[ the Greek, is above my "pay scale".

Anybody?
Best,
Michael
I recived the following in PM and it may be that this person wants to remain outsidie the discussion so I will not name him or her. It is from a teacher of biblical Greek.
It is important to take into consideration the subjunctive mood of δήσης and λύσης and the perfect passive tense and voice of δεδεμένον and λελυμένον, for they describe clearly what Peter�s authority is to be � whatever it is he may bind upon the earth, it will already have been bound in heaven; whatever it is he may loose upon earth, it will already have been loosed in heaven.
The Marschall Revised Standard Version Interlinera Greek-English New Testaments ... gives the transliteration as this ...
I-will-give thee the keys of-the kingdom of-the heavens, and whatever thou-bindest of-the earth shall-be having-been-bound in the heavens, and whatever thou-loosest on the earth shall-be having-been-loosed in the heavens
Now let us suppose that this is inconclusive by itself. Is there anything further (in the context) that would further support �having already been bound� ??
Heaven is immutable (unchanging and eternal) and earth is mutable (the theater of change). If we take these theological positions as true � than it makes sense that Peter does not change the eternal - he confirms it.
Still further (and in direct context now) � there is a flow to scripture. People often miss that and lift some part out of its context and interpret it without its nested context. But here, Jesus himself joins the two portions of the text by saying �
Well � let me give it in the typical English first � the sense is that Peter had just told what had been revealed to him (�My father had told you this�) and so from the father�s revelation to Peter � Jesus launches the famous 'Rock' portion with these words (in typical English translation)�
�And I say this to you - you are rock .. Etc�
However the Greek is a bit different � it has �
And-I-also to-thee say � Thou art Rock � etc�
Which in English would be �And I say to you also � � or �And I also say to you� �. but the meaning of �also� is �
further ... Equal to: �I say to you further ��
God the father begin the conversation to Peter (revealing the Jesus is his son) � and God the son continues the conversation. Jesus is God also. One God. Two - speaking as one mind and one God-nature.
This would be somewhat similar to you yourself beginning to tell a story (of something that happened to you) and your wife picking up in the middle and finishing the story. Do you see? Two minds that are one.
But in any case � Jesus does join the two portions together. The second (the binding and loosening) is some how joined as a
continuation of the first part (the revelation to Peter).
If this is true (as it seems to be) then we can better understand the second part by looking at what happened in the first part.
In the first part - Jesus tells us what happened (at least from his view) and we should prefer his view. He knows the reality behind the appearance. What happened is this - God the father (in heaven) gave Peter a revelation of the heavenly reality that Jesus was his son. The view in heaven is that Jesus was always God�s son. Jesus was not instantly made into the Father�s son at the moment that Peter said �You are the son of God�. That reality (Jesus is the Father�s son) always { was / is / and shall be }. In a sense we can say that Peter was allowed to peek into heaven - and tell us what he saw. Tell us what he understood from his moment of enlightenment.
Peter confirmed that Jesus was God�s son. The fact of which having already been a reality in heaven.
Do you see?
The first part does reflect the second part - they flow joined. In both cases Peter declares on earth - what was already an existing reality in heaven.
Apparently our exmination of the Greek (having been loosed etc..) is looking more correct.
Now � with that behind us (and I do hope you see it) � let us now deal (and this is all I will have time for tonight) with the � �further� in just one area.
We all know the quote so I will summaries � �"You are Petros and on this petra I will build my ecclesia."
Indeed there is much to unpack here by applying its true context � But let me only deal with �Rock� as much has been made of the difference between petros (male - small pebble) and petra (feminine - large boulder or mountain).
There
is a play on words here (we all know that). And the essential RC interpretation appears to be correct (but I say there is no reason to assume exclusivity to the exclusion of the other apostles). Setting aside my own reason to believe this is not and exclusion � some claim that the play on words has to do with a thought like this � �You are rock (small rock - Peter the single person) and upon this rock (large rock - the universal church) I will build my ecclesia (government of the church).
In fact I have argued this argument myself.
However � by the time of the Koin Greek of the gospels the older Greek that held the meaning of small-rock and large-rock was no longer used. Jesus was probably using the normal form (rock - feminine) with a reflection to the mountain on which the Temple stood. The mountain was simply called �The Rock� or �the Rock of the Temple� by Jews (as it is called today the Rock of the Dome). However - it is not proper form to give a feminine name (petra) to a male (Peter) and so he is given the male form of rock (petros) to Peter the man. The idea of small-pebble and large-boulder need to be discarded as the apostles would not have known or made that inference.
Now we could get deep into linguistics and ophthalmology here - and I will claim that the conjunction � (and or but) in Hebrew and Aramaic (which are the same word but translated to English differently depending upon context) and is called WAW - is the same in Koin Greek (I am not %100 positive) and that makes the line read�
�You are Rock (a friendly nick-name with the meaning of hard-headed and stubborn) but upon this rock (referring in some way to the mountain upon which the Temple was built) I will build my church�.
Notice that the conjunction �but� means �on the other hand� and �this one and not the other one� �. while conjunction �and� has a meaning of �joined� and �one added to the other�. A difference which should be determined well and re-examined in the Greek due to the Hebrew and Aramaic use of one word (WAW) determined entirely by context.
Certainly the word play is around the Rock (Temple mountain) on which the Jewish Temple stood - the Temple that Jesus identified with - himself. Tear down this Temple and I will rebuild it.
We have assuredly identified the word play - but just exactly its full meaning is I can not yet tell.
It is late and time for bed.
Please notice that I have not drawn any conclusions on Infallibility or universal judicial Papal Primacy as defined by the Roman church - I simply state that this event in Matthew - has been misinterpreted as support - and in reality it appears to be something different than the common accepted RC interpretation as applied to the dogma.
At best (as support for the dogma) it is inconclusive and circumstantial evidence.
If you like - I will next deal with the �keys� and the binding and loosening and show you what Jesus himself used as an interpretation. The keys are not isolated to just this passage. We should look to see how he uses them (and what they mean) at other places in gospels and the NT entire.
Michael ... have I written too much to digest?
Pleas excuse the typos my spell checker changes words with a mind of its own

Peace to you and your church.
-ray