Verse 18
18. Shall be bound in heaven As you are but executing the laws of Christ, the great Head of the Church, even in expelling from his family an obstinate and impenitent trespasser, so he in heaven will ratify your sentence.
We here see that Christ has authorized his Church to exist, and to exercise judicial powers in order to secure her purity and peace. And if she proceeds in the performance of these duties in temper and process as he prescribes, she but executes his laws, and she will be sustained by God himself. But the divine ratification follows only when the whole procedure is required by and accords with the spirit and law of Christ.
The binding and loosing, therefore, bestowed upon Peter belong to all collectively. It belongs to no pope or potentate. It resides in the body of the Church.
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