If you've ever watched a fantasy movie where some mixture of collected elements is needed in order for some magical effect to take place, you know that most of the time it never works the first go-around. It's a common trope used for anticipation for when it does work. Usually, it's because there is some missing element or some tainted element. In one of my favorite movies, Army of Darkness, the clueless protagonist must repeat the right words in order to receive the reward and avoid waking the army of the dead. Of course, you see by the title of the movie, he doesn't quite get it right. He says some words to make a good show, but the act doesn't work. The dead come forth. His attempt to cover it up with other words that are not the same is just smoke and mirrors and hocus pocus. It doesn't work.
I don't say this because I mean to imply that there is some magical equation that will make sure that Christ is speaking through the elders in Matthew 18. However, I do want to note that I think a major component that Christ mentions here has been very much misunderstood, and without that component, we have no assurance that Christ is speaking through a group of elders.
The passage is as follows:
15 Ἐὰν δὲ ἁμαρτήσῃ ⸋[εἰς σὲ]⸌ ὁ ἀδελφός σου,* ὕπαγε ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου· *16 ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσῃ, παράλαβε ⸂μετὰ σοῦ ἔτι ἕνα ἢ δύο⸃, ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος ⸄δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν⸅ σταθῇ πᾶν ῥῆμα· 17 ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν,* εἰπὲ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ,* ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ⸆ ὁ τελώνης. *18 Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν· ὅσα ἐὰν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένα ἐν ⸀οὐρανῷ, καὶ ὅσα ἐὰν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν ⸁οὐρανῷ. *19 Πάλιν ⸀[ἀμὴν] λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν δύο ⸂συμφωνήσωσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν⸃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται,* γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς.* 20 ⸂οὗ γάρ εἰσιν⸃ δύο ἢ τρεῖς συνηγμένοι εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα,* ⸀ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.
Now, if your brother sins [against you], go, speak to him just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two people, so that upon the testimony of two or three witnesses every spoken word will be established. But if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. But if he refuses to listen to the assembly, he is to be to you as a pagan and a tax gatherer. I tell you an absolute fact, Whatever you bind on earth is in the state of boundness in heaven and whatever you release upon the earth is in a state of release in heaven. Again, I say this to you [as an absolute fact], If two among you are in agreement concerning any matter about which they ask, it will be brought about for them by My Father who is in heaven, because where two or three are gathered together in My Name, I am there in their midst.
Now, this passage has been used by every contradictory group to place everyone else on church discipline, excommunicate the other, justify sins, and condemn all sorts of things that are not sin. Why? Well, because if you can just get two or three elders together to agree then you can claim that Christ has spoken through you and you just have to trust that.
However, that's not what this text says. It doesn't say if you just get two or three elders to agree. The Lord adds to what He says with a qualifier that is often ignored. You need elders, as it is made clear throughout Matthew that this is a reference to the apostolic authority that is given to elders/pastors from the apostles. What it actually says is that you have to have two or three elders who are gathered together, agree, and are in Christ's Name.
Now, let me make it really clear that this phrase is completely misunderstood. People think that if they pray and say, "in Jesus' name," this somehow fulfills the element needed here. They think if they believe in their heads that the meeting is "in the name of Jesus," this is all that is needed.
However, what it actually means is found in the understanding of what Jesus means by "My Name." I've talked about this a bit in other circles but someone's "name" used in this manner is a synecdoche for the entire person and character of the person who has that name. The name represents who Jesus is. His person and character. So what this is actually saying is that the two or three have to have the person and character of Jesus Christ within them.
What this means is twofold. 1. One must actually be a Christian. 2. One must actually have the character of Christ, not just the claim to be a Christian. Any elders who fail either to be genuine Christians or to claim to be Christians but lack the actual mind and character of Christ have no promise here that their decisions are Christ's decisions.
There goes a whole lot of claims made by ecclesiastical authorities from Popes to paupers. It's easy to do evil and then form a church and then declare yourselves innocent by claiming that you're now two or three that has the authority of Christ to do so, but that's not the case. Christ demands that those who would take this authority are actually true, proven representatives of Christ in their decisions, and they prove this through their confessions and character, i.e., by having Christ's Name upon them.
This doesn't mean that everything said by a nonchristian or sinful Christian leader in the church is false. The devil can quote Scripture too, and the Scripture is true. The issue is simply that there is no assurance and not much need to quake at the pronouncements of men who are outside the identity and character of Jesus Christ if they conflict with representatives of Christ who do have His identity and character evident within them. Even Christian elders can be in sin, and this is enough to cast doubt on any of their disciplinary decisions.
A church really needs elders who have both the Spirit of Christ within them as Christians and a mature mind and character that is Christ's mind and character so that it may have assurance that it is being led by Christ Himself through its elders. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors and a bunch of hocus pocus.
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