The United States At 250 - Day 2

   The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity 2  How the Lord in his anger     has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth     the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool     in the day of his anger. 2  The Lord has swallowed up without mercy     all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down     the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor     the kingdom and its rulers. 3  He has cut down in fierce anger     all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand     in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,     consuming all around. 4  He has bent his bow like an enemy,   ...
Post a Comment

Tackling Tradition 16 - Where 2 Or 3 Are Gathered

From time to time I hear a fellow Calvinist or Christian Apologist correct what they believe to be a misunderstanding of Matthew 18:15 - 20.  It’s about baby old instance of two or three people gathering in Christ’s name.  It’s about church discipline.  Consequently, using it to support another sort of gathering is a mistake. 

The Bible disagrees.  Let’s take a look.

Matthew 18:15–20 (ESV): 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. 16 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. 17 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. 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. 19 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. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” 

The text takes the form of casuistic law, & it calls upon Deuteronomy 19:15 - 21, where the situation is civil, not just ecclesiastical.  That means both Matthew 18:15 - 20 & Deuteronomy 19:15 - 21 are shining examples of the 3 uses of the Law.  

Matthew 18 presents us with an example of the wider proposition that Christ as to His divinity is present among two or three gathered in His name in the ecclesiastical sphere in which the uses of the keys are involved, & Deuteronomy 19 presents us with an outworking in the civil sphere. 


Matthew 6:9 - 13 highlights an individual application of this principle in prayer.  This is also corporate, insofar as prayer is a corporate, not merely individual, exercise.  The Lord’s Prayer includes binding & loosing language in 6:10 in particular, & that language, in turn, is parallel with Mt. 18:18.  


So, yes, Matthew 18:15 - 20 is not just applicable to church discipline.  It applies to court room proceedings & both individual & corporate prayer.


God bless us all, each & every one.  Go & sin no more. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Favorite Fallacies & Homosexuality

Thesis - The tradition bound view on homosexuality commits a number of logical, epistemic, & exegetical fallacies.  1-  Is - Ought Fallacy  - Human anatomy is said to provide    a blueprint for sexual ethics.  We examined this in my previous article.  A moral “ought” is derived from a physical “is.”  The disputant makes an illicit leap from what is to what ought to be. A classic example is the way some homosexuals defend their sexual ethics by appealing to their biology/genetics.  2 -  Vicious Circularity   - Human anatomy & physiology are raised to the status due a non-arbitrary epistemic warrant.    A non-arbitrary epistemic warrant must be necessary, reasoned, & principled.  In truth, the body is unnecessary to deduce sexual ethics. By way of contrast, God’s nature is definitionally necessary, insofar as God is a necessary being, &, since God is infinite, eternal, & unchangeable in being, w...
Read more

Romans 1:18 - 32 & Leviticus 18

Paul is following the basic outline of a suzerain covenant in general     & the outline of Lev. 18 in particular.   Shema & Decalogue (Rom. 1:18 - 20)   God’s Image testifies to His attributes & Law.    God created people. His temple bears His Image & runs according to his Law & Gospel.    This corresponds to Lev. 18 : 1 & 2. A - Rom.    1:18 - 19.  God’s wrath falls on those who suppress His image.   B - Rom 1:20  - For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made so that people are without excuse.  What is the teleological intent of the created order?    To serve as an epistemic warrant on par with God Himself? No!  It’s purpose is to serve as a pointer to God who is Himself the only sufficient epistemic warrant for all faith & practice.  ...
Read more

City Of God Study Module 2

                         GALLIFREY                      EDISON/ADONAI                           CAMBRIDGE BASTILLE & PLUME     SAGACITY & THORN                            Zodiac ICONOCLASTS LAW & ORDER         Bishop     Vanity Fair          Forge      Toymaker    Archibaptrix     Chameleon         Enigma     Governess         Corsair       Jodpurs         Sextant       Dauphin       Carnevale       Libertine           Arsenal             ...
Read more