IS BAPTISM THE DOOR TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH?
As was stated in my post on Saturday, October 6, 2007, entitled, "Jesus Christ Is The Door To The Family Of God,"
I believe that we made it very clear that to enter the family of God
and His sheepfold, one must come through the only door of entrance,
which is through Christ and His redemptive work on Calvary. Only
through faith in Christ does a sinner become a child of God (John
1:12-13). There is no other way of salvation or coming to God, but by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only door of eternal
salvation!
But the question that we are contemplating deserves a further clarification of how one enters into church fellowship, or better said, how does one become a church member. A dear brother wrote to me with the following question:
"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."
First, I must clarify, that according to the Holy Scriptures, the church as a divine institution, or what is commonly called the "Lord's church," is a separate and distinct entity from the family of God. I believe the Bible bears this out very clearly to the unbiased, Spirit-directed student of the Scriptures. As a unique entity, the family of God had its beginning in the Old Testament. The family of God consists of all the elect of God who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, beginning from the salvation of the first sinners, Adam and Eve in Genesis, until the conversion of the last sinner in the providence of God at some future time unknown to men.
Distinctly, the Lord's church had its beginning in the New Testament during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ when He set in order His church by placing her first members in the congregation. First Corinthians 12:28 states, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles....." The church only began to exist after the office of apostle came into being by divine order. According to the Bible, the apostles were the first members set in the congregation by Jesus Christ Himself. When did this happen? We find Luke 6 and Mark 3 to be parallel passages relating Jesus´ long night in prayer and His selection of the twelve apostles from among His many other disciples. According to "The Chronological Bible," edited by Edward Reese, and other reference works that I possess in my library, this solemn event took place during the first year of Christ´s public ministry. Since the apostles were the first ones set in the church, we can boldly say that the divine institution of the church did NOT exist in the Old Testament. There were not any apostles in the Old Testament. One of the prerequisites to be considered an apostle was to have personally seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus clearly stated that He would build His church when He said: "Upon this rock, I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18)...the emphasis being on "I." Thus He did, by first selecting her first members and setting them in His church.
To further emphasize the distinction between the family of God and the church of God as distinct institutions, remember that once a sinner is brought into the family of God through regeneration, he can never be ex-communicated or put out of the family. The son, like Isaac of old, abides in the house forever (John 8:35). However, that is not so in the church of God. A professing believer, through incorrigible and unbecoming behavior, can be disciplined by the church body and put out of the body, that is, be removed from church membership. The Apostle Paul stated concerning a church member in Corinth that had committed sexual sins, that he should put away from among them, meaning that he should be put without the church body (1Corinthians 5:12-13). A church is not to tolerate known sin in her members, rather she must purge out the old leaven, because a little leaven leaveneth the rest of the church body (1Corinthians 5:6-7).
Without a doubt, the Holy Scriptures make a clear distinction between these two unique institutions of God. Each institution exists for different, divine purposes. Each institution is joined or united with in a different way. One can be a member of the family of God without being a member of the Lord´s church, but one cannot truly be a member of the Lord´s church without first being a member of the family of God. As we pointed out in the previously mentioned article, one enters into God´s family through the new birth...by being born again of the Spirit of God. However, there is not one single verse in all of the New Testament contextually-interpreted that teaches that one is born into the church of God, or that through the new birth, one becomes a church member. Sinful men are birthed into God´s family by the sovereign work of regeneration. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus...And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son in your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 3:26, 4:6). Regenerate believers are added to the Lord´s church through Scriptural baptism. "Then they that gladly received His word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls...And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:41,47). I repeat, the sinner is BIRTHED into the family, while the believer is ADDED unto the church. The entrance, or the door, into each divine institution is different. The door into the family of God is Christ, and Him alone. The door to uniting with the Lord´s church and her membership is through the God-ordained ordinance of Scriptural baptism.
Through baptism, we are made members of the New Testament body identified as the Lord´s church (1Corinthians 12:13). Through baptism and church membership, we are Biblically entitled to become participants at the Lord´s table. Regenerate, but non-Scripturally-baptized believers, are not church members, and therefore cannot participate in the Lord´s Supper lest they eat and drink unworthily to their own peril (1Corinthians 11:29-30). Through baptism, one enters into a covenant relationship with God and other baptized believers to glorify God exclusively, to obey all of Christ´s commands implicitly, and to tenderly exercise a spiritual watch care over one another as a church body (Ephesians 2:21, 4:16).
In the providence of God, should you read this message without knowing the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you to turn to God in repentance and faith believing all of the Gospel truths set forth in the Scriptures concerning Christ´s finished, redemptive work for helpless and hopeless sinners on the cross of Calvary and His glorious resurrection from the dead three days later. Furthermore, if you are child of God through faith in Christ´s finished work, I urge you to unite by way of Scriptural baptism with a true church: a church properly constituted under the authority of an already existing church, a church that preaches the Gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God in salvation, a church that observes strictly the ordinances just as Christ gave them, a church that seeks sincerely to live their lives in God-wrought and God-motivated holiness unto the Lord, a church that seeks zealously to carry out the Great Commission of taking God´s salvation and truth to the ends of the earth, a church that is fervent about sound doctrine and sound practice, and a church that seeks to glorify God foremost in all things. Historically, the sound churches, perpetuated and preserved since the days of Christ and the apostles until the present, have been Baptist churches, though, I readily admit, many Baptist churches have fallen away from the one true faith and sound practice of their godly forefathers. The precious history of how God has preserved sound, Baptist churches throughout all ages is beautifully and briefly presented in the book, The Trail Of Blood.
I trust this answer is edifying and helpful to all who read it. Should you have any further questions or need further clarification, I would be most happy to answer you to the best of my ability. We will try to answer in another post the aspect of the question regarding the Ethiopian eunuch and his baptism. May the Lord Jesus Christ receive all glory, honor, and praise!
But the question that we are contemplating deserves a further clarification of how one enters into church fellowship, or better said, how does one become a church member. A dear brother wrote to me with the following question:
"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."
First, I must clarify, that according to the Holy Scriptures, the church as a divine institution, or what is commonly called the "Lord's church," is a separate and distinct entity from the family of God. I believe the Bible bears this out very clearly to the unbiased, Spirit-directed student of the Scriptures. As a unique entity, the family of God had its beginning in the Old Testament. The family of God consists of all the elect of God who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, beginning from the salvation of the first sinners, Adam and Eve in Genesis, until the conversion of the last sinner in the providence of God at some future time unknown to men.
Distinctly, the Lord's church had its beginning in the New Testament during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ when He set in order His church by placing her first members in the congregation. First Corinthians 12:28 states, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles....." The church only began to exist after the office of apostle came into being by divine order. According to the Bible, the apostles were the first members set in the congregation by Jesus Christ Himself. When did this happen? We find Luke 6 and Mark 3 to be parallel passages relating Jesus´ long night in prayer and His selection of the twelve apostles from among His many other disciples. According to "The Chronological Bible," edited by Edward Reese, and other reference works that I possess in my library, this solemn event took place during the first year of Christ´s public ministry. Since the apostles were the first ones set in the church, we can boldly say that the divine institution of the church did NOT exist in the Old Testament. There were not any apostles in the Old Testament. One of the prerequisites to be considered an apostle was to have personally seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus clearly stated that He would build His church when He said: "Upon this rock, I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18)...the emphasis being on "I." Thus He did, by first selecting her first members and setting them in His church.
To further emphasize the distinction between the family of God and the church of God as distinct institutions, remember that once a sinner is brought into the family of God through regeneration, he can never be ex-communicated or put out of the family. The son, like Isaac of old, abides in the house forever (John 8:35). However, that is not so in the church of God. A professing believer, through incorrigible and unbecoming behavior, can be disciplined by the church body and put out of the body, that is, be removed from church membership. The Apostle Paul stated concerning a church member in Corinth that had committed sexual sins, that he should put away from among them, meaning that he should be put without the church body (1Corinthians 5:12-13). A church is not to tolerate known sin in her members, rather she must purge out the old leaven, because a little leaven leaveneth the rest of the church body (1Corinthians 5:6-7).
Without a doubt, the Holy Scriptures make a clear distinction between these two unique institutions of God. Each institution exists for different, divine purposes. Each institution is joined or united with in a different way. One can be a member of the family of God without being a member of the Lord´s church, but one cannot truly be a member of the Lord´s church without first being a member of the family of God. As we pointed out in the previously mentioned article, one enters into God´s family through the new birth...by being born again of the Spirit of God. However, there is not one single verse in all of the New Testament contextually-interpreted that teaches that one is born into the church of God, or that through the new birth, one becomes a church member. Sinful men are birthed into God´s family by the sovereign work of regeneration. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus...And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son in your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 3:26, 4:6). Regenerate believers are added to the Lord´s church through Scriptural baptism. "Then they that gladly received His word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls...And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:41,47). I repeat, the sinner is BIRTHED into the family, while the believer is ADDED unto the church. The entrance, or the door, into each divine institution is different. The door into the family of God is Christ, and Him alone. The door to uniting with the Lord´s church and her membership is through the God-ordained ordinance of Scriptural baptism.
Through baptism, we are made members of the New Testament body identified as the Lord´s church (1Corinthians 12:13). Through baptism and church membership, we are Biblically entitled to become participants at the Lord´s table. Regenerate, but non-Scripturally-baptized believers, are not church members, and therefore cannot participate in the Lord´s Supper lest they eat and drink unworthily to their own peril (1Corinthians 11:29-30). Through baptism, one enters into a covenant relationship with God and other baptized believers to glorify God exclusively, to obey all of Christ´s commands implicitly, and to tenderly exercise a spiritual watch care over one another as a church body (Ephesians 2:21, 4:16).
In the providence of God, should you read this message without knowing the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you to turn to God in repentance and faith believing all of the Gospel truths set forth in the Scriptures concerning Christ´s finished, redemptive work for helpless and hopeless sinners on the cross of Calvary and His glorious resurrection from the dead three days later. Furthermore, if you are child of God through faith in Christ´s finished work, I urge you to unite by way of Scriptural baptism with a true church: a church properly constituted under the authority of an already existing church, a church that preaches the Gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God in salvation, a church that observes strictly the ordinances just as Christ gave them, a church that seeks sincerely to live their lives in God-wrought and God-motivated holiness unto the Lord, a church that seeks zealously to carry out the Great Commission of taking God´s salvation and truth to the ends of the earth, a church that is fervent about sound doctrine and sound practice, and a church that seeks to glorify God foremost in all things. Historically, the sound churches, perpetuated and preserved since the days of Christ and the apostles until the present, have been Baptist churches, though, I readily admit, many Baptist churches have fallen away from the one true faith and sound practice of their godly forefathers. The precious history of how God has preserved sound, Baptist churches throughout all ages is beautifully and briefly presented in the book, The Trail Of Blood.
I trust this answer is edifying and helpful to all who read it. Should you have any further questions or need further clarification, I would be most happy to answer you to the best of my ability. We will try to answer in another post the aspect of the question regarding the Ethiopian eunuch and his baptism. May the Lord Jesus Christ receive all glory, honor, and praise!
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