Matthew 18:18-20

Matthew 18:18-20 is often used in asking God for wealth, but those verses have nothing to do with asking God for wealth, instead they are talking about the topic of church discipline.

Matthew 18:18 – “Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

18:19 – 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.

18:20 – For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.”

Almost every time someone mentions Matthew 18:18-20, they use that part of scripture incorrectly, for many, Matthew 18:18-20 is thought to say, that if 2 or 3 Christians agree on something, then God will give them whatever they ask, but that is not what Matthew 18:18-20 is talking about, and if we read what comes before verses 18 19 & 20 we will clearly see what the Messiah is talking about.

Matthew 18:15 – “And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

18:16 – But if he does not listen to you, take one or more with you, so that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

18:17 – ‘And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax gatherer.”

Once the Messiah is done with his story, he then says, “truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be 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, there I am in their midst.” (Matthew 18:18-20).

Matthew 18:18-20 is often used in asking God for wealth, but those verses have nothing to do with asking God for wealth, instead they are talking about the topic of church discipline, Matthew 18:18-20 is about disciplining a brother who is in sin, ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ has nothing to do with God releasing wealth into the hands of His people, as is often taught, but instead ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ is used in terms for the enactment of discipline or removal from the church when a brother is in sin.

And when the Messiah says, “For where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.” he is not saying that he is only present when 2 or 3 Christians are gathered together. Since the Holy Spirit lives in those who are born of the Spirit, the Messiah is always in the midst of those who are born of the Spirit, instead the Messiah is saying, that when the church is gathered together for the purpose of formalizing a case of discipline (1 Cor 5:1-4), he himself will be there to give his approval.

If Matthew 18:18-20 isn’t accompanied with Matthew 18:15-17, then Matthew 18:18-20 is being used incorrectly, ‘loosing’ & ‘binding’ has nothing to do with binding the devil, or loosing, releasing wealth from heaven, as is often taught.

Matthew 18:19 is not saying, that if 2 Christians agree in prayer about anything that it will be done for them, the true answer to why prayer is answered is found in 1 John 5:14-15.

And in regards to Matthew 18:20, no one born of the Spirit has to be gathered with anyone else that believes Yeshua is the Messiah, for the Messiah to be in their midst, because the Messiah is always with anyone that is born of the Spirit.

1 John 5:14 – This is the confidence which we have before him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us

1 John 5:15 – And if we know that he hears us {in} whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from him.

Matthew 18:18-20 is about church discipline and nothing else, without reading Matthew 18:15-17 first, Matthew 18:18-20 won’t make sense.