Are Members of the Church of Christ the Only Ones Going to Heaven? (1)
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Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Square One
Are Members of the Church of Christ the Only Ones Going to Heaven? (1)
by Richard Mansel
This is the rhetorical version of a trump card.
Intended as a verbal deathblow, it nonetheless
needs an answer. Sadly, many who ask this question
have accepted denominationalism as God's plan and
closed their minds to any other option. There is a
better way.
We immerse ourselves today in a denominational
mindset foreign to Scripture. These various
religious bodies did not exist in the first
century. They are part of the apostasy prophesied
in Scripture (2 Timothy 4:3). If we maintain this
mindset, we will never understand and fully
appreciate God's plan for unity. We will continue
to create a worldly version of unity outside of
the body of Christ./1
Denominationalism is not God's plan. He created
one church (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 4:4). We are
in this body or we are lost, just like the ark.
Noah and his family, being inside the ark,
survived the flood, while those outside perished
(Genesis 6-8). Noah's family, spared due to their
faithfulness to his name and word, is the model
for everyone today.
The question is whether members of Churches of
Christ are the only ones who will enter heaven.
This supercharged question must first be
deconstructed.
Jesus built his church (Matthew 16:18). Entering
this church requires a new birth through water and
the spirit (John 3:5). In Acts, the apostles,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, proclaim
that we must have our sins remitted in the waters
of baptism, so we can be added to the church (Acts
2:37-47). Later, Paul wrote that salvation occurs
because of the grace of God, but he washes our
sins away in baptism (Ephesians 2:8-9; cf. Acts
22:16). Entering Christ's church is not a result
of merit but because of the shedding of the blood
of Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:8-9).
However, obedience to God's Word is indispensable
to salvation (Ephesians 2:10; John 14:15; James
2:26; Revelation 20:13). While we cannot earn
salvation, we please God by bearing fruit in his
kingdom (John 15:1-8). The failure to do so is to
refuse to live an open faith before men. Being
ashamed of Christ will lead us to be rejected by
God (Mark 8:38).
A life of righteousness portrays to the world the
blessings of being in Christ. We stand accepted in
Christ because of his blood (Ephesians 1:6). "In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace which He had to abound toward us in all
wisdom and prudence" (Ephesians 1:7-8, NKJV). We
are the "praise of His glory" after we trust him
and are "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise"
(Ephesians 1:13). The "exceeding greatness of His
power toward us who believe," works because of his
"mighty power" (Ephesians 1:19). Being in Christ
is the only place to be if we wish to enjoy the
blessings of God.
We get into Christ through baptism. "For as many
of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ (Galatians 3:27). "Or do you not know that
as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death?" (Romans 6:3). If we
are not baptized into Christ for the remission of
sins, then we are not in him. If we are not in
him, then we cannot be in the Lord's Church. "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" (Ephesians 1:22-23).
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1/ tinyurl.com/2dazvz
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