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This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. A New Interpretation of Matthew 18:18-20: Reconciliation and the Repentance Discourse Paul Daniel Larson Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2013 Declaration This is to certify that the work contained within ______________________________________ has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. _____________________________________________ No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree _________________________________________________ or professional qualification. _______________________ Signed: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________________________ - 2 - Table of Contents I. Introduction 9 1. A History of Scholarship for Mt. 18:18-20 10 a. Previous Scholarship on the Rationale of Mt. 18:18-20 11 b. Previous Scholarship on the Periphrastic Future Perfect Verbal Forms of Mt. 18:18 22 c. Previous Scholarship on Binding and Loosing in Mt. 18:18 33 i. Implausible Views 36 ii. Declaration of or Authority for Forgiveness of Sin 38 iii. Authority for Discipline, Ban, or Excommunication 42 iv. Authority for Determination of Sin 45 v. Authority for Determination of Sin by Interpretation, Application, or Abrogation of Scripture or of Jesus' Teaching 49 vi. Composite Views 54 d. Previous Scholarship on Mt. 18:19-20 63 2. A New Proposal for 18:18-20 and the Plan for the Rest of the Study 73 3. Methodology and Source-Criticism 75 II. A New Interpretation of Matthew 18:18-20 85 1. Matthean Emphases Relevant to Interpretation of Mt. 18:18-20 86 a. Matthew's Interest in Reconciliation 86 b. Matthew's Emphasis on Divine Influence in Human Behavior 87 c. Conclusion 90 2. Mt. 18:12-14: 'Your father' in the Parable of the Stray Sheep 90 a. Who is the Shepherd in Mt. 18:12-14? 91 b. God's Causative Role in the Repentance of Mt. 18:12-14 95 3. Mt. 18:18-20: A New Proposal 103 a. Mt. 16:19b-c and 18:18: A New Proposal 104 i. Justification for the claim that a heaven-first order in Mt. 18:18 indicates divine influence in repentance 117 ii. Linguistic evidence of binding and loosing 125 iii. Sin as a neuter pronoun 132 iv. The plural relative pronouns of Mt. 18:18 136 b. Mt. 18:19: A New Proposal 136 i. γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ πατρός µου 138 ii. αἰτήσωνται 158 iii. συµφωνήσωσιν and πράγµατος 171 iv. Conclusion 174 c. Mt. 18:20: A New Proposal 175 i. δύο ἢ τρεῖς συνηγµένοι 175 - 3 - ii. εἰς τὸ ἐµὸν ὄνοµα 180 iii. ἐκεῖ εἰµι ἐν µέσῳ αὐτῶν 184 iv. γάρ 187 d. The Triad of Triads Structure of the Repentance Discourse of Mt. 18 190 i. The second triad (Mt. 18:12-20) 196 ii. The third triad (Mt. 18:21-35) 201 iii. The first triad (Mt. 18:3-10) and a new proposal for Mt. 18:10 204 III. The Periphrastic Future Perfect Verbal Forms of Mt. 16:19b-c and Mt. 18:18 209 1. Arguments in Favor of a Heaven First Order of Binding and Loosing 210 a. Mt. 18:19 and Its Use of Πάλιν Does Not Favor an Earth-First Order in Mt. 18:18 210 b. The Greek Perfect Tense and the Use of a Periphrastic Future Perfect in Mt. 16:19b-c and 18:18 217 c. Matthew's Choice of the Periphrastic Future Perfect in Light of the Available Verbal Forms for an Earth-First Order 225 2. Matthew's Choice of the Future Form ἔσται 235 3. The Challenge of Stanley Porter's Application of His Verbal Aspect Theory to a Periphrastic Future Perfect 244 4. The Challenge of Cadbury, Derrett, and Davies and Allison 247 5. Conclusion 254 IV. A Critique of Some Views of the Binding and Loosing Statement(s) of Mt. 16:19b-c and/or Mt. 18:18 256 1. Declaration of Forgiveness of Sin 257 2. An Interpretive Dilemma and Attempts to Limit the Scope of Binding and Loosing 259 a. Appeal to Mt. 18:19-20 and Mt. 6:9-13 263 b. Appeal to Common Sense 269 c. Appeal to the Teaching of Jesus 270 d. Appeal to the Possession of the Holy Spirit or the Guidance of Jesus 271 e. Appeal to the Corpus Mixtum and to Jesus' Low View of His Disciples 275 i. France's appeal to the corpus mixtum and to Jesus' low view of disciples 276 ii. Contemporary scholarship on the characterization of disciples and Peter 279 iii. Assessment of contemporary scholarship on Matthew's characterization of disciples and Peter 287 3. Authority for Determination of Sin 292 a. Absence of Intepretive Authority in Early Christianity 292 b. Mt. 23:8-10, 23:34, and 13:52 294 c. Mt. 18:18-20 in The Context of Jesus' Theological Discourse 299 4. Authority for Interpretation and/or Abrogation of Scripture or Teaching of Jesus 301 a. Loosing in Mt. 5:19 301 - 4 - b. Binding in Mt. 23:4 304 c. Powell's Hierarchical Hermeneutic (Mt. 7:12, 9:13; 12:7; 22:34-40; 23:23) 305 5. Authority to Grant and Withhold Forgiveness of Sins 307 a. Absence of Power of Clemency in Rabbinic and pre-Christian Judaism and a Democratic Judgment 308 b. Absence of Power of Clemency in Early Christianity 310 6. Conclusion 311 V. Conclusion 312 1. Summary of Evidence for a New Interpretation of Matthew 18:18-20 313 2. Matthew's Concept of Righteousness as a Prospect for Further Study 320 3. Conclusion 325 VI. Appendix A: Translations of Mt. 16:19 and 18:18 327 1. Non-Perfect Future Form with Note(s) Indicating That a Perfect Future Form Is a Translational Possibility 328 2. Perfect Future Form with a Note Indicating That a Non-Perfect Future Form Is a Translational Possibility 329 3. Non-Perfect Future Form Without a Note Indicating that a Perfect Future Form Is a Translational Possibility 330 4. Perfect Future Form Without a Note Indicating That a Non-Perfect Future Form Is a Translational Possibility 342 VII. Appendix B: Matthew's Characterization of Disciples and Peter, and an Explanation of Mt. 16:16-19 345 1. Matthew's Characterization of Disciples' Understanding and Faith, and Its Significance for Interpretation of Mt. 18:18 346 a. Matthew's Characterization of Disciples' Faith and Understanding 350 b. Evaluating Matthew's Characterization of Disciples in Regard to Some Interpretations of Mt. 18:18 353 2. Matthew's Characterization of Peter Outside of Mt. 16:17-19 364 a. Peter as a Spokesman for Disciples 365 b. A Comparison of Mark's Characterization of Peter with Matthew's Characterization of Peter 370 c. Peter as Typical Disciple 378 3. Matthew's Characterization of Peter in Mt. 16:17-19a 385 a. Mt. 16:6, 17; 28:16-20 387 i. Mt. 16:6 (Mk. 8:15//Lk. 12:1) 388 ii. Mt. 28:16-20 393 - 5 - iii. Mt. 16:17 394 b. Mt. 16:18 397 c. Mt. 16:19a 400 i. The relevance of Matthew's kingdom language for understanding the 'keys of the kingdom' 401 ii. Why does Matthew use the plural 'keys'? 404 iii. Old Testament background material to Mt. 16:19a 410 iv. France's separation of different aspects of the kingdom of heaven 417 v. Consistency in the use of Mt. 23:13 418 d. Mt. 16:19 in Light of Mt. 23:13 and Lk. 11:52 419 i. Luz, Davies, and Allison on Mt. 16:19 and Mt. 23:13 420 ii. An Alternative Proposal for Mt. 16:19 and Mt. 23:13 422 4. Conclusion 426 VIII. Appendix C: An Alternative Proposal for the Semantics of Greek Indicative Verbs 427 1. Porter's Rationale for Rejecting the View of Fanning and Ancient and Modern Greek Grammarians 432 2. Justifying Porter's Semantic Project with Systemic Linguistics 437 3. A New Challenge to Stanley Porter's Verbal Aspect Theory 443 4. The Significance of This Proposal for the Semantics of the Greek Verb 451 5. Eight Objections 454 a. Language Error 455 b. Absurdity 464 c. Reductio Ad Absurdum 466 d. Unfalsifiability 470 e. Explanatory Scope 471 f. Principle of Parsimony / Ockham's Razor 472 g. Irrelevant 480 h. Lack of Counter-Examples 481 6. Proposing an Alternative Binary Semantic Network that is Temporally-Based 485 7. Demonstrating the Necessity of "Stative" Being an Aspect for Porter's Binary Semantic Network 486 8. Proposing a Temporally-Based Binary Semantic Network if "Stative" Is Treated as an Aspect 492 9. The Ramifications of "Stative" Not Being an Aspect 499 10. Conclusion Regarding Stanley Porter's Verbal Aspect Theory 510 IX. Bibliography 513 - 6 - Abstract Matthew 18:18-20 is an important section of the discourse of Matthew 18 and one of the most important passages for Matthew's theology. The near identical wording of Mt.
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