"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many , are one body: os also is Christ." I Corinthians 12:12.

"Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."
I Corinthians 12:27

• The Marks of the True Church
  
  
• Church Membership in an Evil Age
  

This subject is considered also in the following articles of the Confession of Faith

• Article 28 - Everyone is Bound to Join Himself to the True Church
  
  
• Article 29 - The Marks of the True Church, and Wherein She Differs from the False Church
  
  

The elect church of Christ is gathered by the Word and Spirit out of all nations. As the work of God's grace, it is one work of God in Christ and essentially one in the Spirit. That work, however, is an invisible, spiritual reality.

That church becomes manifest in its visible form as the church instituted by Christ according to the Scriptures. In I Corinthians 12:27, having spoken of the spiritual organism, the body, "Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular," the Word of God continues by speaking of the offices and institution of the church: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers," I Corinthians 12:28. Thus the Word of God, having pointed out the spiritual and organic unity of the body of Christ, proceeds, in harmony with this truth, to speak of the offices in the church. The organism becomes manifest in the church institute.

There are several principles that are important in this connection. First, the church as an institute is manifested in local congregations or churches. The apostle in speaking of the church, is speaking of the local congregation in Corinth. In the same epistle, I Corinthians 14:33 we read, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." The Word speaks not of one monolithic entity or church, of which local congregations are pieces, but of the "churches of the saints." The church is manifested as churches (plural). In a similar way we read in Acts 14:23 of the Apostle and Barnabas on their return trip through the mission fields going from city to city, ordaining elders "in every church," or more literally in the original, "with respect to each, a church." That is, the mission fields became churches, instituted by Christ by the ordination of elders in each one, forming them into a church. (For a fuller discussion of the office of elder go to the section of the church on the offices.)

Secondly, these churches do not stand independently of one another. They are bounded and united in the unity of faith and doctrine, laboring in mutual supervision and in the cause of the Gospel. Thus, when the question of the circumcision of the Gentiles arose, the churches from Antioch and Jerusalem gathered under the apostles and elders to consider the matter, Acts 15:6. In that assembly decisions were made, Acts 15:13, 20. These decisions were settled and binding in the churches and communicated by emissaries to the churches, Acts 15:22, 23. In harmony with this, churches seek to manifest the broader unity of the church also in their institutional life in common doctrine and confession. This corporate unity also implies a certain corporate responsibility of the churches and members for the life also of the denominational federation.

Thirdly, the members of the body, the organism, are found in the church institute, which is a complete manifestation of the body of Christ in the world. The church in Corinth was not a piece of the body of Christ but the living expression of it according to I Corinthians 12. In like matter when the Apostle Paul addresses the church in Ephesus, "I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called...endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," Ephesians 4;1,3, he is addressing the local church in Ephesus. When he continues, "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all." Ephesians 4:4-6, the apostle is not speaking of the church in its universal aspect, first of all, but of the local congregation in Ephesus.

Faith in Christ unites us to Him but also to His body. The Word of God says, "But now are they many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you," I Corinthians 12:19,20. Church membership is not an option for a Christian. It is a spiritual necessity and our calling. To float from church to church, to live in separation from the church, to take membership lightly is contrary to the Word of God. The calling to endeavor, "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," (Ephesians 4:3) addresses every Christian.

That unity at the same time must be founded on the Word of God and the truth of the gospel. The church as an institute is the "pillar and ground of the truth," I Timothy 3:4. The basis for church membership must be the Scriptures, and not men; the truth, not programs; the gospel, not human entertainment. This places before every Christian the calling to discern from Scripture where he belongs and to join himself to that manifestation of the church.