There can be no arguing with Mark Dever’s comment that this is an age of ‘commitment-phobia’. Voluntary associations are in sad decline, and people in general feel free to commit or not to commit, as they are inclined. This is even true of marriage. To Dever, church membership is a crucial issue, and so he writes: ‘I’m convinced that getting this concept of membership right is a key step in revitalizing our churches, evangelizing our nation, furthering the cause of Christ around the world, and so bringing glory to God.’ He goes on to tell of one man who only slipped into church for the sermon because he did not get anything out of the rest of the service. That may be extreme, but it reflects a common enough outlook. For now, let us content ourselves with just three points on this subject.
The New Testament distinguishes between those who are inside and those who are outside the church.
This is evident from the events of the Day of Pentecost. After Peter declares the way of salvation, some 3,000 respond and are baptized (Acts 2:41). This can only mean that there were 3,000 who now were counted as inside the church whereas before they were regarded as outside. It was these three thousand who devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). In the Old Testament, no foreigner could eat of the Passover, yet all the congregation of Israel was to keep it (Ex.12:43-47). For the males, no uncircumcised person could eat of it (Ex.12:48). It is similar in the New Testament. The Lord’s Supper is for baptized persons who confess faith in Christ.
In short, as Dever says, ‘The church is for everyone who is a Christian.’ When writing to the church at Corinth on the subject of speaking in tongues, Paul says: ‘If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy , and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you’ (1 Cor.14:23-25). Clearly, being physically at a church meeting did not mean that one suddenly was counted as an insider.
In his classic work The Church of Christ, published in 1869, James Bannerman wrote: ‘Without the existence of a Church … very much of what is contained in the Bible would be unintelligible, and without practical application.’ Nine of Paul’s thirteen epistles, for example, were written to churches, not individuals – Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and so on, as opposed to First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Without the church, there would be no sacraments, no elders, no deacons, no discipline, and no fellowship. In short, we simply could not obey much of the New Testament. There will be people inside the visible church, who are not savingly in Christ – they may even be bishops or pastors – but the New Testament still teaches that there is a visible church here on earth.
Discipline would be impossible without membership.
At Corinth, there was a particularly notorious case of sin in that a man was being sexual immoral with his father’s wife, presumably his stepmother (1 Cor.5:1). Paul is not protesting against sexual immorality in the wider community, however valid such a protest might be. He is dealing with the church: ‘For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you’ (1 Cor.5:12-13). The man was clearly one who professed Christ but who had fallen into terrible sin, and not repented of it. He was inside, but Paul insists that he has to be put outside so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Cor.5:5). Logically, someone can only be put out if one has first been in. I cannot be expelled from the Greens. I am not a member of the Greens, never have been, and, by God’s grace, never will be. If there is no system of membership in a church, an erring Christian or false believer could not be disciplined because he was not a member to begin with.
Membership does not define the church but it contributes greatly to the good order of the church.
To cite Dever again: ‘Church membership does not save, but it is a reflection of salvation.’ There will be genuine Christians who are not members of a church but who attend faithfully and contribute greatly to its work and witness. But they, unwittingly, make it difficult for the good order of the church. If, for example, elders are to be elected, who can be elected and who can vote? It cannot be thrown open to anyone who has happened to turn up for the day. In the Presbyterian system – rightly, I believe – only suitable members can be elected, and only members can vote. A Christian – one who truly trusts Christ as Lord and Saviour – cannot vote. This does not mean that the church collapses in a heap, but it does hinder its good order.
As Christians, we ought to be joined together. This is firstly a spiritual union of souls in the fellowship of Christ. But other matters, including formal membership, flow from that. As William Cowper put it regarding meeting together:
Here may we prove the power of prayer
To strengthen faith and sweeten care,
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all heaven before our eyes.
With warmest regards in Christ,
Peter Barnes