Moral Qualifications for Church Membership

Prayer: That God may become more real and personal to each one of us.





MORAL.
Among moral prerequisites to church-membership may be mentioned

Repentance. John the Baptist, whose ministry was "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ" (Mk. 1:14) preached, saying to the people, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). His was the baptism of repentance. When John was cast into prison Jesus "came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15). When the apostles were sent forth they "preached that men should repent" (Mk. 6:12). The Lord Jesus after His resurrection said: "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved. Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations" (Lk. 24:46-47). Peter on the day of Pentecost said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38); and Paul, who testified at Ephesus for three years "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21), proclaimed in Athens God, "commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Act 17:30). The New Testament is full of the doctrine of repentance. It is a doctrine of the gospel. The law knows nothing of it. The language of the law is, Do and live - not Repent, that you may be pardoned. Repentance involves such a change of mind in regard to sin as is indispensable to a proper appreciation of the blessings of the kingdom of Christ. Hence no impenitent sinner can constitutionally enter into the kingdom. There is no place more inappropriate for the impenitent than a church of Christ.



Faith This is another moral qualification for church-membership. Great importance is in the Scriptures attached to faith in Christ, as will appear from the following passages: "He that believeth on him is not condemned" (Jn. 3:18). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (Jn. 3:36). "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name" (Jn. 20:31). "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mk. 16:16). "By him all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39). "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood ... that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:25-26). "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).

These passages, with many others, clearly show that in the economy of the gospel faith in Christ is recognized as an essential principle. Why is this? Not because faith is a meritorious exercise. There is, there can be, no merit in it. This is evident, because faith is a duty, and there can be no merit in the performance of a duty. But, while faith possesses no merit, it brings the soul into vital contact with the blood of atonement, which possesses infinite merit. It unites to Christ. Its province is to receive Christ, and with Him all the blessings of the "new covenant." Christ is emphatically the object of faith. The faith which avails to salvation has respect to Him and embraces Him.

Faith in Christ - the faith which instrumentally achieves the sinner's justification before God - is an essential qualification for church-membership. No unbeliever has the shadow of a claim to citizenship in the kingdom of Christ. The formal mention of regeneration as a prerequisite to church-membership has been omitted, because it necessarily co-exists with repentance and faith. Every penitent believer is a regenerate person. Regeneration is the spiritual process by which we become new creatures in Christ - are born again - born of the Spirit - born of God quickened together with Christ - renewed after the image of God, etc., etc. "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26), is the language of Paul to the Galatians; and the beloved disciple says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God" (I Jn. 5:1). If faith therefore, as we have seen, is a qualification for church-membership, regeneration must be also; for it is so inseparable from faith, that every one who believes in Christ is born of God. And it follows, that if faith is a prerequisite to baptism, regeneration is likewise. This being the case, regeneration does not occur in baptism.

Let it never be forgotten that the only suitable materials of which to construct a church of Christ, so far as spiritual qualifications are concerned, are regenerate, penitent, believing persons. To make use of other materials is to subvert the fundamental principles of church organization. It is to destroy the kingdom of Christ; for how can there be a kingdom without subjects - such subjects as the King requires?

It is a regulation of the Head of the Church that His spiritual subjects be organized into visible, local communities. We read therefore in the New Testament, of churches - another name for these communities. There are frequent references to local congregations. These congregations had a regular, visible organization; and there must have been some visible act of initiation into them. What was it?





Discussion by Leader:

1. Some reasons why every Christian should join a church.

2. The needs of the believer that are met in regular church attendance.

3. The effect of absenteeism on the life of a church member.





Parts for Assignment:

1. What two kinds of qualifications are required for church membership?

2. Discuss the first moral requirement: Repentance.

3. Discuss the second moral requirement: Faith.

4. What effect does faith have in the life?

5. What constitutes suitable material for church membership?





Discussion Questions:

1. Is repentance required of all men, both Jew and Gentile?

2. Is repentance an outward turning or an inward grace?

3. Is repentance as important as faith?

4. What is the relationship of repentance to faith?

5. Can one have repentance without faith, or faith without repentance?

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