Question: Do Luke 14:17, Rom. 10:9, and 2 Cor. 5:20 refer to the gospel? Do saints need to be reconciled to God? and what is the bearing of Matt. 18:20? J. H. K.
Answer: The three texts cited together are unequivocally the glad tidings for those not yet saved, though no doubt in inspired writings addressed to saints. For they need a standard that the message of grace be kept intact and unclogged. The notion that saints, and especially of the church of God, require to be reconciled is an outrage against the truth, and a virtual denial of the gospel. Whoever teaches thus is an impostor. As to the last text, the Lord puts His presence in the midst of those gathered unto His name as the general principle, whether for discipline in ver. 17, binding or loosing in 18, prayer in 19; and in 20 it might be for any legitimate purpose wider still, even if there were but two or three thus gathered to the only true and gracious center.