Where 2 or 3 gather God is there but is that a prayer meeting?

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Misreading Matthew 18:20 as a Prayer Meeting Promise

There are some passages of the Bible that are just misinterpreted and misapplied over and over again. One of those passages, probably one of the most common ones, is Matthew 18, verse 20, which states, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.

That is an encouraging passage to many people who have small churches or a Wednesday night Bible study where they are having a few people in numbers. And they use this passage to say where there's two or three gathered, Jesus is here.

But is that speaking of a prayer meeting? Actually, no. How do we know the meaning of this passage? We look at the context. What you end up seeing from this context is that this is dealing with an issue where a brother has sinned against another brother.

And they've gone to them privately, and they didn't repent. So they went and brought two or three witnesses, as required in the Old Testament, and those are the two or three. So it says, For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them.

That's referring to the two or three witnesses that witness someone who is unrepentant in sin. This isn't a prayer meeting. This is people who are going to have to put someone out of the church, which no one wants to do.

And it's an assurance that those two or three witnesses witness the unrepentance, and God is there with them. That's how this passage should be interpreted.

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