---
title: Matthew 18:18
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-18-18/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-18-18.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 18:18
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 18:18

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

## JW Usage

The Watchtower does not frequently foreground Matthew 18:18 in its own right, but it appears in the background of the "Acts 15 = Governing Body" succession claim. Because Matthew 16:19 gives Peter the keys and binding-and-loosing authority, and the Watchtower reads that authority as transmitting to a modern channel, Matthew 18:18 is typically downplayed or folded into the broader church-discipline passage (Matthew 18:15-17) without drawing attention to the fact that the identical binding-and-loosing language has now been extended to the gathered disciples as a whole. In Watchtower ecclesiology the passage supports the elder arrangement and judicial committees rather than any universal congregational authority.

## Protestant Usage

Reformed and Protestant exegesis treats Matthew 18:18 as the decisive parallel to Matthew 16:19. Jesus gives the exact same binding-and-loosing grant — word for word — to the gathered ordinary disciples, with no Peter, no keys, and no institutional chain. This demonstrates that the authority of the keys was never a monopoly held by one apostle or one successor body; it was given to every gathered congregation of Jesus' people. Combined with Ephesians 2:20 (the foundation laid once, apostles plural, Christ as cornerstone), the passage dismantles any claim that a modern organisation holds unique binding authority. As John Piper observes, the same words spoken to Peter in chapter 16 are spoken to the plural "you" in chapter 18 — the authority was always meant to be held by Jesus' people wherever they gather in his name.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Foundation Laid Once — Apostles Are Not a Perpetual Office](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/apostles-foundation-eph220.md) — Ephesians 2:20 — A foundation is poured once, and the building stands on it forever [Authority]
- [The Rock, the Keys, and the Church — What Matthew 16 Actually Grants](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/matthew-16-keys-and-rock.md) — Matthew 16:18–19 / Matthew 18:18 / Ephesians 2:20 — the same authority given to all disciples [Authority]