You’re on vacation, and you haven’t figured out where the local Christians meet on Sundays. Instead, you settle for gathering with your family in your hotel room for a quick worship service before you head to the beach. “After all,” you say, “Jesus said, ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.’”
This quote is used in all kinds of situations, from hotel room Communion to low numbers in the assembly. From going to the lake or ballfield on Sunday to justifying or condemning restrictions that were in place during COVID.
Let me ask you: Where does Jesus say this quote? Maybe you’ve heard other Christians quote it before. Perhaps you remember reading it somewhere in the Bible (Was it in the gospel accounts?). The majority of folks who quote this verse can’t say. They cannot know, therefore, whether they are quoting Jesus in context or not. This verse doesn’t mean what many Christians think it means, and in this study, we’re going to see whether or not we can use it to refer to the general Christian assembly.
First, let’s figure out where Jesus says this famous quote. It is in Matthew 18:20.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
When Jesus makes this statement, is He talking about the worship assembly? It could apply to the worship assembly, but only if the rest of the context applies as well.
The context of this famous saying begins in verses 1–3.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:1–3
From here, Jesus warns of the consequences of causing a little one to sin (vv. 6–7), what you should do if your right hand causes you to sin (vv. 8–11), and the lengths to which the shepherd is willing to go in order to save a single sheep who has strayed (vv. 12–13), which He explains this way:
Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18:14
The context of this famous quote is concerns sin—how to prevent it and how to deal with it. Next, we have the passage that includes the frequently misused verse:
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. 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.” 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. 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. 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. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:15–20.
What’s the purpose of the gathering of two or three people that Jesus is referring to? It is a disciplinary one. Jesus is speaking with His disciples and instructing them how to be like the shepherd. They are to go to great lengths to win their straying brother back to the Lord. Unfortunately, not everyone will come to their senses. Some people will be so wrapped up in their selfishness and sin that they will not return. After following these instructions, if your brother still won’t listen, Jesus says, “Let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” When the church has to take such heartbreaking measures to cut off a brother or a sister in Christ, it is agonizing. The good news is Jesus says He will be with us all the way (“there in the midst of them”).
He references Deuteronomy 17 and 19 when He says, “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” The Law of Moses served not only as a religious law, but also as a civil law. When people had sinned in a way deserving of death, their judgment was not to be carried out on the street by disgruntled citizens. A trial with witnesses and judges was to take place, and the elders were to judge the case by the testimony of multiple witnesses.
Jesus says the same concept applies to His disciples. If a brother has lived in rebellion to his Lord, he must be dealt with swiftly and properly.
Paul, by the Holy Spirit, teaches the same process in response to a public sin by a member of the church in Corinth. Unfortunately, the Christians in Corinth had not swiftly or properly dealt with the problem. Instead, they tolerated it, and it was affecting the entire church. He deals with it in all of chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians, but here are just a few verses:
And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:2–8
Purging sin from our midst might not make the church popular. Let’s remember that our goal is not to please the world. It is to please the Lord, keep the body of Christ (the church) pure, and lead the sinner to repentance. Take heart! When you do this, Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” It is common to apply this promise to the general assembly of Christians, but that’s not what Jesus is talking about. To reinforce His point about discipline, Jesus says, “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” Every time this phrase (or a similar one) is used in the Bible, it is in the context of God’s people gathering together to test or discipline a sinner.
Now that we understand Jesus’ promise to be with us when two or three are gathered in His name to discipline sin, does that mean it is wrong to use this promise to talk about the assembly? Not necessarily. Paul says this about when Christians participate in communion:
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
1 Corinthians 10:15–17
There are scores of other passages I suppose that we could use to show that the Lord is present and receives our devout worship when we assemble with other Christians. It is not about the building, but it is about the church—the body of Christ. It is common these days for people to attempt to have a “personal relationship” with Jesus without being a part of His church. Yet none of the blessings related to communion and discipline are possible without being a part of the church. In fact, one of the reasons why the church is to disfellowship a rebellious brother or sister is to show them what life is like without the church of Christ. You want to try to navigate this messy thing called life without the body of Christ? Impossible. Come home and be reunited with Christ and His people because, if it is true that Jesus gathers with His disciples when they are trying to win a brother or sister back to their first love, then how much more would it be true when two or three (or a hundred) gather for worship?
Before you use Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:20, think of the context. If you’re going to use them to try to justify your lack of planning or your intention to forsake the assembly, then realize you’re about to abuse His words. It should always be our goal to know the context of any passage or phrase we quote. But knowing the context, remember that Jesus is in the midst of Christians when we aren’t disciplining sin too. When we gather in His name, there He is.
Here’s another phrase I’ve been hearing more and more lately: “It’s not a religion; it’s a relationship.” If you’ve heard it or said it yourself, you’ll want to study your Bible with this article.