This is part two of Read It Again, a series on verses we get wrong and the reading habits that would have caught the mistake. Today, a favorite verse of small prayer meetings, and the three-letter word that opens it.

It is Wednesday night and six people have come. The fellowship hall smells like coffee that has been on the burner since five. Somebody looks around at the empty folding chairs and says it kindly, to take the sting out of the turnout. Well, where two or three are gathered.

I love a small prayer meeting, and the Lord is in that room. But that verse has nothing to do with attendance. Jesus spoke it about one of the hardest things a church ever has to do.

The Verse at the Prayer Meeting

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Matthew 18:20 NKJV

Read by itself, the verse sounds like a minimum headcount. Get two or three believers in a room and Christ shows up. That reading has a problem right away. Jesus told His disciples to pray alone in a room with the door shut, and promised the Father would be there (Matthew 6:6). He told them, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20 NKJV). Paul stood trial with no one beside him and wrote that the Lord stood with him (2 Timothy 4:16-17). Christ has never needed a quorum.

So what is the verse promising? The answer is in its first word.

Start at Verse 15

The verse begins with “for.” That word means Jesus is finishing a thought, and we have walked in on the last line of it. Back up five verses and listen to the whole thing.

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.”

Matthew 18:15-17 NKJV

There are the two or three, and they are witnesses. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 19:15, the rule that no charge in Israel could stand on one person’s word. He lays out a process. Go alone first. If that fails, bring one or two others. If that fails, bring it to the church. Then He says that what the church binds on earth is bound in heaven, and that if two agree about the matter the Father will act on it. And then comes our verse.

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

The two or three of verse 20 are the two or three of verse 16. Jesus is promising that when His people gather in His name to deal with sin in the family, with all the dread that comes with it, He is standing in the middle of the room. His authority is behind the decision. His heart for the brother is in it too, since the whole process aims at one result, “you have gained your brother.”

The two or three of verse 20 are the two or three witnesses of verse 16. Jesus promised to stand in the room when His church does the hard thing.

The Habit

Ask what the “for” is there for.

Small connecting words are the joints of a passage. For, therefore, but, because, so that. When a verse opens with one of them, its meaning is tied to what came before, and quoting it alone is like quoting the last line of an argument without the argument.

You can practice this anywhere in the New Testament. Romans 12:1 begins, “I beseech you therefore, brethren.” Therefore what? Eleven chapters of the mercies of God, which is why Paul can ask for a living sacrifice. Hebrews 12:1 begins, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” The witnesses are the men and women of chapter 11. In each case the connecting word sends you backward, and the verse opens up when you go.

Make it a reflex. When you see “for” or “therefore” at the front of a verse you love, put your finger on it and read the paragraph above.

The Words Under the Verse

Word	Original	Strong’s	Meaning
gar	γάρ	G1063	For, because. Ties verse 20 to the argument that began in verse 15
martys	μάρτυς	G3144	Witness. The “two or three” of verse 16, quoted from Deuteronomy 19:15
symphoneo	συμφωνέω	G4856	To agree, to sound together. The agreement of verse 19
ekklesia	ἐκκλησία	G1577	Church, assembly. The body that hears the matter in verse 17

For the Church That Has to Do the Hard Thing

Most churches would rather do anything than what Matthew 18 describes. Going to a brother about his sin feels like meddling. Bringing others feels like ganging up. So we say nothing, the sin grows, and the brother is lost by our politeness.

Jesus knew how much nerve this would take. That is why the promise is attached to it. The promise belongs to two frightened people sitting in a truck outside a friend’s house, praying before they knock. If you have ever had to be one of them, this verse was written for that night. And if you were ever the brother they came for, the same verse says who else came through the door with them, and what He was after. He wanted you back.

Discussion Questions

1. Read Matthew 18:15-20 as one paragraph. How does verse 20 change when you read it as the end of that paragraph?
2. Find a few verses you know that begin with “for” or “therefore.” Read the sentence before each one. What was each verse answering?
3. Jesus says the goal of the first conversation is that “you have gained your brother.” How should that goal shape the way the conversation is held?
4. Why do you think Jesus followed this teaching with the parable of the unforgiving servant in verses 21-35?
5. Have you seen a church handle sin well, or badly? What made the difference?

Going Deeper

Read Deuteronomy 19:15-21 to see the law of witnesses Jesus was quoting, then 2 Corinthians 13:1 and 1 Timothy 5:19, where Paul applies the same rule in the church. Read 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 for what a restored brother looks like. For more on reading a verse inside its paragraph, see Verses Are Not Fortune Cookies in the Feed Yourself series.