Does one have to be a member of the Lord’s church to be saved?
This is a very important question because many believe and teach that one may be saved without becoming a member of the Lord’s church. But their beliefs do not make it so. Human opinion does not set the terms of our salvation. These are set by God, to whom the church belongs.
Now those who make this claim often confuse their particular denomination with the Lord’s church. And in that case, they are right. Membership in an organization that is not the Lord’s church is certainly no requirement of the Lord. But if they are referring to the Church that Jesus built (Matt. 16:18), which was established on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and purchased with the Lord’s own blood (Acts 20:28), then these preachers are quite wrong.
Acts 2:47 records as a matter of fact that: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” It follows that those who are saved are by virtue of being saved, placed by the Lord into His church, while the unsaved remain outside.
In Eph 3:8-13 the apostle Paul wrote that the church and its role in the redemption of man is in accordance with the “eternal purpose” which He [God] accomplished in Christ Jesus. The Son of God purchased the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28). God’s redemption of each and every believer and their placement in the Kingdom of heaven, the church, came at the price of God’s own Son. Therefore, the church plays a vital role and is integral to God’s plan of salvation.
As the apostle Paul put it: “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:10-11 NIV).
We are quite aware that every religious organization claiming to be christian in the Biblical sense, sees itself either ‘as the Lord’s church’ or at least a part of it. Otherwise, why preach or encourage others to become members? As Brownlow said, “Such labors would not be for the purpose of saving the lost, but rather for the purpose of making proselytes to a human creed and the building up of a man-made religious fraternity in which there is no salvation.”
Does the Church that Jesus established still exist today, if so, how can it be identified?
The ‘gold standard’ or Biblical standard for self-examination is God’s word itself. Have we accepted what the Bible teaches about the godhead? Have we accepted God’s offer of salvation on His terms? Is the ‘church’ of which we are a part, organized according to the pattern found in the New Testament? Is our worship a reflection of what we find in the New Testament? And do our lives conform to the standard set by Jesus and commended by the New Testament writers?
There are those who agree that one must be in the Lord’s church to be saved, but they don’t think the church can be positively identified.
Surely that is not true. That would mean that God has left us in a state of confusion and uncertainty. That his truth cannot be known nor obeyed with a degree of confidence. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus’ church has always been recognizable. As Brownlow observed, it was so recognizable that three thousand people were known to have been added to it on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41,47). They were not added until they were baptized into Christ (Acts 2:41). Therefore, God will not add unbaptized people to it.
The church was visible and recognizable (Acts 2:42) as they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They knew who they were and so certain of their salvation that they endured persecution. Their persecutors knew who they were and drove them out of Judea (Acts 8). The church was known from the inside and the outside. They were distinct in their faith, their worship and obedience.
I would submit therefore that the church is still the same today. By teaching the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9), and continuing in the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2: 42), the church that Jesus built (Mat. 16:18) will continue to exist and be identifiable.
The true church can be identified because it teaches and practices the will of God. (1 John 2:3-6). Our job as Christians is to keep sowing the pure seed of the gospel (nothing added, nothing taken away) and so continue to produce the true church of Christ. We must continue to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people (Jude 3).
And the Lord will continue to add to our number, those who were being saved. V.47.
Toronto ON