Many people have truly come to know Christ as Savior after having been sincere, religious βchurch membersβ for years. Though faithful supporters of some earthly church organization they had never experienced the truth of II Cor. 5:17: βIf any man be in Christ he is a new creation.β It is possible to be a member in good standing of some church organization, yet be outside of the one true Church of which the Bible speaks.
This is because the true Bible Church is not an organization but a living organism, a spiritual body, with a living Head and living members. Again and again St. Paul, by divine inspiration, calls the Church, the Body of Christ. He says: βWe being many, are one Body in Christβ¦β (Rom. 12:5). βYe are the Body of Christ, and members in particularβ (I Cor. 12:27). βWe are members of His Bodyβ (Eph. 5:30).
How do we become members of this true Bible Church, the Body of Christ? First, we must acknowledge ourselves to be sinners in Godβs sight, for Ephesians 2 relates how Christ died for sinful men that He might βreconcileβ them to God βin one Bodyβ by the cross (Eph. 2:16). Thus, when believing sinners are reconciled to God by faith in Christ, they are regenerated, given a new life, by the Spirit, and by the Spirit are baptized into the Church, the Body of Christ.
βNot by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spiritβ (Titus 3:5).
βFor by one Spirit are we all baptized into one bodyβ (I Cor. 12:13).
Every one of us should ask himself: βHave I been baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ?β If not, trust Christ as your Savior and become a member of the one true Bible Church. Then associate yourself with some local assembly where Christ is honored and the Bible taught, βrightly divided.β source
