Proclaiming A Personal Relationship With Christ So many preachers teach that by being born again in Jesus Christ, man will be saved from the eternal punishment decreed by God as payment for one's sins.
Simply believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus and accept Him as one's personal savior, man is already a born again Christian.
So many has been led to believe that this is enough to achieve salvation from eternal damnation.
With this kind of belief, it is not important for man to join any religious organization and that it is not necessary for one to belong to a church.
Faith alone in Christ and having a personal relationship with Him is enough to attain salvation.
True enough, God appointed Christ as the savior and not the Church or any religious group.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who will save and not the Church.
Does joining a church organization really has nothing to do with God's divine plan for the salvation of man? Can man really do away with the Church? The True Relationship With Christ Is Being One With Him On the other hand, there are those who preach that the Church of Christ is important and necessary for man to be saved.
Do they replace Christ with the Church as the appointed savior? How about a personal relationship with Christ? Is it no longer needed? Preachers of the Church of Christ claim as written in Ephesians 5:23, that it is the Church that the savior Jesus Christ will save.
It is therefore necessary for man to be a member of the Church of Christ if he wants to be saved and that it is not true that man needs only to have a personal relationship with Christ.
In Colossians 1:18 of the New King James version, we find: "He is the head of the body, the church.
" While in Ephesians 5:23, NKJV, "Christ is the head of the church, and He is the savior of the body".
Being one with Christ is the true relationship with Him.
We can only achieve this by being a member of the Church founded by Christ Himself.
It is the Church that has union with Christ and this union is inseparable.
Man cannot just accept Christ while rejecting the Church or man cannot just accept the Church while rejecting Christ.
Examine this fact that Christ established a church and said this church is His (Matt.
16:18).
Why would He have built a church and identified it with Him if it is not important in fulfilling His mission as the Savior? The Widely Accepted Belief "Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people" (Heb.
9:28, New International Version).
God decreed that the wages of sin is death (Rom.
6:23) in the lake of fire which is the second death (Rev.
20:14).
Man needs to be saved from this, so God sent His beloved Son who gave His life and precious blood for the salvation of man.
The common understanding and belief is that the whole of mankind has benefited from His death on the cross, the grace of Christ's salvation.
A careful examination of God's will reveals that this is not so.
The Lord Jesus Christ Fulfilled The Will Of God The mission of Christ as given by God, is to save mankind from eternal punishment.
The Lord Jesus carried out this mission without violating any of God's laws.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matt.
5:17, NIV).
Christ did not violate this law that god decreed on sinners: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin" (Deut.
24:16, Ibid.
).
Can a father redeem his son or take his child's place from the punishment of sin by dying on his child's behalf? Can a child die for his father to save him? Definitely not.
The law clearly states that each is to die for his own sin.
If Christ died for other men and took their place for the death sentence that God imposed because of their sins, Christ violated a law of God.
So how did the Lord Jesus Christ fulfill the mission given to Him by God without transgressing the law? Now, here, the Church is necessary so Christ founded one.
We find in the teachings of Apostle Paul: "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph.
1:22-23, NKJV).
There are two entities being joined here.
The head, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the body, which is the church.
In the sight of God, Christ and the Church constitute one man.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (II Cor.
5:17, King James Version).
Can you see the marvelous design of God? One new man was created when Christ established His Church and Him being the head of the body which is the Church.
Can Christ answer for the sin of the Church? Yes! Will He violate the law that says each to die for his sins? No! It becomes perfectly lawful for Christ to answer for the sin of His Church because it is not another entity distinct and separate from Him, it being His body.
"God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (IICor.
5:21, new Living Translation).
"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.
" (Eph.
2:14-15, New King James Version.
) When it comes to salvation, one cannot ignore the Church.
We cannot reject the Church which Christ heads.
Christ and the Church, its unity has everything to do with salvation.
The Union Between The Church And Christ Cannot Be Separated There is another important analogy wherein the Bible stresses that the Church and Christ cannot be separated.
The Apostle Paul wrote this to illustrate the oneness of Christ and the Church: "As the scriptures say, 'A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
' This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the Church are one" (Eph.
5:31-32, New Living Translation).
The union of the husband and wife was instituted by God through marriage.
As it is His will to make the husband and wife one, it is also God's will to bring those whom Christ will save into the Church and make them one.
This will allow Christ to save the sinners without violating God's justice that each man shall be punished for his own sin.
"For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body" (Eph.
5:23, Today's English Version).
Just as God wants the union between the husband and wife be inseparable, so also is the union between Christ and His Church.
"What God has joined together," said our Lord Jesus Christ, "let no man separate" (Matt.
19:6, NKJV).
The Master Plan Of Salvation By God So, what is God's master plan of salvation? Man has to be a member of the body of Christ which is His Church.
Inside the Church, man becomes one with Christ, thus, having a true relationship with Him.
Man becomes part of the body of Christ which He will save, part of the one new man created by Christ when He established His Church and headed it.
"May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the church through Jesus Christ" (Eph.
3:21, Living Bible).
Having faith in Christ and accepting Him as one's personal Savior is indeed important and necessary.
But, we should not stop from there.
That is not sufficient in attaining salvation.
If we really acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we need to be a part of His body, the Church which Christ heads.
We need to be inside the Church which he purchased with His own blood.
"Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.
" (Acts 20:28 Lamsa Translation) "Praising God, and having favour with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church [http://helpme-pls.
co.
cc] daily such as should be saved.
" (Acts 2:47, King James Version)
Simply believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus and accept Him as one's personal savior, man is already a born again Christian.
So many has been led to believe that this is enough to achieve salvation from eternal damnation.
With this kind of belief, it is not important for man to join any religious organization and that it is not necessary for one to belong to a church.
Faith alone in Christ and having a personal relationship with Him is enough to attain salvation.
True enough, God appointed Christ as the savior and not the Church or any religious group.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who will save and not the Church.
Does joining a church organization really has nothing to do with God's divine plan for the salvation of man? Can man really do away with the Church? The True Relationship With Christ Is Being One With Him On the other hand, there are those who preach that the Church of Christ is important and necessary for man to be saved.
Do they replace Christ with the Church as the appointed savior? How about a personal relationship with Christ? Is it no longer needed? Preachers of the Church of Christ claim as written in Ephesians 5:23, that it is the Church that the savior Jesus Christ will save.
It is therefore necessary for man to be a member of the Church of Christ if he wants to be saved and that it is not true that man needs only to have a personal relationship with Christ.
In Colossians 1:18 of the New King James version, we find: "He is the head of the body, the church.
" While in Ephesians 5:23, NKJV, "Christ is the head of the church, and He is the savior of the body".
Being one with Christ is the true relationship with Him.
We can only achieve this by being a member of the Church founded by Christ Himself.
It is the Church that has union with Christ and this union is inseparable.
Man cannot just accept Christ while rejecting the Church or man cannot just accept the Church while rejecting Christ.
Examine this fact that Christ established a church and said this church is His (Matt.
16:18).
Why would He have built a church and identified it with Him if it is not important in fulfilling His mission as the Savior? The Widely Accepted Belief "Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people" (Heb.
9:28, New International Version).
God decreed that the wages of sin is death (Rom.
6:23) in the lake of fire which is the second death (Rev.
20:14).
Man needs to be saved from this, so God sent His beloved Son who gave His life and precious blood for the salvation of man.
The common understanding and belief is that the whole of mankind has benefited from His death on the cross, the grace of Christ's salvation.
A careful examination of God's will reveals that this is not so.
The Lord Jesus Christ Fulfilled The Will Of God The mission of Christ as given by God, is to save mankind from eternal punishment.
The Lord Jesus carried out this mission without violating any of God's laws.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matt.
5:17, NIV).
Christ did not violate this law that god decreed on sinners: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin" (Deut.
24:16, Ibid.
).
Can a father redeem his son or take his child's place from the punishment of sin by dying on his child's behalf? Can a child die for his father to save him? Definitely not.
The law clearly states that each is to die for his own sin.
If Christ died for other men and took their place for the death sentence that God imposed because of their sins, Christ violated a law of God.
So how did the Lord Jesus Christ fulfill the mission given to Him by God without transgressing the law? Now, here, the Church is necessary so Christ founded one.
We find in the teachings of Apostle Paul: "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph.
1:22-23, NKJV).
There are two entities being joined here.
The head, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the body, which is the church.
In the sight of God, Christ and the Church constitute one man.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (II Cor.
5:17, King James Version).
Can you see the marvelous design of God? One new man was created when Christ established His Church and Him being the head of the body which is the Church.
Can Christ answer for the sin of the Church? Yes! Will He violate the law that says each to die for his sins? No! It becomes perfectly lawful for Christ to answer for the sin of His Church because it is not another entity distinct and separate from Him, it being His body.
"God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (IICor.
5:21, new Living Translation).
"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.
" (Eph.
2:14-15, New King James Version.
) When it comes to salvation, one cannot ignore the Church.
We cannot reject the Church which Christ heads.
Christ and the Church, its unity has everything to do with salvation.
The Union Between The Church And Christ Cannot Be Separated There is another important analogy wherein the Bible stresses that the Church and Christ cannot be separated.
The Apostle Paul wrote this to illustrate the oneness of Christ and the Church: "As the scriptures say, 'A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
' This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the Church are one" (Eph.
5:31-32, New Living Translation).
The union of the husband and wife was instituted by God through marriage.
As it is His will to make the husband and wife one, it is also God's will to bring those whom Christ will save into the Church and make them one.
This will allow Christ to save the sinners without violating God's justice that each man shall be punished for his own sin.
"For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body" (Eph.
5:23, Today's English Version).
Just as God wants the union between the husband and wife be inseparable, so also is the union between Christ and His Church.
"What God has joined together," said our Lord Jesus Christ, "let no man separate" (Matt.
19:6, NKJV).
The Master Plan Of Salvation By God So, what is God's master plan of salvation? Man has to be a member of the body of Christ which is His Church.
Inside the Church, man becomes one with Christ, thus, having a true relationship with Him.
Man becomes part of the body of Christ which He will save, part of the one new man created by Christ when He established His Church and headed it.
"May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the church through Jesus Christ" (Eph.
3:21, Living Bible).
Having faith in Christ and accepting Him as one's personal Savior is indeed important and necessary.
But, we should not stop from there.
That is not sufficient in attaining salvation.
If we really acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we need to be a part of His body, the Church which Christ heads.
We need to be inside the Church which he purchased with His own blood.
"Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.
" (Acts 20:28 Lamsa Translation) "Praising God, and having favour with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church [http://helpme-pls.
co.
cc] daily such as should be saved.
" (Acts 2:47, King James Version)
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