Jesus says that whatever the church binds on earth is bound in heaven. The judgments of the church are not merely human judgments but communications of divine judgment. From the perspective of the Old Testament, Jesus is telling the disciples that they have entered into the status of new Adams, with access to the tree of judgment, the wisdom to know good and evil.

There is also an echo of the Babel story. The authority of the churches decisions depends on “agreement.” As at Babel, when the church is harmonious “nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6). The church is the true tower of the nations, the gate of God.