by Mark Brown & Larry Wilson
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
First, our Lord Jesus Christ commands his followers to join a church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells his disciples, “I will build my church.” He pictures the church as the temple of the new covenant, and those who confess that “Jesus is Lord” are the building blocks in this new temple (Matt. 16:16; 1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:19–22). In Matthew 28:19–20, our Lord Jesus confirms and expands his earlier statement by commanding his followers to make disciples, baptizing and teaching them. Fulfilling this Great Commission entails bringing converts into church membership. Why do we say that? Because part of the Great Commission is a command to baptize. Now, Holy Spirit baptism adds us to the invisible church (1 Cor. 12:13). But we are not to keep our salvation invisible. We are to outwardly express it (Rom. 10:9–10). Water baptism outwardly and visibly symbolizes this invisible reality.
Acts 2:41 tells how the apostolic church implemented this principle: “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” According to the New Testament, to be “baptized” is to be “added.” Added to what? Acts 2:47 gives the answer: they were “added to their number,” that is, to the visible “church” (kjv). Evidently, the apostles kept track of those who were baptized and could count them.
Christ commands us to be baptized. By commanding us to be baptized, Christ therefore commands us to be added to the church. In other words, he commands us to join a church. He wants our relationship to him to be honest and observable (Matt. 10:32). He also wants it to be corporate (Heb. 10:24–25).