There Am I

And do not let this also pass unobserved, that He did not say, where two or three are gathered together in My name, there “shall I be” in the midst of them, but “there am I,” not going to be, not delaying, but at the very moment of the concord being Himself found, and being in the midst of them.

Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book XIV, cap 4

Somewhat in passing, Origen makes this comment on Matthew 18:20. Though the words are few the impact is great. He has been teaching on the harmonious relations found in marriage, the Trinity, and God's word between the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. He ends by turning our attention to Christ's harmonious relationship with the church. When believers are administering the Lord's discipline in the proper manner, Christ promises his presence, and by extension his blessing, on the action and outcome.

We should not take this passage to be applicable to any gathering of believers. To do so disrupts both the intent of this passage and Jesus' intent for believers to be regularly gathered together, functioning as a body. He never intended for splinters to form using this as a sanctioning verse as has been the case. Rather the unity of the body is to be pursued in love fortified by sound doctrine.