WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER (PART V)

“If Two of You Shall Agree on Earth as Touching Anything?”

By Akin Ojumu

Even as a wet behind the ears believer who knew next to nothing about the intricacies of Scripture, I was taught that to get the meaning of a particular Bible verse, I must read the verses before and the verses after. What I was being taught back then, without even realizing it, was the interpretative technique of using context as the means to understand Scripture. It’s only recently, many years later, that I fully appreciate the importance of interpreting Bible texts within their proper contexts.

In the last installment of this commentary series, we examined what the Lord Jesus meant when He told His disciples that what they bind on earth is bound in heaven, and what they loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Just as with any other Bible text, the correct interpretation of Matthew 18:18 can be found in the context in which the text exists.

The expressions “bind” and “loose” were common to Jewish legal phraseology used to declare something forbidden or to declare it allowed. In the two instances where the phrase, “whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven,” occurs in the Bible, i.e., Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18, the meaning is similar in both instances. 

Matthew 16:19

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Have received the Great Commission, Peter and the rest of the disciples were to go out into all the world and proclaim the Gospel. The Gospel that they proclaimed was the key to God’s kingdom. Because the faith to believe and be saved comes by hearing the Gospel message, anyone who believes the Gospel is saved and ushered (i.e. loosed or permitted) into God’s kingdom. Those who do not believe are condemned and barred (i.e. bound or forbidden) from God’s kingdom. 

Mark 16:15-16

“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned…””

On the Day of Pentecost, when Peter preached the first Gospel message in Acts 2:14-41, the Apostles put the key to the kingdom into use for the very first time. On that day alone, three thousand souls were ushered into the kingdom of God. By proclaiming the Gospel, the Apostles used the keys to God’s kingdom to “loose” (i.e., save) those who believed and to “bound” (i.e. damn) those who did not believe.

Acts 2:37-41

“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.””

In the other instance where the phrase, “whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven,” occurs in the Bible, it’s in the context of the discipline of a believer who has sinned.

Matthew 18:18 (NASB 1995)

“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.”

If, after providing a wayward believer the right of fair trial and the Church has done its due diligence to examine all the facts and evidence in the matter, the believer still refuses to repent of their sin, the Church is left with no choice than to excommunicate the individual. 

As long as the divine guideline has been followed to the letter as laid out in Matthew 18:15-17, the last resort decision to excommunicate an impenitent believer has the backing of God. When the Church takes this action, it is acting consistent with God’s decree.

When churches make such judgments on the basis of God’s Word, they can be sure heaven is in accord. In other words, whatever they “bind” or “loose” on earth is already “bound” or “loosed” in heaven. When the church says the unrepentant person is bound in sin, the church is saying what God says about that person. When the church acknowledges that a repentant person has been loosed from that sin, God agrees (Source: The MacArthur Bible Commentary).

In the last iteration of this commentary series, we said the reason we know that the Church’s decision to excommunicate an impenitent believer has divine ratification is based on the two assurances given to us by the Lord Jesus Himself. These assurances are the two legal legs on which the weighty decision to expel an unrepentant believer from the Church stands.

Matthew 18:18-20

“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. 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. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

We indicated that the first assurance was the Lord Jesus’ statement when He said: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  

The second assurance for the legitimacy of Church’s decision to excommunicate an unrepentant believer is, again, the Lord Jesus’ statement when He said:

Matthew 18:19-20

“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. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Like the “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” statement, Matthew 18:19-20 are also commonly misinterpreted and misapplied by church folks. Let’s take them one verse at a time to examine what the Lord Jesus was saying here.

Matthew 18:19

“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.”

This is the verse on which the “prayer of agreement” concept is based. Popularized by Kenneth Hagin and spread around the world by the Word of Faith Movement, prayer of agreement is the practice where two or more believers unite in prayer for a specific need. As it is widely understood, if a believer wants to get God to grant his desire, all he needs to do is to invite one or more other believers to join with him to pray about the said desire. As soon as they all pray together, i.e., agree in prayer, about the matter, God is duty bound to grant the request.

In his book titled, Prayer Secret, Kenneth Hagin describes this concept using Matthew 18:19 as prooftext:

The Lord’s strength backs the prayer of agreement. Jesus is the one who told us, “If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:19 NKJV). Jesus did not say it might be done or there was a possibility it could be done. Instead, He said it shall be done! Let’s take God at His Word. Don’t argue with the Bible – side with it! God’s Word is true. If you don’t have someone who can agree with you, call us!”

Of course, this is totally unbiblical. It’s a gross twisting and distortion of Mattew 18:19. The context of this verse is the ultimate discipline to be meted out to a believer who refuses to repent of their sin after the Church has gone through the established protocol of restoring the individual. 

After all attempts to get the transgressing believer to repent and be reconciled back to God have failed, the Church is left with no choice but to excommunicate the unrepentant believer. When the Church takes the final, last resort, step to excommunicate an impenitent believer, the Bible says that God ratifies the decision. 

Specifically, Matthew 18:19 is addressing the endorsement by God of the decision by the Church to excommunicate an impenitent believer. This verse is not a promise from God that whenever two or three Christians come together to ask God for anything that they will automatically receive what they ask for. Such an interpretation and understanding of Matthew 18:19 directly contradicts other Bible passages which explicitly teach us that God will grant us our wishes in prayers only when they are consistent with His will.

1 John 5:14

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

The word “agree” in Matthew 18:19 is the Greek word, sumphōneō, from which we get the word “symphony.” It means “to produce a sound together.”  When the Church looks into the allegation of sin in the life of a believer, and everyone agrees, i.e., in unison or symphony, that the sin is unrepented, and the Church decides to banish the believer from the Church, God will be in agreement with the decision. And the “anything” in Matthew 18:19 is the discipline meted out to an unrepentant believer. The “two” in the verse are the two witnesses who confirm and corroborate the unrepentant sin.

Excommunicating a believer from the Church is a difficult but necessary decision that must be taken in a situation where a believer who has sinned refuses to repent. This is a grave undertaken that must occur only after the Church has prayerfully and carefully followed the biblical pattern established in Matthew 18:15-20. 

After the Church has thoroughly looked into the allegation of sin in the life of a believer, and it is conclusively, collectively, and unanimously established that the believer is still in sin and remains unrepentant, if the Church determines that the only disciplinary option left is to excommunicate the guilty party, Matthew 18:19 is the reassurance to the Church that God is agreement with the decision. And this is what “if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” means.

Matthew 18:19 is not about you agreeing with someone in prayer so that God can answer your prayer for a husband, a wife, a job, a house, a brand new car, or anything. Such an interpretation of the verse is a lie from the pit of hell.

To be continued.