Matthew 18:18-20

Ver 18. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Jerome: Because He had said, "If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as a heathen, and a publican," whereupon the brother so contemned might answer, or think within himself, If you despise me, I also will despise you; if you condemn me, you shall be condemned by my sentence. He therefore confers powers upon the Apostles, that they may be assured that when any are condemned after this manner, the sentence of man is ratified by the sentence of God. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose upon the earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Origen: He said not in the heavens (in caelis), as when He spoke to Peter, but in heaven (in coelo), for they are not yet attained to the like perfection with Peter.

Hilary: To hold out a great and terrible fear, by which all men should be reached in this present life, He pronounces that the judgment of the Apostles should be ratified, so that whosoever they bound on earth, i.e. left entangled in the noose of sin, and whosoever they loosed, i.e. accorded the pardon of God's mercy to their salvation, that these should be bound and loosed in heaven."

Chrys.: And be it noted, that He said not to the Primate of the Church, Bind such a man; but, If ye shall bind him, the bonds shall be indissoluble; leaving the other to his discretion.

And see how He has set the incorrigible person under the yoke of a twofold necessity; to wit, the punishment that is here, namely, the casting forth out of the Church, when He said, "Let him be to thee as a heathen;" and the future punishment, saying, that he shall be bound in heaven; thus by the weight of his penalties lessening his brother's wrath against him.

Augustine: Otherwise; When you begin to hold your brother as a publican you bind him on earth, but take heed that you bind him with just cause; for an unjust cause breaks rightful bonds. But when you have corrected him, and agreed with him, you have loosed him upon earth, and when you have loosed him upon earth, he shall be loosed also in heaven. You confer a great boon not on yourself, but on him, as he had done the hurt not to you but to himself.

Gloss., ap. Anselm: But He holds out a ratification not only of sentences of excommunication, but of every petition which is offered by men holding together in the unity of the Church; for He adds, "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree upon earth," whether in admitting a penitent, or casting out a froward person, "touching any thing which they shall ask," any thing, that is, that is not against the unity of the Church, "it shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven." By saying, "which is in heaven," He points Him out as above all, and therefore able to fulfil all that shall be asked of Him. Or, He is in the heavens, that is, with saints, proof enough that whatever worthy thing they shall ask shall be done unto them, because they have with them Him of whom they ask. For this cause is the sentence of those that agree together ratified, because God dwells in them, "For where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Chrys.: Or, because He had said, It shall be done unto them by My Father; therefore, to shew that He is the Giver together with His Father, He adds this, "where two or three, &c."

Origen: And He said not, "I will be," but "I am in the midst of them;" because straightway, as soon as they have agreed together, Christ is found among them.

Hilary: For He who is peace and charity, will set His place and habitation in good and peaceable dispositions.

Jerome: Or otherwise; All His foregoing discourse had invited us to union; now to make us embrace peace more anxiously, He holds out a reward, promising to be in the midst of two or three.

Chrys.: Yet He said not barely, "Where they are gathered together," but added, "in my name," as much as to say, If any man look upon Me as the chief motive of his love to his neighbour, I will be with him, though his virtue be shewn towards other men.

How is it then that those who thus agree together do not obtain what they ask for? First, because they ask things not expedient, and because they do not bring on their parts that which they ought to contribute; wherefore He says, "If two of you," that is, who shew an evangelic conversation. Thirdly, because they pray seeking vengeance against those who have grieved them. And fourthly, because they seek mercy for sinners who have not repented.

Origen: And this also is the reason why our prayers are not granted, because we do not agree together in all things upon earth, neither in doctrine, nor in conversation. For as in music, unless the voices are in time there is no pleasure to the hearer, so in the Church, unless they are united God is not pleased therein, nor does He hear their words.

Jerome, vid. Origen in loc.: We may also understand this spiritually; where our spirit, soul, and body are in agreement, and have not within them conflicting wills, they shall obtain from My Father every thing they shall ask; for none can doubt that that demand is good, where the body wills the same thing as the spirit.

Origen: Or, In whatever the two testaments are in agreement, for this every prayer is found acceptable to God.