Matthew 18:20

Matthew 18:20. For. The ground of the promised answer is not human agreement, but the presence of Christ.

Where two or three. The order gives an intimation of increase.

In my name, i.e., as a Christian community, or church, although the application to Christian assemblies is a natural consequence.

There am I in the midst of them. Agreement in prayer had the promise of an answer; unity in the name of Jesus that of Christ's presence. The marks of a true Church: not size, success, nor succession, but an inward life of prayer and an outward life of confession (‘in my name'). When ecclesiasticism abuses the authority indicated in Matthew 18:17-18, the two or three (agreeing in prayer and conscious of the presence of Christ) are assured that they are still Christ's people. This passage, despite the abuse of it, remains a justification of Protestantism.