appointed by God to be His apostle, His messenger and ambassador to the church. In Matthew 16:19 and 18:18, we find the story of Jesus appointing the disciples as His ambassadors and giving them the “keys to the kingdom.” These “keys” are the authority to apply Scripture to daily life, particularly to the forgiveness of sins. This is what binding and loosening meant. It was a rabbinic term used to communicate the act of discerning God’s word for living applications. It was the exercise of leadership.