Sunday, September 17, 2017

Misquoting the Bible: Matthew 18:20

"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Matthew 18:15-20
How many of you have heard this verse used in support of all sorts of ridiculousness? "Where two or three of us are gathered in His name, He will grant to us whatever we petition." Really? Where does it say that? This again demonstrates why I dislike the notion of Christians having "favourite Bible verses" or engaging in verse memorization. Nine times out of ten, the verse being memorized is being memorized and applied out of context.

Any readers I might have of this blog know how much of a stickler I am for context. The Bible was not written with chapter and verse divisions. We do not get to isolate a verse or a sentence and rip it from its context and make it apply however we desire for it to apply. When people do this, however, it is a great way to expose them as liars. Unfortunately, the church is not discerning enough to spot these liars, pay attention to them, and avoid them. Instead, they seem to flock to them and hang on their every perverse and satanic word.

So what is the context with which we find this oft misquoted verse? It has to do with those who sin against us and our pursuit of dealing with that sin. Note in verse 16 how it says, "if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you." That is the "two or three" that "have gathered together" in His name. You plus one other is two, and you plus two others is three. What we see taking place in this passage is similar to what Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11.
"Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."
"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst" does not mean that if two or three Christians gather together and start praying for God to prolong death for someone or to take a disease away from someone, that God will do it. Things like this might happen, but it is not why they happen. One faithful, obedient Christian alone has God's ear and can petition God and have his/her petitions answered. Answered prayer has nothing to do with the number of people focused around it. The more people praying for something does not mean God will listen to or answer it, especially if it is not in accordance with His will.

Professing Christians need to stop ripping Scripture from its context and trying to selfishly force it to apply to self-advancement. Nowhere in Scripture did Jesus ever utter the words, "It's all about you." Read through the entire New Testament and tell me what it teaches. It certainly is not that you are the center of the universe and that it is all about you. That teaching comes from the devil. The book of Philippians should put it in perspective for you: Jesus first; others second; you last.