Is Church Community A Requirement?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE SALVATION AND OBEYING A COMMAND.
When we answer this question, we need to understand the difference between salvation, and commands. There are many commands for us in the new testament we have to follow. Where people often get mixed up is understanding that commands do not predicate or effect salvation. When we complete these commands, and obey, they are a mark that we indeed are saved. They however do not earn or make us saved, rather they are evidence that we are saved. Those who purposefully neglect these commands and refuse to obey them, is a clear evidence that they are not saved.
Jesus and the Word of God gives us a few verses to help us understand this:
John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
John 8:51 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”
John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
Luke 9:23 "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
To understand these verses in light of this message, focus on the very fact that our love for God which is THE hallmark of true repentance and trust in Jesus, which is the definitive mark of a truly saved person, is present in all these verses. If you love me, keep my commands Jesus says, the Love of God equals us keeping his commands, and then again in Luke 6:46 he says: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Kind of like saying who are you trying to deceive? In other words a Christian is marked by their obedience to God, this comes from a place of true repentance that cannot be faked.
THE MAIN POINT
Salvation is by the work of Christ on the cross, and our by our faith in him (a full conviction of the truth). We turn from sin towards God in repentance which is a change of heart and mind that leads to a change of life. The turning away is not a work, in the same way faith is not a work. The Greek words for Faith Belief and Repentance mean generally the same thing. They are in fact 3 different aspects of salvation, one is a full conviction of the Truth (Faith) another is a full reliance on that Truth (belief) and the other is turning from our ways of sin to God and his ways in our Hearts and Minds (Repent). All 3 of these words are internal and not external like the word used for works says in Ephesians 2:8-9. They are a mental change, and a heart change. Works on the other hand are things that are produced through labour that brings forth a physical result. Faith, Belief and repentance are quite literally three things that by definition, are impossible to be considered as works by how the Bible defines those 3 words.
Salvation is by faith through grace not of works.
Faith Belief and Repentance are not works.
Those who have true salvation produce works out of obedience to God.
None of these works earn salvation, but rather are a product of it.
Like a seed planted in the ground which grows a tree, the good fruit it produces is a natural product of its development. It is not something it is trying to do, but rather it is doing it because it is a good tree. The same is true of our salvation. Our fruits bear record of what kind of tree we are [Matthew 7:15-20]
““Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.””
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY?
I’m glad you asked, because it has everything to do with it. We are commanded in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake coming together. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT
The word "saints" is always in the plural, never in the singular. We are commanded, and called to “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” [Galatians 6:2] and in addition as seen above you are commanded to not forsake coming together.
Christianity all throughout is not about you, but about others. Serving them and loving them [Matthew 23:11].
Meditate upon these scriptures and explain how you can do so outside of Christian Community:
Mark 12:31 “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”*
Philippians 2:4 “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
1 John 3:17-18 "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."
Galatians 6:2 *“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” *
Romans 12:10 “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”
Galatians 6:10 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
Proverbs 21:13 “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.”
James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
"Christians" that say you can go it alone either are very misguided and their Biblical understanding is way below what it should be or worse, they are not saved. We cannot go it alone, we are not strong enough or capable enough, and the entire Bible screams forth that we are to be in community and love one another and the outside world together. How can you obey the Bible, and obey Jesus as proof of your salvation and love for him, if you are denying the entirety of scripture in disobedience while going it alone?
