Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
The only discussion I remember was from the Matthew 18 story of a sinning brother; a delineation was presumed between "2 or 3" and "tell it to the church". I think that is possibly due to a mis-reading of the Greek. The singular/plural there is not so really so clear.
Of course my memory is poor, but in my time that was presented as a kind of linchpin verse. You could be "in a group" but not "in the church". There may well have been other verses used, but I don't recall.
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To me, Matt 18 has nothing to with saying the two or three are not or cannot be a church. Obviously, if you lived in a small village with only three Christians then they were a church there.
What Matthew 18 is discussing is the progression of taking a complaint about a person to larger and larger groups of people, first just to the person, then to more, then to all. The point is to establish two things: (1) that a reliable representative of the church agrees that you are in the right, and (2) that the offender has been given fair warning to repent.
I can see an appropriate application of that principle to be take it to the person, then to two or three, then your small group, then the whole church. That's one more step than the Lord prescribed, but I still think it maintains the principle.
But if you ask me, using the passage to establish that two or three cannot be a church is a cockeyed misuse of scripture.