Our opening session today was led by Martin Grubb and sought to give the biblical basis for church membership. He began by describing how things are arranged in his own recently constituted church at Charlesworth, quite similar to the 54 churches represented at this assembly. A line is drawn and some are within and some are without.
The question, however, is whether such an arrangement is biblical.
He began by looking at the 1689 Confession and noted how
1. The doctrine of the church is important
2. Scripture is sufficient - there is enough here to know how the church should be organised
3. The visibility of the church is emphasised
Rather than looking at proof texts he took us then to Corinth to show how biblical this is. The situation in Corinth is very much like the situation we are in today. Among the many things he helpfully pointed to were these:
1. There was a church in Corinth to which people belonged
2. We know how the church came into being from Acts
3. All sorts of people belonged to the church
4. Those who belonged had been changed by God
5. A clear line is drawn between those within the church and those outside
6. There is a distinction between the church and the congregation
7. They have many questions and know where to go with them
8. It has the fearful power to hand people over to Satan
9. It has an especial care for its own
10. It welcomes believers from other churches
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