[ZNPaaneah]

17 And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican. 18 Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Binding and loosing is a matter of authority. The "boundary" of a local church is also a matter of authority. The context of "binding and loosing" is in reference to a sinning brother that you are dealing with. This "local church" has the final authority to "bind or loose" this brother. I do not imply that this verse should be limited to this one application, but rather point out this is the context in which the Lord said this. Based on that context this is referring to the authority of the local assembly.

The only way this could be fulfilled is if the Christians are one. If you have multiple assemblies all independent and this brother simply moves to another one he may not be "truly bound". So it is reasonable to infer from this that the word of this assembly will have weight with all Christians in the city. However, they would also have to have weight with Christians in other cities, otherwise the brother who is "bound" in Anaheim simply moves to San Francisco. Therefore the decision of this church, to bind on Earth and have it bound in heaven would have to apply to the entire earth, not just a single locality. This decision would have to be fully aligned with the Bible. Paul referred to this kind of binding of a brother in 1Cor.

So then, the authority from this locality is not because the elder was appointed by brother so and so, or by "the apostle". The authority is because they are "in the name of Jesus". Their authority is because they are one with the Lord Jesus. They are branches attached to the vine.