William H. Smith: Church Membership- Is it Biblical?

Having spent part of the Christmas break working on a paper on church membership, the irony was not lost on me that I found this when I had finished.'Does the Bible teach church membership? If you mean, “Does the Bible teach that a church should keep an official roll or that members should be received by taking vows?” the answer is, “No, the Bible does not teach these particulars.” But if you mean, “Does the Bible teach that the church itself distinguishes between those who are its members and those who are not?” the answer is definitely, “Yes.”Jesus teaching on church discipline assumes that the church can be identified and that the church knows who its members are. Jesus said that when your brother sins against you the final step is to “tell it to the church” (Mt. 18:17). The one offended must know to whom he must go – not just a group of Christians standing on a street corner but the church. The hoped for response is that the offending brother will “listen to the church” -- which makes no sense unless the church has a recognized authority to instruct the brother. But what if he does not listen to the church? “Let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” That is, “Let him be to you as an unbeliever -- as one no longer in the church but outside.” The passage (as the similar one in I Corinthians 5:1 - 5) cannot be understood apart from the underlying assumption that the church is a defined and recognized assembly (2 Cor. 5:4) and that it is able to distinguish between those who are its members and those who are not.Church membership matters. There is no other society on earth of which it is more important to be a member and no one of which it is a higher privilege to be a member. Christ died for the Church and He is her Savior, Husband, and King. The Church is His body and bride. And to the Church He has given the wonderful privilege of dispensing His grace by the ministry of Word and Sacrament.'