A dear friend and brother in Christ wrote asking the following question which I hope to answer Scripturally for the glory of God and for the edification of His people.

"When Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch did this add him to a new testament church?  Some teach baptism is the door to the church, but Jesus said, "I am the door."

Yes, Jesus is the door!  Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep" (John 10:7).  Later, in the same passage, Christ said, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" (John 10:9).  Jesus is the door by which His sheep have access unto the Father  (Ephesians 2:18; John 14:6).  Jesus is the door through whom His sheep come into the sheepfold, that is, the family of God (John 10:1).  Jesus is the door to sweet and confident fellowship with God the Father (Hebrews 10:19-22).  Jesus is the door of peace, reconciliation, and justification (Romans 5:1-2).  Jesus is the only door through which His sheep can truly worship the Father, as illustrated by the one door to the Jewish tabernacle of the Old Testament.

An interesting thing to note here is that some were designated as sheep BEFORE they entered through "the Door."  Jesus told the unregenerate Pharisees:  "Ye are not of my sheep" (John 10:26).  In regards to the unevangelized Gentiles throughout the whole world, Jesus commented, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd" (John 10:16).  The "sheep," whether of the Jewish or Gentile fold, are labeled as such even before entering through "the Door", yea, even before hearing the voice of Christ through His Word, because they are the chosen ones of the Father, given to the Son in the covenant of redemption in eternity past according to His glorious grace (2Timothy 1:9).  All of God´s sheep will be found of Christ, the true Shepherd (Luke 15:3-7); they will hear the voice of the true Shepherd (John 10:3); they will believe on the true Shepherd (John 10:26); they will follow the true Shepherd (John 10:27); they will never apostasize from the true Shepherd (John 10:4-5); they will have their needs met by the true Shepherd (John 10:9; Psalm 23:1); they will be saved through the true Shepherd (John 10:9); they will have abundant, eternal life in the true Shepherd (John 10:10, 28); and they will be kept by the true Shepherd so that not even one will be eternally lost (John 10:12-13, 28-29; 17:12).

All of these glorious benefits are found strictly and exclusively in Christ the good Shepherd because He gave His life for the sheep (John 10:11).  Referring to the religious leaders of His day, Jesus declared them to be hirelings that fled in times of danger for reasons of self-interest.  However, Christ the true Shepherd is not a hireling.  He did not flee in the face of danger.  He did not run from His enemies in the Garden of treason.  He did not call twelve legions of angels to rescue Him from the diabolic intentions of the civil and religious authorities  He did not retreat from the cruel cross of the holy anger and divine fury of the heavenly Father.  In place of self-interest and self-preservation, Jesus cried:  "Not my will, but thine, be done," for He always did those things that pleased the Father (Luke 22:42; John 8:29).  He gave Himself in substitution for His sheep.  He laid down His life for the sheep.  On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ received in His own body their sins, their chastisement, their stripes, their wages, and their punishment.  He laid down His life in death in obedience to the Father, and in like manner, He took it up once again three days later in His bodily resurrection from the dead.  He finished the work that the Father gave Him to do...that of redeeming His sheep, atoning for their sins, and reconciling them to the Father.  Praise the Lord for Christ´s effectual death!

As the sins and judgment of the sheep were imputed to Christ the true Shepherd on the cross of Calvary, so in the same fashion, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, the grace-favored sinner receives the righteousness of Christ and all of His virtuous merits as if they were his own.  Therefore, the believing sinner, yea God´s sheep, stands before God, not in the shame of his filthy, soiled, and tattered rags of sin, but in the robe of the glorious righteousness of the sinner´s Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, just as if he never had sinned and just as if he had perfectly kept all the law of God.  By faith, the sinner is declared just through the merits of the true Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.  Hence, Jesus is the only door to the family of God and His sheepfold.

The Lord-willing, I will answer the other aspect of the question regarding baptism in the next post to my blog.

May Jesus Christ alone receive all of the glory, honor, and praise!