Curiously, some in a congregation have evidently construed something Jesus said to mean that congregations of the church ought to be small, rather than grow in number. The Scripture at the center of this inquiry is, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). I must profess that I have never heard of such an interpretation of that verse.
Part of the context in which the phrase “where two or three are gathered together” is as follows. “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:18-20 NKJV). Enough of the context appears here to show that our Lord was speaking exclusively to His apostles. Verse 18 pertains to Christ’s authorization of the apostles to speak doctrinally on behalf of God. Elsewhere, the result of their decisions on behalf of God and directed by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21) was called “the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42).
Usually, even members of the church lift Matthew 18:20 from its context (which they should not do) to teach about the presence of our Lord as Christians assemble to worship. Yes, Jesus, Who possesses all of the qualities of the Godhead, is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10; Matthew 28:20), and Jesus further said that He would be present during Christian worship (Matthew 26:29).
Matthew 18:20, though, does not teach that truth. Neither does Matthew 18:20 say anything at all about the size of a local congregation of the Lord’s church. On the contrary, occasionally thousands of early Christians assembled together at least sometimes (Acts 2:41; 4:4). The number of disciples assembling were called a “multitude” (Acts 4:32; 5:14; 6:2, 5; 15:12, 30).
