“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20 NKJV.

There can be few if any, born-again Christians who have not used Matthew 18:20 in a group prayer, or been in group where the leader invoked the presence of Jesus to join them in accordance with that verse.

As I was in study recently, Matthew 18:20 was mentioned and I felt called to check it out for myself, to see if it really means what we all believe it to mean.

The question is, what did Jesus means when He said: “in My name” ?

As a reference to this, Strong’s Concordance says the Greek word for ‘Name’ is G3686: “ὄνομα, onoma, on’-om-ah. From a presumed derivative of the base of G1097 (compare G3685); a “name” (literally or figuratively), (authority, character): – called, (+ sur-) name (-d).”

After a little further research, it appeared that Matthew 16:20a can reasonably be rendered:

For where two or three are gathered together in My authority…..

or

For where two or three are gathered together in My character…..

or equally

For where two or three are gathered together in My authority and character…..

As I meditate on these renderings, it became clear that they answered a number of questions about group prayer, and why often, the larger the group, the less successful the results tended to be.

I surmised that it was because in a large group there are simple more and more participants who are not in the Lord’s authority or character.

I surmised also, that when we had a number of prayer warriors who were operating in a higher authority and were more Christ-like, then….. prayer was likely to be more successful… though I have no personal evidence of that outcome, that I can recall, as it cannot really be tested.

However, as I continued to work on this, the question arose, “What specifically are the two or three gathered for?”

In the New King James Bible, the editors have neatly packaged the verses and inserted sub-headings to help us in this particular task, as follows:

Dealing with a Sinning Brother

¹⁵ “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ ¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
¹⁸ “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
¹⁹ “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Yes, the context of Matthew 18:20, is clearly to do with the saving a sinning brother.

Since verse 15 starts, “Moreover….” Jesus is clearly linking it back to the preceding verses which NKJV aptly subtitles, “The Parable of the Lost Sheep.” and before that, to verses which warn about obstructing little children from receiving the LORD, where we find in v.5 Jesus saying,

“Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me…”

Both verses 5 and 20 contain the same wording: “in My name….“ A clear indication that this is all one theme and one thought.

Jesus is talking here about salvation, first that of “one little child”, (v5) then that of a lost sheep, (vs10-14) and than that of a sinning brother in Christ, (v15-19) and in verse 20, Jesus is talking about how we are to come before Him to intercede for that lost brother or sister.

Jesus is telling us here that He takes the Salvation and Restoration of a lost Christian brother or sister of ours so seriously, that He is willing to personally intercede with us, for that lost soul.

 

Blessings in Christ,
~ Angus MacKillop

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