Are Our Prayers More Effective If Two or More of Us Pray for the Same Thing?

Every cultural group has it's own myths. Webster defines  a myth as  a commonly held idea that has no basis in fact. I recently debunked the  pervasive myth we have in America that 50 % of all marriages end in divorce.

Evangelical Christians have myths like any other social group. Several  such myths arise out of misunderstood passages of scripture. One such myth is that if two or more believers make the same prayer request God has obligated Himself to  grant their request. Based on a  dubiously drawn conclusion from: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:18-20 ESV), some say our prayers are more effective if two or more agree. 


Does  the wording "anything they ask" mean whatever they ask for in prayer? When you compare this reference to Jesus promise in John 14: 14  "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." Can we assume Jesus reference to"anything they ask" of Matthew 18:19 is equivalent to "asking anything in his name" in John 14:14? If praying in His name assures a certain outcome in our prayers, then how much more power do two, three or more praying in his name have? Does the promise of Matthew 18:19  that believers receive "anything they ask" when assembled in groups of two or more mean the power of our prayers is proportional to the number of people praying? 

A more careful examination of both John 14:14 and Matthew 18:19 reveals that both promises are conditional. The meaning of both texts is determined by both language and context. John 14:14 is a promise conditioned on  praying in his name. Christians receive what they ask when they pray in his name. In a later post we will examine the meaning of "praying in his name." You have the same kind of qualifying statement in the promise related to two or three agreeing: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18 ESV) When two or three Christian gathered together to bind on earth what is bound in heaven or to loose on earth what is loosed in heaven they receive what they seek. Binding and loosing is a reference to the moral and spiritual authority of the local church. The situation referred to in Matthew 18:19 is quite different from that in John 14:14. While John 14 is clearly a reference to prayer, there is no reference to prayer anywhere Matthew 18.

There are two principle reasons why the promise  given to those who ask in his name in John 14:14 is dissimilar to a promise given to those "being gathered" together in Matthew 18:19. First, since prayer is no where in view in Matthew chapter 18 the promise to "be with them," may refers to something other than prayer. Second, the idea that two or more Christians have the ability to determine what God does, makes God's subject to human desire and purposes. While the scripture is clear that God hears the humble, repentant, prayers of his assembled people (2 Chronicle 7:14), the promise of Matthew 18:19 relates to something quite different indeed. 


In Matthew 18 Jesus describes the Christian life as one of contrition. Jesus tells his followers they need to be as vulnerable as children. He offers two caveats: One, he warns those who exploit weak children. (Matthew 18: 1-14) Second, He instruct believers to respond to those believers who go astray morally. When in the process of correcting a believer living in sin two or more believers may ask God to bind or loose them from the blessings and protection of his kingdom. Binding and loosing relate in some way to the moral and spiritual authority of the church especially where one person has wronged another

Jesus establishes a process of restoration of relationships where one party has wronged another. First, Jesus tells the offended to go and confront the the offender face-to-face. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."(Matthew 18:15 ESV) If the person accepts responsibility for offending you, you are to reconcile with each other and God (Matthew 18:21-35). If the confrontation is dismissed or rejected Jesus instructs the offended party to confront the offender again, only with some help."But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.(Matthew 18:16 ESV). The purpose of having additional people participate is not to add pressure or manipulate a confession, but to give credibility to the claim that a sin has been committed. It is to assure that the offended party is not just overly sensitive or prejudiced but that a transgression has indeed been committed. It keeps the offender from saying to the offended, "Well that's your opinion. I've done nothing wrong." If the offending believer still spurns the confrontation, claiming the gospel means they are not subject to human judgement, it becomes a matter for church intervention. Jesus clearly gives the church moral authority over it's members, "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." (Matthew 18:17 ESV).

Believers who are claiming the promise of Matthew 18:19 ("if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven") are calling on God to exercise his corrective discipline on a wayward child. Jesus explains how the church bind and looses kingdom authority in both the illustration he uses to explain the promise and the principle He asserts. Jesus tells the offended party whose attempt at reconciling the offender has failed to "tell it to the church." But what did He mean by the church? It would have needed clarification since at the time Jesus said this no church existed, and at the time Matthew wrote his gospel, it only existed in its incipient form." He explains what the church is by comparing the way the church responds to the wayward member with the way the synagogue responded to the Gentile and tax collector. The disciples to whom Jesus spoke and the early Christian to whom Matthew wrote were familiar with how the synagogue responded to those Jews who betrayed the faith and became tax collectors or those Gentiles who lived outside the covenant. The blessing and protection of a relationship with God was denied them. So he uses what they know, the synagogue practice of dealing with transgressors and outsiders to explain how the church, which they did not know, would related to those who professed Christ, but whose lives dishonored Him. Just as those who either offended Israel or lived out side the Old Testament covenant, were denied the blessing and promises of God, those who profess Christ yet dishonor him in their lives can be denied His blessing.

Although Jesus uses the illustration of the synagogue to explain what they should do the principle he states explains why they should do it, and clarifies the promise of Matthew 18:19. The principle on which this corrective action and the promise that follows is based on is "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18 ESV) What is it that is "bound or loosed on earth" that is also "bound or loosed in heaven?" When are two or more agreeing to bind or to loose in both heaven and earth. To understand the promise of Matthew 18:19 we need to go to original place where this principle is explained along with a similar statement in a different context that help us understand the meaning of binding and loosing. The principle of binding and loosing reminded the disciples of the very first confession of faith:

"Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered him,'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ." (Matthew 16:13-20 ESV)

The first time the principle of binding and loosing is asserted is following Peter's confession of faith upon which Jesus says He would build the church. One comes into the church through the same confession Peter made -- that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." When a person confesses Christ they enter into relationship with Him through a community who lives by this confession and to whom "keys to the kingdom" are given and victory over "the gates of hell" is certain. Those who make this confession of Christ as Savior become citizens of the divine kingdom on earth receiving it's blessings, living under it's power authority and glory; they will prevail against the gates of hell, meaning they will also have a heavenly authority. What is bound to the confessional community- the church- on earth, will be bound to it in heaven; whatever is "loosed from the confessional community- the church on earth, will be loosed in heaven. A Christian lives in a community, the church, of blessing and the authority in heaven and on earth. 

Although no person is saved by joining the church on the earth, a person is spiritually and morally joined to the church on the earth when they are saved. The blessings of salvation comes through the work and ministry of the church on earth. The promises of God are claimed in relationship to the church on earth. The church has the responsibility of gathering souls to the kingdom, defining who the legitimate believers are, and instructing them how they are to live and of correcting them when they sin. In Matthew 18: 18 binding and loosing on earth and heaven relates to the local church's authority to discipline- to put people out of the church on the earth, which has bearing on their relationship with the church in heaven. Our relationship with the local church is a reflection of our relationship with the church universal. If we are separated from the church on the earth (loosed); we are separated (loosed) from the church in heaven. If we are connected (bound) to the church on earth; we are connected (bound) to the church in heaven. In a similar passage the Apostle John makes it clear that the connection with the local church has serious implications for one's eternal destiny and relationship with Christ.

The gospel of John is full of anticipation of when Jesus is going to establish his kingdom. After Jesus rises from the dead he explains to them that the time they have anticipated is just around the corner:

"On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.' " (John 20:19-23 ESV)

On the evening of His resurrection Jesus gave the disciples a foretaste of the Spirit's baptism they would receive at Pentecost and told them that they would be participants in the reign of peace and reconciliation that He promised. He gave His disciples a foretaste of what they would receive at Pentecost, and what they would make available to all people through the founding of the church. Forgiveness of sins and peace with God was something the Spirit would give the Apostles, as founders of the church, the ability to bestow or deny. Although no one's sins are forgiven or peace with God obtained by joining a church, peace with God and forgiveness of sins are joined when one is connected with a church. Salvation brings us into relationship God and with his church in heaven and on earth (1 John 1:3). 

Matthew 18:19 is the promise that two or more believers, as representatives of the church on earth, can call upon God to bestow or deny the blessing of peace and forgiveness on the life of one who has fallen morally. But when verse 17 says tell it to the church to whom does He refer? The organized church with ordinance, sacraments, clergy and laity did not exist either at the time of Jesus command or at Matthew's writing of his gospel. Does "binding and loosing" in the life of a wayward believer have to be done in a public setting. Does a believer in a 1,000 member church who is confronted by and individual, then two or three have to be confronted before the entire assembly or the governing board of the church? Who is the church that carries this authority in this passage. Since the church is where Christ dwells (1 Corinthians 3:16 & 17) any group of two or more believers have the authority to deny or bestow peace and salvation. Any two or more believers who have made the confession of Peter and received the same Spirit the apostles did acting together make up the church for the purpose of binding and loosing. When two or more of us, who recognize our own flawed character, have followed the steps Christ gives, then ask God to honor his promise to bind or loose peace and forgiveness in the life of a believers God will honor that request.

Although a person who has been disciplined can leave a church or ignore our admonition they can never escape the authority bestowed by the promise of Matthew 18:19. In a previous post I told of a time that I and a Christian co-worker confronted a third Christian co-worker, the general manager of the company for which we both worked, about his immoral life. He ignored us and rejected our statement, saying his lifestyle was "none of our business." My friend and I responded to him with Matthew 18: 18 ("Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven") in mind. I said to him, "The integrity of the kingdom of God, God's reputation and our testimony is our business." Outwardly nothing changed. His local church, as far as I know, took no action; however, something happened spiritually. The man's life continued to spiral out of control. The business which had been flourishing, almost immediately began to wane and eventually failed. Despite his seeking the pleasure of sin, he lost the peace and blessing of God on his life family and business. The business closed and I lost touch with the people involved. I do not know whether he ever repented and returned to fellowship with God, but I have no doubt that God acted on the prayer of my colleague and I to bind this man's life to the moral authority of the gospel on heaven and earth and to loose him from the blessing peace and protection he had when he walked in fellowship with God? My friend and I held our boss accountable for his life and testimony and lovingly admonished him to bring his life under the authority of the church on earth. He rejected our plea and I wonder if the decline of his business and personal life was God honoring his promise to connect the peace and forgiveness the gospel offers with the verbal agreement of two believers, both who had confessed Christ as Lord, we spoke for the church on earth and the kingdom of God in heaven?

When properly understood Matthew 18:19 &20 is a wonderful promise of God's blessing and protection over us. Regardless of the strength of the forces against us two or more believers can ask God to bring them into the experience of his peace and forgiveness and He will. When professing believers in the organizations, institutions and relationships in our lives turn from God the church can exercise it's authority to bind and to loose. We can expect God to draw the person back to him by lifting his divine peace and protection from their lives until they return (Lk 22:31). 

When properly understood Matthew 18:19 & 20 is a caveat to treating the gospel seriously. Salvation is not effected by how we live, but salvation certainly effects how we live. Matthew 18: 19 & 20 should caution us from living an autonomous independent Christian life with no moral bounds. It is a warning about the impropriety of being isolated and disconnected from the local church. Matthew 18: 19 & 20 is far more than a promise of answered prayer. It is an assurance that the blessing peace and forgiveness God offers will never escape those who live in agreement with it.

For Christians living in a time of moral decline and spiritual opposition, the promise of Matthew 18:19 gives us hope. In situations where our moral values or biblical world view are challenged we can call upon God to bring the full authority of heaven onto earth. This promise is the practical realization of Jesus prayer, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done." When the powers of hell itself are at work against us two or three of us together can call upon God to show his power authority and to honor his name. God will all ways grant that request. His name will be honored, His power and glory shown, His peace and forgiveness will prevail when the church -- any two or more believers-- binds or loose on earth to whatever is bound or loosed in heaven.

















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