3 MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH
The Church is the
body of Christ. It is a spiritual
organization. The members of the
Church are a group of Christians who have the life of God. They become members
of the Church because they all share a common characteristic. That is, each one has the assurance of
salvation and has received the gift of eternal life from God according to the
promise in the Bible. With respect
to our earthly lives, we may have different backgrounds, social status, walks
of life and achievements. But all
these earthly elements do not constitute the requirements to partake in the
The salvation that
Christ has achieved through His sacrifice on the cross is the only ground for
sinners to be reconciled to God.
Our nature and our works are entirely unrelated to, and unfit for, the
salvation of God. It is on this
ground of salvation that we are, through faith, forgiven and accepted by
God. It is on the same ground that
He gives us the spiritual life. And
by virtue of this spiritual life given by Him, we partake in the body of
Christ, which is the Church.
Spiritual life
comes through the redemption of Christ.
The way of redemption and its certainty are clearly recorded in the
Bible for us to seek and to claim.
For example, it is written in Ephesians 2:8-9: ¡°For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith ¨C and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God ¨C not by
works, so that no one can boast.¡±
Redemption emphasizes on grace.
It does not depend on our works, nor does it rely on our fulfillment of
the Law of the Old Testament.
Redemption also stresses on faith. It is a faith that acknowledges and
accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior from our heart and mind and the yielding of
our will and life in commitment to Him.
Therefore, redemption cannot be treated as a mathematical formula,
through which one may obtain a certain predicted result by mechanically
following a certain set of criteria and requirements. Such a ¡°merit-by-effort¡± concept, by
itself, flatly rejects God¡¯s principle of salvation by grace, and falls into
the snare of ¡°justification-by-works¡±, which is completely contradictory to the
Scriptural faith of Christianity.
To a genuinely
saved and born again Christian, there should be a genuine confession and
repentance of sins through his experience of believing and accepting
Christ. He realized the fate of
eternal death as a consequence of his iniquity. Then he came to understand the great
love of Christ Who had sacrificed Himself on the cross for him and this
generates in him faith and desire toward Christ¡¯s redemption. As a result, he received forgiveness of
sin and the gift of life as promised by God. ¡°He who has the Son has life.¡± (1 John
5:12) Once we have received this
spiritual life, we then become a part of the Church.
It is necessary
for a visible church to deal with matters concerning church membership. Therefore, there are principles in our
organization and administration to fulfill this purpose. According to our constitution,
Christians who are truly born again, and are baptized, and have been accepted
by the executive committee (note 1) of our church, will be eligible to become
members of our church. In practice,
when dealing with recognition and acceptance of believers, we stress strongly
on the aspects that believers should have the clarity and certainty of their
claim to being saved. They should
demonstrate a real change in life and walk, corresponding to their commitment
in faith, which shows the new life of Christ that is dwelling in them. As it is written in
Ephesians 4:1-3: ¡°To live a life
worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be
patient, bearing with one another in love.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of
peace.¡± and Ephesians 4:22-24: ¡°You were taught, with regard to your former way
of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.¡± With the witness of the new life and new
walk, they will be acknowledged and accepted publicly by the visible church.
While the visible
church is still staying on earth, there will be deficiencies in church
administration due to human weaknesses.
The lack of vigilance in watching, or a laxity in keeping up the faith,
may contaminate the purity of the visible church. It is the responsibility of the
executive committee (note 1) of the church to fulfill its obligation to retain
the purity of the church through the guidance of our Lord and His Word. We do not wish to have people uncertain
of their faith being accepted because of our mistakes, lest anyone who is
without the salvation of God would mistakenly consider that he was saved and
secure in the household of God. At
the same time, we do desire that the Church would keep the purity in faith,
pleasing to the Lord, so that functions of the body of Christ will not be
hindered. The church as one body
will then be strengthened and unified, being ¡°children of God without fault in
a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
as you hold out the word of life.¡± (Philippians 2:15-16)