Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 18:20

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." — Matthew 18:20 (ASV)

For where two or three, etc. (Matthew 18:20). This is a general assertion, made to support the particular promise made in Matthew 18:19 to His apostles. He affirms that wherever two or three are assembled together in His name, He is in the midst of them.

In My name (Matthew 18:20). That is:

1. By My authority, acting for Me in My church (John 10:25; John 16:23).
2. It may mean, for My service, in the place of prayer and praise, assembled in obedience to My command, and with a desire to promote My glory.

There am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20). Nothing could more clearly prove that Jesus must be everywhere present and, of course, be God.

Every day, perhaps every hour, two or three, or many more, may be assembled in every city or village in the United States, in England, in Greenland, in Africa, in Ceylon, in the Sandwich Islands, in Russia, and in Judea—in almost every part of the world—and in the midst of them all is Jesus the Saviour.

Millions thus at the same time, in every quarter of the globe, worship in His name and experience the truth of the promise that He is present with them. It is impossible that He should be in all these places and not be God.