a roundabout way of saying that something already is. This passage does not assert man’s initiative in spiritual matters, but God’s will being fulfilled on earth by the Spirit’s guidance of His people, see Matthew 16:19–20; John 20:23.
So as you can see from the correct and proper brake down of Matthew 18:18 the bible does not teach that we are to bind or loose Satan. Now that we answered the first question the second question about who has let him go is a mute point because he was never bound in the first place. Now what we are taught in 2 Timothy 2:22 is that we are to flee from evil. My advice from following the bible is that anyone subscribing to the teaching of "binding and loosing Satan" should flee from this evil teaching that is either biblical or sound and is no more than new age mysticism at its core.
Now the question hear is, even though this phrase has of late become more widely used within Christianity, does the bible actually teach that we can “bind Satan”? Also if people have “bound” Satan who keeps letting him go?
To answer this question we must first understand where the Pentecostal, the New Apostolic Reformation crowd, and the Charismatics get their belief of binding Satan from. The strongest argument for the misleading teaching comes from the book of Matthew in Chapter 18 verse 18 where Jesus says;
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Denominations and groups often misconstrue this verse into something that it is not. Due to poor or improper exegesis Pastors and church attenders often eisegete that we can “bind” Satan from this text. Do to their poor exegesis of the text they fail to realize that what Jesus is talking about here is not a literal binding or loosing. As in most cases when it comes to a false teaching that has been promulgated among a group of people all you have to do is look closer and you will find that the teaching is built on a simplistic view of Scripture. They do not build their teachings on a proper hermeneutic view of Scripture from the text around the text they are taking out of context. This is true to form with people who teach and believe that we can bind Satan from Matthew 18:18.
When we look at the whole chapter of Matthew 18 and read verse 18 in context along with the rest of the chapter we see that Matthew 18:18 has nothing to do with “binding” Satan.
Matthew Chapter 18:
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 [“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] 12 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? 13 “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
14 “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”21Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
As we see from reading the whole chapter of Matthew 18 verse 18 has nothing do to with what the binding Satan crowd teaches. Instead verse 18 in its correct context of the whole chapter has to do with church discipline.
More over lets take a closer look verse 18 inparticularitly when it talks about “bind…loose”. These words could be rendered “forbid” and “permit.” Further more these words were both rabbinical terms for legal decisions about how the Law should be applied to a current situation. Not meaning to literally “bind...loose” anything here on earth or in heaven. When we look at the Greek for the words bind and loose or deo and lyo we find that they are periphrastic perfect passive participles which is a roundabout way of saying that something already is. This passage does not assert man’s initiative in spiritual matters, but God’s will being fulfilled on earth by the Spirit’s guidance of His people, see Matthew 16:19–20; John 20:23.
So as you can see from the correct and proper brake down of Matthew 18:18 the bible does not teach that we are to bind or loose Satan. Now that we answered the first question the second question about who has let him go is a mute point because he was never bound in the first place. Now what we are taught in 2 Timothy 2:22 is that we are to flee from evil. My advice from following the bible is that anyone subscribing to the teaching of "binding and loosing Satan" should flee from this evil teaching that is either biblical or sound and is no more than new age mysticism at its core.
