`Again, I say to you, that, if two of you may agree on the earth concerning anything, whatever they may ask -- it shall be done to them from my Father who is in the heavens, (Matt.18:19)
The above verse is perhaps one of the most misused and abused verses in all of scripture. It is particularly abused by many in the charismatic movement. When reading this verse, as with any passage of scripture, it is extremely important to note: who is speaking, to whom is it being spoken, with what words, where, when, to what intent, under what circumstances and noting what came before and what follows after (a.k.a. the golden rule of interpretation). This is how we read things in everyday life such as newspapers, novels, etc. but for some reason, people do not do this when reading the most important words, we can read, the Word of God.
Before looking at the total passage, let us address the misapplication of this verse and the inherent dangers of doing so. This verse is commonly used as proof of a promise to bring everything from physical well-being to financial well-being into existence through claiming this promise in agreement with others.
Here is how it goes: Betty has just received bad test results from her doctor. She has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer which the doctors say is likely terminal. She has been told she needs to seek aggressive treatment. Betty is concerned and turns to her Pastor, Pastor Bob. Pastor Bob calls on fellow believers to come forward with Betty and pray that they “agree” that Betty is “the healed” and that they believe that God will heal Betty of this cancer. They believe this because the verse above says that “it shall be done”. Notice the unqualified “shall”. The verse above does not say, “it may be done” or “it might be done” or “it quite possibly may be done”. The verse is emphatic that what is asked “shall” be done.
Let’s suppose, that Betty passes away from this illness soon after. The obvious question (after Betty passed away) was, “Why was Bettynot healed?” After all, two (or 200) in agreement, asked God and claimed that Betty was” the healed”. What went wrong? If you ask Pastor Bob why Betty died, you may hear one or any combination of the following statements:
➢ “Betty didn’t have enough faith.”
➢ “I didn’t have enough faith.”
➢ “We didn’t have enough faith.”
➢ “Someone spoke negativity into the situation.”
➢ “Betty had secret sin in her life which caused her not to be healed.”
What you will very rarely hear is the correct answer: “It was not God’s will to heal Betty.” This answer is the absolute truth. There is also relative truth as to why she was not healed and it all has to do with “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (see 2 Timothy 2:15) and recognizing that not every promise in the bible is to us. As a matter of fact, most promises in the bible are not to us or about us. For example, God promised Abraham and Sarah a child in their old age. Is that a promise we can claim now? Hopefully, you said, “Of course not, that would be ridiculous!” Yet, other promises made by God or The Lord and detailed in Scripture are as a commonplace practice, erroneously claimed by people today. The mere fact that following the formula laid out in Matthew 18:19 does not always work now is the only proof you need, that this promise is not applicable today. Yet, promises are claimed and verses are taken out of context. Typically, Isaiah 53:5 which says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” People tend to zero in on the “healed” in that verse but miss the immediate context of just what type of healing is being described by the prophet. Why was He “wounded” and “bruised”? The Scripture says, “for our sins” and “our transgressions”. Therefore, the healing in the verse is in connection with the remedy for sins and transgressions; not physical (let alone financial) ailments.
What’s the harm? The potential harm is huge and far-reaching. Consider just a few of the possible unintended consequences:
➢ Suppose that Betty (as a show of faith to God) decides not to undergo the treatment the medical professionals prescribe.
➢ If in God’s plan, He heals Betty even though she did not receive medical treatment, will that cause others to believe THAT is God’s formula for healing?
➢ How will this impact Betty’s friends and loved ones? Will it impact them for the better or worse?
➢ What will be the impact on believers and unbelievers alike regardless of the outcome for Betty and what impact will it have on how they view how God operates?
If Matthew 18:19 is taught as being truth for today, what impact does that have on people’s view of God and His Word? Will it cause people to discount God’s promises which are in operation today? It may well even cause people to doubt God completely. Even if it does not, it gives people a false outlook on how God operates in this era. It relegates God to a “wish granting genie” and is trotted out by the likes of Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen and other charlatans who have become mega-wealthy by selling Christians a steady diet of twisted out of context scriptures and outright unscriptural teachings.
You may be saying at this point, “Phillip, are you saying that parts of the bible are untrue?!?!” No, absolutely not. I will even go as far as to say that whatever was asked of the Father by those specific people, in that period of time was 100% of the time granted by the Father. God never fails in His promises.
And in those days cometh John the Baptist, proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, `Reform, for come nigh hath the reign of the heavens,'
“and he answering said, `I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'” (Matt.15:24)
“And I say Jesus Christ to have become a ministrant of circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers,” (Rom.15:8)
While the entire bible is for us, it is not all to us or about us. We live in what can be described as a parenthesis, the Pauline parenthesis. The thirteen letters of Paul (Romans through Philemon) make up a “pause” in God’s operation with Israel (The name “Paul” means “to pause” by the way). The remainder of scripture is to and about Israel and God’s dealings with His chosen people according to the flesh. God made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob via the prophets. Jesus was sent to fulfill those promises, just as the passage in Romans 15 states. Jesus was and is Israel’s long-promised Messiah who will shepherd Israel here on earth during His reign after His second coming. At that time, Israel will be a nation of priests (as prophesied by Moses in Exodus 19). Again, God never fails in His promises.
“Since also Jews ask a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom,”(1Cor.1:22)
If you begin reading in Matthew 17 and go through 18, you get the full context of the promise Jesus made to the disciples. Why did Jesus perform miracles during His earthly ministry? He performed miracles because the Jews needed signs. Throughout God’s operation with His chosen people, He used signs and His prophets would foretell of signs. Jesus was demonstrating that He was the Messiah and this was the case beginning with Matthew 17:14 and continuing through the verse we are contemplating. Jesus was approached by a man whose son was possessed by a demon. The man explained to the Lord that he first went to his disciples but they had been unable to help. Jesus cast out the demon, healing the child. The disciples could not understand why they were unable to cast out the demon. The Lord said that if they even have the faith of a mustard seed, they could move a mountain. We know from scripture that each person is given a “measure of faith” (Rom.12:3) but Christ had faith without measure. Jesus then explained to the disciples that He would be delivered up to be put to death and would be roused 3 days later. Then in chapter 18 beginning in verse 1 the disciples ask Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven and The Lord tells them their faith must be like that of a little child to enter the kingdom. As we come to verse 19, Jesus is speaking to the disciples foretelling that if any 2 of them are gathered together, He will be with them and that if they ask anything pertaining here, it shall be done by the Father.
Why is this important and why is Jesus alluding to them being empowered in this manner? It is important because, after Jesus is resurrected, they are to tarry in Jerusalem (Lu.24:49) until the power of holy spirit comes upon them. That would then preach Jesus as the Messiah and offer the Kingdom of the Heavens to Israel which had been promised to Israel’s patriarchs. Israel would (nationally) be called to repentance for the specific sin of killing their Messiah. During this time, the disciples spoke in tongues (so that those listening would understand in their own dialect and language); they healed the lame, etc. This was all done pointing Israel to Christ. Thousands came to belief but the final offering of the kingdom, came when Peter, James and John were brought before the Sanhedrin (Acts 5). This was the high council of Israel. If they had believed, all of Israel would have followed suit.
Did this happen? No. It wasn’t in God’s timing for Israel to believe. Romans 11:8 says, “according as it hath been written, `God gave to them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear,' -- unto this very day,” Similarly, in Matthew 13:10, the disciples asked Jesus why he spoke to the multitudes in parables. I was always taught in “church” that He spoke to them in parables to make what He was teaching easier to understand. Is that so? Jesus answered them by saying, “`To you it hath been given to know the secrets of the reign of the heavens, and to these it hath not been given,”. This dismisses the previously mentioned theory on why The Lord spoke to the people in parables. Jesus went on to say in verse 15: “for made gross was the heart of this people, and with the ears they heard heavily, and their eyes they did close, lest they might see with the eyes, and with the ears might hear, and with the heart understand, and turn back, and I might heal them.” Did you catch that last part? It ties in with Romans 15:8 above. If they understood, if their eyes and ears had been opened, they would have turned back and Jesus would have healed them. But this was not in God’s timing to do so.
Just as Israel was turned away from the Promised Land to wander in the wilderness due to unbelief, so has the Kingdom of the Heavens been placed in abeyance due to their unbelief. Does that nullify God’s promise? As the Apostle Paul would say, “may it not be coming to that?” The Kingdom has been postponed.
“Have all gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? and desire earnestly the better gifts; and yet a far excelling way do I shew to you: If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling; and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing; and if I give away to feed others all my goods, and if I give up my body that I may be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing. The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, doth not act unseemly, doth not seek its own things, is not provoked, doth not impute evil, rejoiceth not over the unrighteousness, and rejoiceth with the truth; all things it beareth, all it believeth, all it hopeth, all it endureth. The love doth never fail; and whether [there be] prophecies, they shall become useless; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall become useless; for in part we know, and in part we prophecy;and when that which is perfect may come, then that which [is] in part shall become useless. When I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe; for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known; and now there doth remain faith, hope, love -- these three; and the greatest of these [is] love.” (1 Cor. 12:30-13:31)
The revelations made by the Risen and Glorified Lord to the Apostle Paul were progressive and progressed over several years. At the beginning of Paul’s ministry, Israel had not yet been set aside. The gospel of God’s transcendent grace had not yet been revealed to Paul. So too, the gifts of the spirit (tongues, healings, prophecy) were still in operation. As the kingdom receded away and as the scriptures were nearing completion, those gifts began to recede away as well. In Paul’s letters to the Corinthians you will find that speaking in tongues (for example) was still in operation but Paul foretold that the time was approaching when those gifts of the spirit would be replaced (1Cor. 12:31-13:13). Paul describes the gifts of the spirit as expedients (to get the ball rolling so to speak) and aspects of immaturity in the faith (“…when I was a child…”) but replacing these gifts would be faith, hope and love (and “love never faileth…”) to bring the member of the Body of Christ into maturity.
Through the progression of Paul’s letters (especially in the perfection letters, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians) we see the gifts of healings and such receding into nothing. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he explains how 3 times, he had prayed that his thorn in the flesh be taken from him (see 1Cor. 12:7-10). Instead, The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Paul’s son in the faith, Timothy, had stomach ailments. Did Paul gather believers and “agree” that Timothy “is the healed”? No, Paul advised Timothy “…use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake…”(1 Tim.5:23).
“lo, I give to you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you;” (Lk.10:19)
Do you know what the verse above has in common with Matthew 18:19? If you guessed that it is misused and abused today…you are 100% correct!! The above verse was (again) a specific promise to specific people for a specific time…to accomplish a specific and practical purpose. What is an example of a misuse and abuse of this verse? A mountain preacher handling a rattlesnake to show-off to others,his own faith and tempt God is in my opinion quite possibly a misuse of that verse. No different with Matthew 18:19. It represents the same abuse and the same potentially disastrous results.
“Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: In those days take hold do ten men of all languages of the nations, Yea, they have taken hold on the skirt of a man, a Jew, saying: We go with you, for we heard God [is] with you!” (Zech.8:23)
“having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them -- to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days -- till the full end of the age.'” (Matt.28:19-20)
I want to share in closing, something interesting. The promise of The Lord in Matthew 18:19, while not in operation now, has also not (I believe) seen its total fulfillment either. Israel was promised to become a nation of priests in Exodus 19:5. This has not yet come to pass. It will come to pass and it will come to pass after the Christ Jesus returns to earth and establishes His Kingdom which had been postponed due to Israel’s unbelief.
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