Miscellanies #10: Committing to Christ in Baptism means Committing to the Church in Membership
Blog of Dan
Committing to Christ in Baptism means Committing to the Church in Membership
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached the gospel to a crowd that had gathered around him and the other apostles in Jerusalem, drawn in by the different languages they had heard them speaking.
After proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection, declaring to them that He is Lord and Christ and how they were responsible for killing Him, they were cut to the heart, convicted of their sins, and came to realise their need for rescue.
They called out to Peter, “What shall we do to be saved?” and his reply, “Repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.” Turn from your sins. Believe in the name of Jesus Christ for there is no other name by which we must be saved. Be baptised, that is, make this turning from your sins to Christ public by identifying with Jesus in His death and resurrection by being baptised.
“So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.” (Acts 2:41)
That day about 3,000 people accepted his message and responded to the gospel by trusting in Jesus AND by being baptised.
They ‘outed’ themselves as Christians. They went public with their faith. They were baptised because baptism is the first way a new believer obeys Christ.
The now baptised believers were added to them.
To them?
To the 120 believers (see Acts 1:15). To the local church in Jerusalem, where they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.
Here in Jerusalem, we see that people who responded to God’s Word in repentance and faith, were baptised, and were added to the local church - or we might say, became members.
This sequence was repeated again and again.
“For through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)
“For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
These verses written to local churches (in Galatia and in Corinth) describe what has happened to the members of those two churches. When they put their faith in Christ, they were united to Him, and this was symbolised by baptism.
In baptism they were united to Christ (‘baptised into Christ’) and to one another (‘baptised by one Spirit into one body’). The language is different to Acts 2 and more technical, but it is describing the same thing. Those who respond with faith to the gospel, identify with Christ in baptism, and with His people in what we call today ‘church membership’.
No Longer Three Kinds of People in a Congregation
This means that when the local churches we read about in the New Testament gathered to worship God, in the congregation there would have been 3 kinds of people.
Baptised church members.
New believers who were soon to be baptised and become members.
Unbelievers.
Now fast forward two thousand years and we see that something has changed.
When local churches gather today to worship God, in the congregation there are more than 3 kinds of people.
Yes, there are still:
Baptised church members.
New believers who are on the way to being baptised and becoming members.
Unbelievers - both near and far from the kingdom.
But there are also a couple of other groups.
Believers who have not been baptised and are not looking to be baptised.
Believers who have been baptised and who have not committed themselves to a local church.
Now, there might be (good) reasons why a believer does not want to be baptised, and a baptised believer does not want to commit to a local church, or they are not ready to yet.
However, Jesus is clear that obedience to Him will mean crossing both these items off His discipleship to-do list.
“Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Item #1: Make your commitment to Christ public in baptism
Those who believe are to be baptised. This is a clear command of Christ.
Baptism is the first thing that a new believer does. It is item number 1 on Jesus’ discipleship to-do list for them.
It is how they publicly make known that they are committed to Christ, and also to His people.
However, without them then becoming a member of a local church, it is hard to see how baptism makes this commitment to Christ’s people public.
Item #2: Make your commitment to the church public in membership
Those who are baptised are to commit in membership. Jesus commands His baptised followers to observe everything He has commanded.
What has He commanded? Lots of things. With so many of these things to do with being committed to other believers, which again, only makes sense by becoming a member of a local church.
For example, the command to obey your leaders and submit to them in Hebrew 13. Which leaders are you required to obey? Every church leader of every church in the world? Of course not, it’s the leaders of the church you are a member of. Or when Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5 about putting the unrepentant believer out of the church, how can you do that if they were not in the church in the first place.
How to join a local church?
Baptism is not only the way of making your faith in Jesus public, it is also the way to join a local church.
Biblically and historically, this has been the case.
Someone has put it like this: “Baptism without church membership is like getting married and returning to the parental; home without your spouse.”
What can be better for a newly baptised believer, than to be brought into membership of local church that is committed to them, and under elders who will care for them?
Except in the most unusual circumstances (e.g. the Ethiopian Eunuch who was baptised and didn’t become a church member straightaway or the Thief on the Cross who believed and did not have the opportunity to be baptised before he died), the norm should be for believers to be baptised and then become members of a local church.
We want those who are baptised in this local church to become members of this local church because we want to be clear that making your commitment to Christ public means making your commitment to His people public.
Field Notes
A reminder that every Saturday I send out a Substack with 10 links from around the web worth checking out and the latest resources I’ve produced at Blog of Dan (my online Notion page).