Where In The Bible Will I Find:

A Sinner Being Saved Outside The Lord's Church?

The Lord's church, meaning the one you read about in the New Testament, which is not a denomination, but the one established on the day of Pentecost in 33 A.D., and referred to by several expressions such as, "the body, the church; the kingdom; the house of God; in Christ," and others, all which refer to the same institution, "the ONE and only church that Jesus built" (Matt, 16:18; Eph. 4:4).

In Galatians 3:27 we find that one is baptized "into Christ." I Corinthians 12:13 says that one is baptized into the one "body." Ephesians 1:23 says the "body" is the "church." Ephesians 4:5 says there is ONE baptism, and Paul says the Galatians were baptized "into Christ" while the Corinthians were baptized into the "body," and he tells the Ephesians that there is "ONE BODY" (Eph. 4:4), the "body" is the "church."

So it follows, then, that the three terms refer to the same relationship. In Ephesians 2:13, we are told that the Gentiles were made nigh by the blood of Christ "in Christ," but the Colossians are told that redemption through his blood is to be found in His "kingdom" (Col. 1:13-14). So to be in the kingdom is to be in Christ, to be in Christ is to be in His body, and to be in the body is to be in the church. The word "reconciliation" means to make friends again. Sinners, before they sinned, were on friendly terms with God, but sin estranged them. Hope for them lies in being reconciled to God.

But how? "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (II Cor. 5:18). God had reconciled the Corinthians by, "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph. 2:15-16).

By this we see that they were reconciled in "ONE BODY," but that "ONE BODY" is "THE CHURCH" (Eph. 1:23). So if one is ever reconciled to God it will be in "THE CHURCH" The saving element is the blood of Christ, and we come in contact with that blood when we are buried with Him in water baptism (Rom. 6:3-5), which puts us "IN CHRIST" (Gal. 3:27).

One is OUT of Christ until baptized INTO Him. All spiritual blessings are "IN CHRIST" (Eph. 1:3). Salvation is "IN CHRIST" (II Tim. 2:10). Forgiveness of sins is in "CHRIST'S KINGDOM" (Col. 1:12-14). But, as it has been shown, when one is in either of these relationships, he is in "THE CHURCH." Paul says, “…Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body" (Eph. 5:23). There is not now - there has not been since Pentecost, and there will not be till the Lord comes, a saved person OUTSIDE the New Testament church.