Can One Be Saved And Not Be A Member Of The Lord's Church?
In answer to this question, many people would say, "Surely, one can be saved without being in the church. You can be as good out of the church as you can in it. The church doesn't save you!" Such expressions are common as can be, but do they express the truth?
In raising this question, we are not asking if one must be a member of some denomination in order to be saved. We accept their own testimony in this regard. Each readily affirms that one can be saved and not be a member of any particular denomination. They further declare that one must be saved on the outside before he can get in. So, we are not asking if one must be a member of a human denomination to be saved, but can one be saved out of the church of Christ ?
Be assured that we are not asking if one can be saved outside of the church building. The church of the Lord is not a material building. Christ's church is composed of saved people as "living stones builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit." There is not enough lumber, brick, stone, or mortar in this land out of which the church of God could be built, for it is a spiritual building and not material.
We should like for you to earnestly consider the scriptures which we shall introduce which we believe set forth the impossibility of salvation outside the church of Christ. Cannot one be as good out of the church as in it? From a moral point of view, yes. But mortality is not the equivalent of Christianity or equal to salvation. One could not be saved without being morally good, but he could be morally good and still be in an unsaved condition. Morality is essential to salvation but is not the whole of the requirements. Acts 10 is proof of this. Cornelius was an exceptionally good moral man, but despite this, he was lost when first introduced to us, and he would have remained lost if he had been satisfied to trust in his moral goodness.
"Well, the church does not save anyone." No, we have never said that it does, but there are three questions which challenge our concern in this matter: (1) Who is the Saviour? Jesus declares himself to be the Saviour in Ephesians 5:23. (2) When is a man saved? Mark 16:16 says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." That is when the New Testament says one is saved. (3) Where is one saved? Ephesians 5:23 says Christ is the Saviour of the body. But Ephesians 1:22,23 says the body is the church. If Christ saves the body and the body is the church, then Christ saves the church. If we are ever saved, we must be in the church. Just as God has located the life of a fish in the water and the physical life of man out of it, so God has located spiritual life in the church. And just as man cannot live under the water and a fish cannot live out of it, so man cannot have spiritual life outside of the church where God has located it. II Timothy 2:10 declares salvation to be in Christ Jesus. But to be in Christ is to be in his body which is the church, therefore salvation is in the church. If one can be saved outside the church, then he can be saved without salvation, and that is absurd on the very face of it.
Acts 20:28 informs us that Christ purchased the church with his own blood. The only benefit that I canobtain from the blood of Christ must be obtained from that which the blood purchased. If one purchases an automobile for $2,000.00, the only benefit that can be derived from the $2,000.00 must be from the automobile. Since Christ purchased the church with his blood, all the benefit provided by the blood of Christ must be obtained from that which the blood purchased — the church. If one can be saved outside the Lord's church, then he can be saved without the blood of Christ. But Hebrews 9:22 says "apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission" of sins. If one can be saved out of the church, he can be saved without the blood of Christ, and if one can be saved without the blood of Christ, he can be saved without the remission of sins, therefore, if one can be saved without being a member of the Lord's church, he can be saved without the remission of his sins! If one is saved in sin, from what is he saved? If you are unable to figure out how one can be saved in sin, then you cannot believe that one can be saved out of the church.
Acts 16:34 talks of the jailor rejoicing with "all his house." A man's house is his family. God's house is God's family, but I Timothy 3:15 says the "house of God is the church of the living God." God's house is God's family, but God's house is the church, therefore the church is God's family. If one can be saved out of the church, he can be saved out of God's family. There are only two families in this world in a spiritual sense. That is the family of God and the family of the devil. If one can be saved out of the church, which is God's family, then he can be saved in the devil's family, for that is the only place that is left for him to be. If one can be saved out of the church of Christ, then he can be saved and still be a child of the devil! Surely, those who have affirmed that one can be saved out of the church, have not thought out the consequences of such a statement. If one can be saved in the devil's family, then why should he he interested in being born again into God's family, the church ? If salvation is out of the church — in the devil's family, then those in the church — in God's family, have nothing to enjoy that cannot also be had by the children of the devil. What a Christ denying, God dishonoring philosophy!
Ephesians 1:3 says "all spiritual blessings are in Christ, but to be in Christ is to be in the spiritual body which is the church. Hence all spiritual blessings are in the church. There is not one spiritual blessing to be had, out of the church. Even hearing the gospel is not a spiritual blessing to him who rejects it, and if he accepts it, he is saved by it, and the Lord adds him to the church. Outside the church the gospel will not bless. Instead of being God's power to save, it becomes the very means of damning. If one can be saved outside the church he can he saved without a single spiritual blessing. No, you cannot be as good out of the church as you can in it unless you can be as good as a child of the devil as you can as a child of God. No, the church doesn't save you. Christ is the Saviour, but Christ saves only the body, the church. (Eph. 5:23.) He gave himself up for it (Eph. 5:25), and outside of "it," there is no salvation. It matters not what else you might be, if you are not in the church of Christ, you are lost. Why not then obey the gospel of Christ, which is God's power to save ? (Rom. 1:16) and in being saved, the Lord will add you to his church (Acts 2:47), the only one that he has. Nothing left for you to join. The Lord will add you to it. He has never made a mistake. He has never put one into the wrong church and has never added a single unsaved person to his. With that we should be content until the Lord sees fit to touch us gently and bid us come home.