Understanding this authority Jesus granted is through this principle of binding and loosing. This term was a cultural idiom (expression) often used in Rabbinical circles. Binding something meant that a particular action or thought would be stopped because it was an offense to God. To loose meant to lift off an unnecessary restraint because it didn’t produce the righteousness of God. We see in the ministry of Jesus, and later among the leaders of the early church, these binding and loosing principles. Context: the leadership of Israel and the leadership in the secular culture were encouraging activities that either didn’t produce the righteousness of God or permitted/celebrated things which were an offense to God.