Chapter Two: The Greek Word for "Gathered" in Matthew 18:20

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Comment/Question:
Ever since I can remember, the ministry from “our” fellowship on Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) has been that people don’t gather themselves to meet around the Lord, but that it is an outside force, as a person gathers eggs into a basket, and the eggs don’t gather themselves. I find great help in studying the word meanings found in Strong’s Concordance. So I looked up the meanings of the word “gathered” in the New Testament and I found several different meanings of the word. Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) uses the Greek word (#4863). If you read the meaning of that word, you might be surprised! It directly states that those people gathered themselves together! Other words, that that Greek word came from do imply an outside force, but #4863 is used in many other scriptures, such as “great multitudes gathering together,” “Pharisees gathered together,” “whole band of soldiers gathered” and many more! My question is, that if that same word is used for all these ungodly people gathering together, how can we use it and so precisely dissect the meaning so as to imply that only a minute few in the entire body of Christ would be the only ones who are “gathered by an outside force”—in this case the Holy Spirit—and not any others in the body, who do not see certain Scriptures as “we” do?
Answer:
We are thankful that this person has heard the truth; it is an indication that it is still being taught. To go into the Greek, in Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20), in an attempt to show that the original language supports the rendering of modern translations, such as the NIV, which says, “come together,” is an old argument. But is it correct?
“Are Gathered” or “Come Together”
Much of the confusion that people have in regard to this may come from seeing or hearing one side of the truth only. It is not that the Spirit of God sovereignly gathers people to the Lord’s name and that they have no exercise about it; that would not be the whole truth. Scripture presents two sides of being gathered together where the Lord is in the midst. One is in Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20), where the Spirit is seen as the gathering force. He brings Christians to “where” the Lord is “in the midst.” When Scripture speaks of the truth of gathering from this side, the Greek word “sunago” is used, which means, “to lead together” or “to bring together.” The other side is in 1 Corinthians 11-14. A number of times, Paul speaks of the saints coming together for the breaking of bread or for ministry from the Word (1 Cor. 11:17, 18, 20, 33, 34; 14:23, 2617Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. (1 Corinthians 11:17‑18)
20When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. (1 Corinthians 11:20)
33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. (1 Corinthians 11:33‑34)
23If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? (1 Corinthians 14:23)
26How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (1 Corinthians 14:26)). When Scripture speaks of gathering from this side, the Greek word “sunerkomai” is used, which means, “to come together” or “go with.” This involves the volition of the saints in coming together. It is something they do. It seems that our questioner would like “sunerkomai” to be the word used in Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20), because it fits with his or her doctrine. However, Scripture does not use that word in Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20).
Vine’s dictionary points to Matthew 2:44And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. (Matthew 2:4) as an example of the use of “sunago” having an outside force involved in gathering people or things. It says, “When he [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together ... ” The point is that someone does the work of gathering. It could be the Lord, or men, or the devil. In the case cited, it was Herod.
In giving us the meaning of “sunago” in the original language, our questioner does not seem to be altogether honest in emphasizing the rare third and fourth alternate meanings in Strong’s concordance when the first and main meaning is “to lead together.” In the 62 times where “sunago” is found in Scripture, it is only translated “came together” 6 times in the KJV. In each of these six references there is no difficulty in seeing that there was a power in action outside of those who gathered themselves together—be it the Lord, or men, or the devil (Matt. 27:6262Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, (Matthew 27:62); Mark 7:11Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. (Mark 7:1); Luke 22:6666And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, (Luke 22:66); Acts 13:44; 15:6; 20:744And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. (Acts 13:44)
6And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. (Acts 15:6)
7And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7)). It seems to be (we hope it isn’t) a deliberate attempt to find another meaning for the word to support the idea of it being the volition of men gathering themselves together. And why not emphasize the fifth alternate meaning, which is, “lead into,” which also points to an outside power being active?
The references that are brought forward by our questioner where the word “sunago” is used—“great multitudes gathering together,” “the Pharisees gathered together,” “the whole band of soldiers gathered”—do not set aside the possibility of a gatherer working behind the scenes. In the light of Psalm 18:44The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. (Psalm 18:4), which says, “Torrents of Belial made Me afraid” (2 Cor. 6:1515And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (2 Corinthians 6:15)) and Psalm 22:2121Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. (Psalm 22:21), “Save Me from the lion’s mouth” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)), it is clear that Satan was active in whipping the crowds into a frenzy and bringing them together against the Lord. He was behind the gathering together of those wicked people.
An important principle that we should always remember when handling the Scriptures is that we should never bring our pre-conceived ideas to Scripture, but rather, take our thoughts from Scripture. This was the habit of the Apostle Paul. It says that he “reasoned with them out of the Scriptures” (Acts 17:22And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, (Acts 17:2)). Note: he didn’t reason into the Scriptures, but out of them. We are afraid that this is the problem here. When a person does not want to believe that God has a gathering center in Christianity, and he takes that thought to the Scriptures, he will try to make the Scriptures support his idea. He will go to great lengths trying to make his point—even to taking the third or fourth alternate reading in a Greek lexicon or dictionary—but such is a work of the flesh (Eccl. 10:1010If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. (Ecclesiastes 10:10)).
Summary:
We are not Greek scholars, so to imagine that we are better equipped to translate Matthew 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) than J. N. Darby and W. Kelly were, is a mistake. We need to accept their understanding and scholarship. We know that the word “sunago” means, first and foremost, “to lead together,” or “to bring together,” which points to a power outside of those gathered being active. This ought to be enough for the willing mind to accept.