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CAN ONE BE SAVED OUTSIDE THE CHURCH?
Our study centers on one of the more controversial religious subjects, namely, that which concerns the relationship of the church with being saved. There is such wide division between people in this matter, and it generally stems from a misunderstanding of the Bible and possibly, a willingness to reject the Bible as the final authority in settling such disputes. The fact that the subject is controversial does not mean that you can take it either way. Some feel if a matter is controversial, no one can be sure about the solution. But that is not so. The reason it is controversial is because there is controversy over it, not because there is not a right and wrong about it, Some contend we cannot see the Bible alike, and thereby lay all blame for religious division on God. After all, God gave us the Bible. If we cannot see it alike, it is His fault we are divided. Even though His Bible tells us to be united, are we to blame God for division? People may misunderstand the Bible differently and be divided, or one may understand it and the other misunderstand it and therefore are divided. But when both understand the Bible, they will see it alike because they will see it like God presented it. God did not teach unity, then give us a Bible that causes division.
This question of the church and salvation is important because there are those out of the church who must know what being in the church means. Those in the church need to be refreshed with the knowledge of the significance of being in the church: Anything purchased by the blood of Christ, as the church is (Acts 20:28), demands our attention. Christ is the head of it and is called the Savior of the church (Eph. 5:23). He is the founder and foundation (Matt. 16:16-18), and these facts alone make it imperative we understand the significance of the church and salvation. If one can be saved outside of the church, we must find some Biblical answer as to why He established it and what is the purpose of
Accountable People
When we ask if one can be saved outside the church we are talking about accountable people. We are not talking about those mentally incapable of obeying God, or children who are not lost because they hive not yet sinned. The Bible does not assign responsibility to such as those.
Not A Denomination
Furthermore, when we are talking about the church we are not talking about any denomination, or anything akin to denominationalism. Denominationalism is a subject that is foreign to the Bible except the Biblical Condemnations of the division that denominationalism propagates and upon which it feeds and promotes. The church is not a denomination; is not the sum total of all the denominations; has nothing whatever to do with denominations. Denominations are not even found in the Bible, and not one of them exists by the authority of God. They are altogether of human creation while the church was designed in the mind of God and brought into existence by Him. It is unfortunate that many people have been so steeped in denominationalism that they cannot seem to grasp the Biblical presentation of the church except in terms of some man-made denomination. But we must confine ourselves to the Bible, and in doing so, we will not equate the church with anything akin to denominations. Even the strongest advocates of denominations admit that one can be saved outside of a denomination, or all the denominations. Since that is so, we wonder why they exist at all. But must an accountable person be a member of the church which Christ purchased with His blood to be saved? We are talking about the one church revealed in Scripture.
We can learn the Bible answer to our question when we learn the Bible meaning of the church. What does it mean to be in the church?
In Christ
First, it means to be in Christ, because the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22,23). We get into Christ and into the church the same way, namely, by being baptized into the one body (I Cor. 12:13) and being baptized into the Christ (Gal. 3:27). There are not two baptisms because there is one baptism (Eph. 4:4). The same baptism that puts one in Christ puts him in the church.
Reconciled To God
Being in the church means being reconciled to God. Eph. 2:14-18, "For he is our peace, who has made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body (emphasis, JWB) by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace unto you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Paul says these Christians were reconciled to God. By whom were they reconciled? It was Christ. Where did this reconciliation take place? It was His death on the cross and is enjoyed in the one body, which is the church. Whereas the Jews and Gentiles were at enmity against each other, they were reconciled, not only to each other, but to God, in the body and by Christ. Reconciliation was accomplished when they took advantage of what Christ did, namely, to die on the cross, and they entered the one body. Outside the body there was no reconciliation. Reconciliation is in the body. Being in the church means one is among the reconciled to God. They made peace with each other and with God by becoming members of the body, the church.
A New Creature
Being in the church means being a new creature. In John 3:3-5, Jesus taught Nicodemus the necessity of being born again. The commonly heard phrase, "born again Christian," is a redundancy. If one has been born again, he is a Christian. One cannot become a Christian without being born again. When one is. born he is a new creature. But one in Christ is a new creature. 2 Cor. 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Being a new creature is the same thing as being in Christ. Being in Christ, as we have already learned, is the same thing as being in the church. So being in the church means you are a new creature in Christ.
Taking this immediate comparison a step further, we become a new creature when we are born again by water and the Spirit. The teaching of the Spirit is involved in being born again. Water is involved in being born again. We are raised to walk in newness of life, which is synonymous with being born again, when we are baptized. Born of water means baptism. We are aptized into Christ; we are baptized into the body; we are baptized to be born again or to become a new creature. In Christ, in the body, a new creature, born again, in the church are all synonymous terms.
Sanctified
Being in the church means being sanctified. To be sanctified means to be holy, cleansed, released from sin, set apart from sin into the service of God. The Corinthian brethren were said to be sanctified (1 Cor. 1:1-3). They were said also to be in Christ in the same passage. Therefore, the sanctified are inchrist, which means they are reconciled to God, in the body, and new creatures. Please take note how one is sanctified, or purified from his sins. Paul had his sins washed away when he obeyed the instruction of baptism (Acts 22:16). Baptism is the step that makes one free from his sins, set apart into the service of God.
There are other Biblical comparisons we can cite that show us the meaning of being in the church, but these are sufficient for us to learn the Biblical answer to the question, "Can one be saved outside the too church?" Knowing what being in the church means, le us raise the question in other terms.
Can one be saved out of Christ? The Bible teaches salvation is in Christ (2 Tim. 2:10). All spiritual blessings are in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Apart from Christ we cannot bear fruit (John 15:1-10). But being in Christ is the same as being in the church.
Can one be saved without being reconciled to God? Those in the church are those who are reconciled by Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-20). We cannot be saved while remaining at enmity with God. Nor can we be saved outside the church where the state of reconciliation exists. Those who are reconciled to God are those who compose the church. That is what the church is, namely, people who are reconciled to God.
Can one be saved and not be a new creature? Jesus makes that answer quite clear when He taught, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). The old man of sin must be discarded and the new man of holiness must take rule and reign (Eph. 4:22,23). No person who believes the Bible would contend one can remain in sin and be saved. He must be a new creature. And that is what the church is, namely, those who have been born again.
The same thing is true regarding sanctification. One cannot be saved unless he is set apart from sin and set into the service of God. But the sanctified are those that make up the church.
The Church Is The Saved
Those on Pentecost who heard the word, believed the word, and obeyed the word by being baptized, were added to the church because they were saved (Acts 2:47). The Biblical answer is clear and unmistakable. One cannot be saved without being a member of the church. The church is the saved. The church is the body of Christ is the sanctified of God, the reconciled, the new creatures in Christ.
The way one becomes a member of the church is exactly the same way one is sanctified, born again, reconciled to God, and enters into Christ. We do not do one thing to be saved and something additional or different to become a member of the Lord's church. True enough, there is a difference between what one does to be saved and what he must do to join some denomination. But denominations ought not exist anyway. As did those of the first century, we must hear the word, believe in Christ, repent of sins, confess our faith, and be baptized. God adds all the saved to the church at that time, by the same power and process that He saves.