House Church Talk - Re: Two or three gathered

[Glenn Frank]

Hi Bruce,

The way I read Mat thew 18:20 is not so much His 'presence' He is talking
about (for as we both stated, He is present always... Whether we are there
or not) but Jesus was saying that when you resolve your conflict between
brothers in this way -- that is in essence Jesus saying "this is good"... Or
putting His blessing and approval on it.

When Jesus said this he was still in Bodily Human form. So I don't think his
intent in the verse was to say that when you resolve issues like this with
your brothers I will come running and stand there with you. He was saying
something like, "it is like I was here with you resolving your issue".


That is why I was saying that while it is true that God is there with us
when we gather (he is always with us... Not just when we gather)... This
verse is not a proof text for it. This verse is simply saying that when we
forgive and resolve sin between brothers in the right way, it has Jesus'
approval.

Glenn Frank





On 5/10/04 1:02 PM, "Bruce Woodford" <bwood4d at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Glenn,
> 
> When I'd asked:"So, whenever 2 or more believers come together to obey the
> Lord in anything He has commanded them to do, do you not think that His
> promise to be there in their midst is a very real promise?"...
> 
> You responded: "He is always in in our midst."
> 
> I agree with you in the sense that God is omnipresent. (Psalm 139)  But do
> you not think that the Lord Jesus'  promise in Matt.18:20 has much more to
> it than simply restating that He is present everywhere at all times?
> 
> He is ipresent even when we are not gathered at all!  He is present when 2
> or 3 ungodly people are gathered together!  He is ipresent when 2 or 3
> believers are gathered together in rebellion against His name!  So what do
> you think is the point of His promise, "Where two or three are gathered
> together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."???
> 
> Your brother in Christ,
> Bruce
> 
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