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Where Two or Three Are Gathered

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them" (Matthew 18:20, ESV) is one of the verses most often said in church. It opens prayer meetings and calls services to worship. Often it carries a suggestion along with it. Jesus arrives once enough of us are present. A prayer prayed by two or more carries more weight with God than a prayer prayed alone. The sentence itself closes a paragraph about a brother who has sinned and will not stop. It tells the church that when it gathers to deal with him, the Son of God is in the room.

In one sentence: Jesus gives His church a way to go after a brother who has sinned — alone, then with witnesses, then together — and promises that when it gathers in His name to do it, He, God with us, stands among them; so you can confront sin as an act of love. And you can pray alone knowing He is with you, because His presence was never waiting for a second person to arrive.

✝️ Matthew 18:15-20 (ESV)

15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 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. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

Key Takeaways

(This section follows the Key Takeaways format — see that page for what each part is for.)

Lessons about Jesus

  • Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. Matthew opens with that name (Matthew 1:23) and closes with "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Matthew 18:20 stands between them and says it of the church gathered to deal with sin.
  • Jesus speaks of His presence the way Israel spoke of God's. Later Jewish teaching said God's Shekhinah rests among those who study His law together, even two, even one (m. Avot 3:2, 3:6). Jesus says, "there am I."
  • Jesus is the shepherd who goes after the one. The paragraph follows the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14), and its first aim is "you have gained your brother" (Matthew 18:15).
  • Jesus prayed alone. "He went up on the mountain by himself to pray" (Matthew 14:23, ESV). The Son never needed a quorum to reach His Father, and neither do you.

Memory verses

✝️ Matthew 18:15 (ESV)

15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

✝️ Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Be Transformed

  • Think. Jesus is with you when you pray alone. A gathering adds brothers and sisters to the prayer; it does not add Jesus to the room.
  • Attitude. Confronting a brother's sin is pursuit. Go quietly and humbly: "between you and him alone", and "Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (Galatians 6:1, ESV).
  • Do. Pray alone this week, behind a shut door (Matthew 6:6). Then go and pray with your church, for what meeting together does for one another (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Prayer

Father, it is not Your will that one of Your little ones should perish, and You sent Your Son Jesus to seek the one who strays. Thank You that He is Immanuel, with us always, in the room when we pray alone and among us when we gather in His name. Thank You that He lives to intercede for us and that Your Spirit prays in us when we have no words. Give us courage to go to a brother, humility to listen, and hearts that forgive as You have forgiven us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Study outline

The short answer

How the verse is used in church, judged against its paragraph:

  • "Jesus is with us as we gather to pray and worship." Fair. It is true, and it is a reasonable thing to say at the start of a meeting. The promise it rests on is Matthew 28:20, "I am with you always", which covers every gathering of His disciples and every disciple alone. Matthew 18:20 states something more specific, about the church dealing with a brother's sin.
  • "Jesus comes once two or three are here." Out of context. The verse names no threshold for Jesus' presence. "Two or three" is the number of witnesses the law required to establish a charge (Deuteronomy 19:15), the number verse 16 has just named.
  • "Prayer is more effective with two or more." Out of context. Verse 19's "if two of you agree" belongs to the same case: the two or three are the witnesses, agreeing about a matter of discipline. Nowhere does Scripture make God's hearing depend on how many are asking. Jesus prayed alone, commanded private prayer, and James holds up one man's prayer as the example of "great power" (James 5:16-17).
  • "Praying together matters." Fair, on other grounds. The church prayed together and God answered (Acts 4:24-31; 12:5), and believers are told not to neglect meeting (Hebrews 10:24-25). Praying together is commended for what it does among believers: it joins them in one request and encourages them.

The sections below set out the evidence for each verdict.

Where it sits in Matthew 18

Matthew 18 is the fourth of Jesus' five long discourses in Matthew; the ESV Study Bible titles it the characteristics of life in the kingdom community. It runs in five movements, and the paragraph on a sinning brother is the fourth:

  1. Who is greatest? "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:4, ESV).
  2. Causing a little one to stumble draws the millstone warning (Matthew 18:6-9).
  3. The lost sheep. "So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" (Matthew 18:14, ESV).
  4. A brother who sins (Matthew 18:15-20).
  5. How often to forgive. "Seventy-seven times" (Matthew 18:22, ESV), and the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35).

So the paragraph sits between a shepherd who goes after a straying sheep and a king who forgives a debt no servant could pay. Both show God's own heart. The church's dealing with a sinning brother is the shepherd's search carried on by the flock, done by people who have themselves been forgiven everything.

Three steps

Step one: alone

"Go and tell him his fault" is ὕπαγε ἔλεγξον, "go, reprove him." ἐλέγχω (elenchō, G1651) means to bring a wrong into the light so the other person sees it. The LSB footnotes it "Or reprove him." The word comes from the Law: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him" (Leviticus 19:17, ESV). The Hebrew is הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ (hokheaḥ tokhiaḥ, H3198), "you shall surely reprove", and the Septuagint renders it with the same Greek verb Jesus uses. Leviticus sets frank reproof against hating your brother in your heart.

The Dead Sea Scrolls show the command already worked into a community's procedure. The Community Rule from Qumran requires its members "to reprove each his fellow in truth, humility and loving kindness." It forbids bringing a matter against a fellow "before the Many" (the full assembly) "that has not been with reproof before witnesses" (1QS 5:24-25; 6:1, my translation of Abegg's transcription). The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes that Jewish ethics in general put private reproof first, so the offender could put things right without public shame.

The aim is in the last verb. "You have gained your brother": κερδαίνω (kerdainō, G2770), the merchant's word for a profit. The ESV Study Bible names the objective as restoration of the offending brother to the path of discipleship.

"Against you" is uncertain. Some manuscripts read "if your brother sins" and others add "against you." The NA28 prints the words in brackets as doubtful. The SBL Greek New Testament keeps them, and the NASB leaves them out. The CSB, NLT and LSB footnote them, and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible judges that the best manuscripts omit them. With them, the paragraph is about a personal wrong, which fits Peter's question that follows (Matthew 18:21); without them, it covers a brother's sin in general. The steps are the same either way.

Step two: one or two others

"Take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses." This is Deuteronomy 19:15: "Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established" (ESV). One or two others plus you makes two or three. The ESV Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible both note that these are witnesses of the conversation: they hear what is said and whether the brother listens. They protect him as much as they press him, since a charge one person cannot establish goes no further. This is where "two or three" comes from. By verse 20 the reader has already met the number once, as witnesses.

Step three: the church

"Tell it to the church." The word is ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia, G1577), the assembly. Among the four Gospels it occurs only in Matthew: twice here and once at Matthew 16:18, "on this rock I will build my church" (ESV), a future tense. Jesus is laying down how a church not yet gathered will live. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes that synagogues served as community courts, and that ἐκκλησία and συναγωγή (synagōgē, G4864) both render the Hebrew קָהָל (qahal, H6951) of Israel's assembly.

"As a Gentile and a tax collector"

If he will not listen even to the church, "let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." The ESV Study Bible reads this as exclusion from the fellowship. Paul draws the line at the table: "not even to eat with such a one" (1 Corinthians 5:11, ESV). How far that goes is contested. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible holds that removal does not mean no further contact, only losing the place reserved for believers. Paul himself says to "warn him as a brother" (2 Thessalonians 3:15, ESV). The phrase also says how. The church's earliest tradition names this Gospel's author as Matthew, whom Jesus called from the tax booth (Matthew 9:9). This Gospel alone lists him as "Matthew the tax collector" (Matthew 10:3, ESV). The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible draws the conclusion: Jesus treats tax collectors with compassion and does not treat them as disciples until they repent. The removed brother becomes someone to win, the way Jesus won Matthew.

Binding and loosing

"Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18, ESV). Jesus said the same to Peter at Matthew 16:19. Here the "you" is plural, and the ESV Study Bible notes that Peter's authority is extended to the whole church (compare John 20:23). The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes that later rabbis used "binding" and "loosing" for their rulings. Here, it notes, the phrase extends to judicial decisions. The church holds a matter against a person or releases it.

How the translations divide. The verbs are δέω (deō, G1210, "bind") and λύω (lyō, G3089, "loose"), in an unusual form, ἔσται δεδεμένα, a future perfect passive. The LSB footnotes it "Gr fut. pft. pass." The NASB and LSB render it "shall have been bound", the CSB "will have been bound", and the ESV and NIV "shall/will be bound". Read the first way, the church declares a judgment heaven has already made; read the second, heaven ratifies the church's decision. The CSB footnotes the second reading, so its translators held both open. Both readings put the church's authority under heaven's, exercised "through the application of his Word" (ESV Study Bible, note on Matthew 16:19).

Two or three in my name

The words

"If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:19, ESV). "Agree" is συμφωνέω (symphōneō, G4856), the word Matthew uses again for the vineyard owner "agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day" (Matthew 20:2, ESV). It is a settled agreement about terms. "Anything" is πρᾶγμα (pragma, G4229), a matter or case; Paul uses the same word for a dispute between believers taken to court (1 Corinthians 6:1). Then verse 20 gives the reason, "For where two or three are gathered in my name."

  • "Gathered" is συνάγω (synagō, G4863), the verb behind synagogue. Matthew uses it 24 times, and gathering by itself is not holy in his Gospel: the Pharisees "gathered together" against Jesus (Matthew 22:34, ESV), and the scribes and elders "had gathered" at the high priest's house to try Him (Matthew 26:57, ESV). What makes this gathering different is the next phrase.
  • "In my name" is εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα, literally "into my name", the same construction as "baptizing them in [into] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19, ESV). To gather into His name is to meet as people who belong to Him and act under His authority.

The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible says directly that the two or three "correspond to the two or three witnesses of v. 16." The ESV Study Bible reads verse 20 as Jesus present "as they seek unity in rendering decisions." The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible passes on a suggestion. Under the law "the hand of the witnesses shall be first against him" (Deuteronomy 17:7, ESV). Here Jesus has the witnesses pray.

What is contested

Whether verses 19-20 also carry a general promise about prayer. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible allows that "the principle that God answers prayer is broader," while still tying the two or three to the witnesses. The NLT Life Application Study Bible reads verse 19 as believers praying together in general. The case for the wider reading is "anything" and "ask", which sound like prayer language (Matthew 7:7). The case for the narrower is pragma, the "two or three" of verse 16, and the earth-and-heaven pairing carried over from verse 18. This study reads the promise in the discipline setting. Even read widely, the verse promises an answer to agreement; it says nothing about two voices being heard where one is not.

"There am I among them"

Verse 20 is a claim to deity. Two sayings in the Mishnah, from the second century, describe God's presence with those who give themselves to His word. Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradion: "if two sit together and there are words of Torah [spoken] between them, then the Shekhinah abides among them" (m. Avot 3:2). Rabbi Halafta counts down from ten, the number of a congregation, through five, three and two. Then he ends: "How do we know that the same is true even of one?" (m. Avot 3:6; both trans. Joshua Kulp). The sayings are later than Matthew and show how Jews spoke of the Shekhinah, God's dwelling presence. Even there, the presence does not wait for a number; the rabbis took it down to one.

Where those teachers say the Shekhinah rests among them, Jesus says, "there am I." The ESV Study Bible calls the verse an affirmation of omnipresence and therefore of deity. Matthew frames his Gospel with that presence. It opens with Immanuel, "which means, God with us" (Matthew 1:23, ESV). It closes with "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20, ESV). Between them, Jesus promises to stand among His church when it gathers in His name to deal with sin. The God who was with Israel in the tabernacle is with His church in His Son. He is in the room when a church must decide what to do about a brother.

Praying alone, praying together

Prayer alone is heard

Scripture grounds the hearing of prayer in God, never in the size of the group.

  • Jesus commanded private prayer. "When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:6, ESV).
  • Jesus prayed alone. "He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35, ESV); "he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone" (Matthew 14:23, ESV).
  • One man's prayer is Scripture's example of power. "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain" (James 5:16-17, ESV).
  • Prayer is heard in Jesus' name. "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13, ESV).
  • Two intercessors are with every believer. "The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26, ESV), and Jesus "always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25, ESV).

So a believer praying alone is not alone. The Son is with you always (Matthew 28:20), the Holy Spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 6:19), and Jesus intercedes for you at the Father's right hand. Your prayer in your room reaches the same Father as the prayer of a full church, through the same Son.

Praying together is good

The church in Acts prayed together, and God answered. When Peter and John were threatened, "they lifted their voices together to God." Then, "when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken" (Acts 4:24, 31, ESV). When Peter was in prison, "earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church" (Acts 12:5, ESV). And believers are told, "let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together" (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV). The ESV Study Bible notes there that perseverance "is thus also a community endeavor."

That is the reason to pray together: you carry one another's burdens, you agree in one request, and you are encouraged to keep going. It is a reason drawn from love for one another. Neither Acts nor Hebrews says that the number of people praying moves God further.

Then and now

What carries over. The order (privately, then with witnesses, then the church), the standard of evidence, and the goal of gaining a brother. The apostles practised it. A church "assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus ... with the power of our Lord Jesus" excluded a man for his salvation (1 Corinthians 5:4-5, ESV). It was then told to "forgive and comfort him" when he repented (2 Corinthians 2:6-8, ESV). Paul commands gentleness (Galatians 6:1). He warns, "Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother" (2 Thessalonians 3:15, ESV). He applies the two-or-three rule to charges against elders (1 Timothy 5:19-20).

Whom it protects. Matthew 18:15-17 governs a brother's sin within the church, and it commands the one who goes; nothing in it silences the one who was wronged. It is sometimes turned that way: a person who has been harmed is told they may not speak until they have confronted the one who harmed them alone. Step two already brings others in. The witnesses guard everyone from a charge that rests on one voice. Paul applies the same rule to elders (1 Timothy 5:19-20), so a leader is neither condemned on rumour nor shielded from a charge that stands. Where a wrong is also a crime, the governing authority is "God's servant for your good" (Romans 13:4, ESV), and nothing in Matthew 18 sets that aside.

What follows it. Peter asks how often he must forgive. The chapter ends, "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart" (Matthew 18:35, ESV). The church that binds is a church of forgiven debtors.

Discussion questions

  1. The language. "Gathered" (Matthew 18:20) is συνάγω, used when the Pharisees "gathered together" against Jesus (Matthew 22:34). What does "in my name" add that makes a gathering different?
  2. The text in its context. Matthew 18:16 has just named "two or three witnesses" (Deuteronomy 19:15). How does that shape what the "two or three" of verse 20 gather to do?
  3. Christ. Matthew opens with "God with us" (Matthew 1:23) and closes with "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Why does Jesus attach His presence to a church dealing with sin?
  4. The hard part. Matthew 18:19 promises an answer "if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask." Beside Matthew 18:16's witnesses, how far does that "anything" reach?
  5. Be transformed. Jesus prayed "by himself" (Matthew 14:23). How would you pray alone this week as someone Jesus is with?
Group study sheet for a 40-minute group: two A4 sheets, or one with the guided path

The point, the passage, the questions and the response, from this study. Print on both sides of two A4 sheets, flipping on the long edge. While this block is open, printing the page prints the sheet; close it to print the study.

Group study · 40 minutes

Where Two or Three Are Gathered

Matthew 18:15-20

The point Jesus gives His church a way to go after a brother who has sinned — alone, then with witnesses, then together — and promises that when it gathers in His name to do it, He, God with us, stands among them; so you can confront sin as an act of love. And you can pray alone knowing He is with you, because His presence was never waiting for a second person to arrive.

0–5min

Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Where Two or Three Are Gathered? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

5–12minRead it aloud BSB

Matthew 18:15-20 15If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. 20For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”

12–25minLook closer
What does it say?
What did it mean to them?
What does it mean for us?
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Where Two or Three Are Gathered

The study in brief
  1. The short answer. Which church uses of the verse are fair and which are out of context.
  2. Where it sits in Matthew 18. The child, the lost sheep and the unforgiving servant around the paragraph.
  3. Three steps. Verses 15-17: reproof from Leviticus 19:17, the witnesses of Deuteronomy 19:15, the church, and "Gentile and tax collector".
  4. Binding and loosing. Verse 18 and how the translations divide.
  5. Two or three in my name. Verses 19-20: the words, what is contested, and the claim to divine presence.
  6. Praying alone, praying together. Why prayer does not depend on numbers, and why the church still meets.
  7. Then and now. The apostles' practice, and the misuse to guard against.
Notes
Page 2 of 4 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission

Where Two or Three Are Gathered

12–24minStep 1 · The short answer

1The language. "Gathered" (Matthew 18:20) is συνάγω, used when the Pharisees "gathered together" against Jesus (Matthew 22:34). What does "in my name" add that makes a gathering different?

2The text in its context. Matthew 18:16 has just named "two or three witnesses" (Deuteronomy 19:15). How does that shape what the "two or three" of verse 20 gather to do?

24–29minStep 2 · Where it sits in Matthew 18

3The hard part. Matthew 18:19 promises an answer "if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask." Beside Matthew 18:16's witnesses, how far does that "anything" reach?

Step 3 · Three steps
Step 4 · Binding and loosing
29–35minStep 5 · Two or three in my name

4Christ. Matthew opens with "God with us" (Matthew 1:23) and closes with "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Why does Jesus attach His presence to a church dealing with sin?

Step 6 · Praying alone, praying together
Step 7 · Then and now
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Where Two or Three Are Gathered

35–40minBe transformed

5Be transformed. Jesus prayed "by himself" (Matthew 14:23). How would you pray alone this week as someone Jesus is with?

  • Think. Jesus is with you when you pray alone. A gathering adds brothers and sisters to the prayer; it does not add Jesus to the room.
  • Attitude. Confronting a brother's sin is pursuit. Go quietly and humbly: "between you and him alone", and "Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (Galatians 6:1, ESV).
  • Do. Pray alone this week, behind a shut door (Matthew 6:6). Then go and pray with your church, for what meeting together does for one another (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Memory verse

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Matthew 18:15 (ESV)
Pray together

Father, it is not Your will that one of Your little ones should perish, and You sent Your Son Jesus to seek the one who strays. Thank You that He is Immanuel, with us always, in the room when we pray alone and among us when we gather in His name. Thank You that He lives to intercede for us and that Your Spirit prays in us when we have no words. Give us courage to go to a brother, humility to listen, and hearts that forgive as You have forgiven us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Notes
The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/where-two-or-three-are-gathered/
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Group study · step by step

Where Two or Three Are Gathered

Matthew 18:15-20

Open Ask: what comes to mind when you hear Where Two or Three Are Gathered? Hear a few answers before anyone reads.

Read it aloud Matthew 18:15-20

Step 1The short answer — Which church uses of the verse are fair and which are out of context.

1The language. "Gathered" (Matthew 18:20) is συνάγω, used when the Pharisees "gathered together" against Jesus (Matthew 22:34). What does "in my name" add that makes a gathering different?

2The text in its context. Matthew 18:16 has just named "two or three witnesses" (Deuteronomy 19:15). How does that shape what the "two or three" of verse 20 gather to do?

Step 2Where it sits in Matthew 18 — The child, the lost sheep and the unforgiving servant around the paragraph.

3The hard part. Matthew 18:19 promises an answer "if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask." Beside Matthew 18:16's witnesses, how far does that "anything" reach?

Step 3Three steps — Verses 15-17: reproof from Leviticus 19:17, the witnesses of Deuteronomy 19:15, the church, and "Gentile and tax collector".
Step 4Binding and loosing — Verse 18 and how the translations divide.
Step 5Two or three in my name — Verses 19-20: the words, what is contested, and the claim to divine presence.

4Christ. Matthew opens with "God with us" (Matthew 1:23) and closes with "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Why does Jesus attach His presence to a church dealing with sin?

Step 6Praying alone, praying together — Why prayer does not depend on numbers, and why the church still meets.
Step 7Then and now — The apostles' practice, and the misuse to guard against.
Be transformed

5Be transformed. Jesus prayed "by himself" (Matthew 14:23). How would you pray alone this week as someone Jesus is with?

  • Think. Jesus is with you when you pray alone. A gathering adds brothers and sisters to the prayer; it does not add Jesus to the room.
  • Attitude. Confronting a brother's sin is pursuit. Go quietly and humbly: "between you and him alone", and "Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (Galatians 6:1, ESV).
  • Do. Pray alone this week, behind a shut door (Matthew 6:6). Then go and pray with your church, for what meeting together does for one another (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Page 1 of 2 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission

Where Two or Three Are Gathered

The point Jesus gives His church a way to go after a brother who has sinned — alone, then with witnesses, then together — and promises that when it gathers in His name to do it, He, God with us, stands among them; so you can confront sin as an act of love. And you can pray alone knowing He is with you, because His presence was never waiting for a second person to arrive.

The whole study, with every verse a tap awayhttps://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/where-two-or-three-are-gathered/
Page 2 of 2 · print double-sided, flip on long edgeScripture: BSB, public domain · ESV® © 2001 Crossway, used by permission
  • ESV Study Bible (Crossway) — ESV verse text throughout; notes on Matthew 16:19, 18:1-35 and Hebrews 10:24-25.
  • NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Zondervan) — notes on Matthew 18:15-20.
  • NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Zondervan) — notes on Matthew 16:19 and 18:15-20.
  • NLT Life Application Study Bible (Tyndale) — notes on Matthew 18:15-19.
  • Legacy Standard Bible, NASB 1995/2020, CSB — renderings and footnotes on Matthew 18:15 and 18:18.
  • Community Rule (1QS) 5:23-6:2 — transcription by Martin Abegg, James E. Bowley and Edward M. Cook, ETCBC dss Text-Fabric edition (CC BY-NC 4.0); translation this site's own.
  • Mishnah, Avot 3:2 and 3:6 — trans. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit, via Sefaria (CC-BY).
  • MACULA Greek (SBLGNT), MACULA Hebrew (WLC), unfoldingWord ULT/UGNT and the Open Scriptures Septuagint lemmas — Greek and Hebrew text, alignment and occurrence counts.

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