In Isaiah 2:2-4, the prophet spoke of the last days when the Lord’s house would be established and all nations would flow unto it. The prophet was speaking of the New Testament church when referencing the Lord’s house. The church is the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15). This church, the church promised by Christ (Matthew 16:18), started on the first Pentecost after the death and ascension of Christ. The establishment of the church is recorded for us in Acts 2. After hearing Peter preach the gospel, some of the people (about 3,000 souls), who received the Word of God, were baptized and added to the church (Acts 2:47). Before Acts 2, all references to the church came by way of prophecy. After Acts 2, the church is always spoken of as being in existence. It is important to note that all the saved, that is, those who have reached the age of accountability, are in the church. This is so because when a person is saved, he is immediately, in fact, simultaneously, added to the church (Acts 2:47). This being the case, one should readily see the importance of the church. One is either in the church that Christ built and is saved, or not in the church and lost. There is no middle ground here. With this in mind, let’s study a little bit about the church.

Entrance into the Church

We have already noticed that the church had its beginning in the first century on the day of Pentecost, but how did people enter the church or become members of it? The Bible answer is that they obeyed the gospel of Christ. Paul tells us in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel of Christ is the body of teachings that we have in the New Testament. It is sometimes called the faith (Galatians 1:23), sometimes the word of faith (Romans 10:8), and sometimes simply the word (1 Peter 3:1), but it always refers to the inspired message of the New Testament. The gospel contains commandments that must be kept, instructions that must be followed, and promises of God that must be believed. God’s plan of salvation is an example of instructions that must be followed. The instructions include believing that Christ is the Son of God (Acts 8:36-37), repenting of one’s sins (Acts 3:19), confessing the Lord with the mouth (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27). No one can be born again and enter the church of Christ without following the instructions of the gospel.

Some teach people that the only thing necessary to be saved is having faith. The Bible, however, does not teach this, and we should all be concerned with what the Bible teaches and not what uninspired men say. Listen to what the inspired apostle, Peter, says to a group of people asking about what was necessary to be saved.

Acts 2:38 (ESV)
³⁸ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is necessary to obtain the forgiveness of sins. Some argue that the Greek word translated for can mean because of; thus, these people on the day of Pentecost were baptized because of the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes the Greek word “eis” does carry that meaning (Acts 14:26), but that does not mean that the word always carries that meaning. In the statement made in Acts 2:38, we should remember that whatever it means in connection with baptism, it means the same thing in connection with repentance. In other words, whatever baptism is for, repentance is for that same thing because they are tied together by the conjunction and. Are we to conclude that the people on Pentecost repented because they were already saved, or because it was a part of them getting saved? Obviously, it was a part of attaining salvation; thus, baptism is a part of that process as well. The truth is, Peter answered the question of the people very clearly and one does not have to know Greek to understand his inspired answer. If you want your sins forgiven, you must repent and be baptized. At that point, the Lord will add you to His church.