Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
God's prescription for worship in the NT is "in spirit and in truth." Nothing more, nothing less.
Worship in spirit and truth is thus the proper NT "place," and thus corresponds to the OT temple. The temple is the house of God, which is now the church. Thus, worshiping in spirit and truth implies the church is there, especially when two or three are gathered. Thus no need for "the local ground" to have church.
Since Jesus made is clear the proper place of worship is only "in spirit and truth," insisting on the local ground is actually setting up a different place of worship that Jesus prescribed, and thus could be viewed as a sin like Jeroboam's.
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Spirit and truth should immediately remind us of Matthew 18. The proper spirit is that of the shepherd seeking the lost sheep, the improper spirit is the one causing the little ones to stumble. Meeting in truth is when you are obedient to the Lord to faithfully deal with sins. Covering them up, ignoring them, that is not truth.
It is in this context that Jesus says "wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst".
The context is that they are meeting in Spirit and truth. That is the prerequisite to "meeting in the name of Jesus".
One thing that most people forget is that Matthew 18 was Jesus answering a question from the disciples. The entire chapter is his answer.