This series included two questions on church membership so far: 1) “What’s in it for me?” and 2) “What’s in it for fellow Christians?” Sincere faith seeking understanding is never condemned by God, but I would like to strike a slightly different note in this article: Namely, I am asking the question, is church membership, a part of Christian theology per se, and if so, what is God doing with it? Finally, I will conclude this series with an exhortation: Christians should obey God by submitting to a local church.

Jesus is asking us a question; it’s the same question that he asked Simon Peter nearly two millennia ago: “And who do you say that I am?” If we confess with Peter that “[Jesus is] the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” then we must consider Christ's next words very carefully: «Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.”»

Here is where we are headed from these verses: God has commanded by His Word that Christians ought to organize themselves into gospel churches. That act of organization amounts to church membership. Church membership in a gospel church is the answer to this seminal question in the history of Christianity: Who represents Jesus?

Matthew 16:19 has two verbs: "binding" and "loosing". Early Jewish literature tells us that binding refers to holding someone’s sins upon them - finding them guilty. Loosing, on the other hand, is a reference to a declaration of innocence; the sins are not upon them. The language used in Matthew 16 and 18 is also unique. Matthew uses an unusually rare verb tense in his binding and loosing discussion. The pattern is usually translated in English bibles as, “whatever you … on earth will have been … in heaven.” That phrase “will have been” is a future perfect verb. It means that something will be discovered in the future to be an already finished reality. If the evangelist had used a simple perfect like “will be bound” that would suggest causation: The thing that happens first causes the thing that happens later. But the evangelist is at pains to avoid that conclusion. Rather, the grammar suggests that there is a parallel reality to the judgments, and they will concur, but the relationship is not causal. I illustrate this in the graphic on the side of this page. It is best to understand that election in eternity past - God’s sovereign decree - causes what will happen in eternity future (John 6:37-39, Acts 13:48, Romans 9:14-15, Ephesians 1:4-5). The judgment of the church in using the keys, therefore forecasts what that future reality will be.

As Christians, we know that every human being is guilty in their own right, but the blood of Christ pays the penalty of the sins of the believer in their place. So, the usage of the keys amounts to a recognition or discernment of whether someone’s sins are upon them (i.e. they are unbelieving sinners) or whether their sins have been loosed and placed upon Christ (i.e. they are repentant and believing sinners).

If you ask me, “Matthew are you a Christian?” I believe a valid response would be, “Why yes, I’m a member in good standing of Christus Gemeinde Wien.” Human beings do not have the right to declare themselves Christians and neither do parents, friends, or pastors. Jesus gave that authority to the local church. Professing Christians who refuse to join themselves to a gospel church or organize themselves into a church (in the case that such a church does not already exist) should not have assurance about their salvation; because, they are effectively trying to exercise an authority that Jesus gave only to gospel churches.

I can imagine that you might be saying, “This all sounds like a pie in the sky! Where are church covenants in the Bible? Where is the membership roll of Phillipi? Has anybody ever seen the Keys of the Kingdom?” to which I reply, “Yes, they should be seen in every gospel church quite frequently.” Membership rolls and church covenants are good and prudential things, but they merely reflect and formalize where the Keys are truly practiced: in Christian Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

In Christian Baptism, the church uses the Keys to declare someone as being part of their number (Acts 2:41). Thereby they are separated from the world and joined to the body of believers. Protestants tend to conceive of baptism therefore as the initiatory sign and seal of the New Covenant. The reality that God has accomplished something in the heart of the believer is confirmed by the covenanted body of believers. Some, particularly paedobaptists would want to conceive of baptism as merely unilateral communication from the Lord, but that is reductionistic. In Christian baptism, the believer is swearing their allegiance to God, God is proclaiming his promise to the believer, and the church is affirming that this oath is sincere (Romans 6:4, 1 Peter 3:21, Matthew 16:19; 28:19-20).

In the Lord’s Supper, the church has an ongoing covenant sign that the people who partake of the Lord’s Supper are part of that gospel church. Through the Supper, they are distinguished as believers and unified into one body. Therefore, if you don’t have a membership roll, you still have membership; the membership is simply those baptized persons to whom you regularly administer the Lord’s Supper. Bobby Jamieson writes, “[Baptism and the Lord’s Supper] draw a line around the church by drawing the church together. They gather many into one: baptism by adding one to the many, the Lord’s Supper by making the many one.”

Conversely, it is also an act of the Keys to bar someone from participating in the Lord’s Supper. The one who was formerly counted among the number of the sheep is no longer counted as such (Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:11). The church, therefore, distinguishes itself from the world and those under church discipline.

Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 10:17 should also give Christians a warning about practicing the ordinances outside of a gospel church. Practicing them outside of the bounds of church discipline, and neglecting their joint covenantal nature is confusing.

Baptism outside of a church begs the question, “What am I now baptized into?” Now, in church planting scenarios and exceptional situations like someone moving away to another country, exceptions can be made, but these biblical exceptions should rather prove the rule of Acts 2:42 (they were baptized into the church of Jerusalem) rather than question it. Lydia’s conversion and baptism were not done in the context of a local church, but it was done with the intention to establish a church that later became the church at Philippi (Acts 16:13-15). The Ethiopian eunuch’s baptism was also not done in the context of a local church, but it was initiated by a direct revelation of the Holy Spirit to Philip in order to underscore that the gospel was no longer merely for the Jews or even those living in Samaria. Rather, the gospel was breaking into the whole world by direct divine action. (Acts 8:26-40).

The Lord’s Supper, however, is not so flexible. Administering the Supper outside of the bounds of a gospel church destroys its message altogether. The Table is specifically meant to distinguish a body of believers as a gospel church (1 Corinthians 10:17). Such extra-ecclesial administrations do not communicate that the participants are in covenant with one another. There is rarely a joint confession to establish any sort of confessional unity. If the confessing believers who participate are not intimately involved in the other’s lives, then how can they affirm one another’s confessions of faith? Simply put, any old gathering of believers is not authorized by Jesus Christ to administer His Table. The priesthood of all believers should not be construed as the priesthood of every individual believer to administer the ordinances of Jesus Christ.

Parachurch ministries, Christian families, small groups, and Christian conferences usually want to administer the Lord's Table - at least in my anecdotal experience - in order to accomplish one of two things: a declaration of ecumenical unity, or they want to offer an enjoyable experience for the participants in communion with Christ. While refuting both of these ideas would easily be an article by itself, let this response suffice: Jesus gave the Keys of the Kingdom to the local church (Matthew 18:17, 2 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 5:2-5), not to your small group, parachurch ministry, or whatever. Fear God! Fear the Consuming Fire, and do not exceed the authority that has been given to you (Hebrews 12:29).

Sadly, the history of the church has seen some poor application of the keys. Sometimes, the keys get mixed with the sword of the state such that the church deals out physical life and death.

Other times, papal excommunication amounted to banishment from your homeland. There was even one case of two rival popes who had mutually excommunicated one another.

Furthermore, I am not saying that the Keys are the actual means of salvation such that justification sola fide (by faith alone) becomes justification sola ecclesia (by the church alone). The ordinances do not create faith nor confer grace ex opere operato (through their mere administration; the teaching of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church). Rather, as argued before, they recognize a credible profession of faith or lack thereof, and they forecast based upon that profession what the eschatological judgment of God will be.

Rather than the Pope, a group of elders, a presbytery, or some other assembly, the Bible teaches that gospel churches, as confessional and covenantal bodies of believers, use the Keys of the Kingdom. Sometimes, they may delegate pastors to do the actual immersing in the Triune Name or passing out of the bread, but both ordinances are fundamentally the church’s ordinances, and they fall under the oversight of the whole congregation. While Matthew 16 sees Jesus grant the Keys to Peter (and Peter’s confession), himself a figurehead of the Apostles; Matthew 18:17-20 sees Jesus grant the keys “to the church” as the final authority in church discipline. Jesus also repeats the same lines about binding and loosing in Matthew 18:19. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2:6, also refers to the exercise of the keys as an act of the majority. Therefore, any act of the keys is an act of a gospel church, and the decision to use those keys ought to reflect the will of the majority of that gospel church. Therefore, gospel churches vote members in on account of their credible profession and vote members out on account of death, transfer of membership, or church discipline. And as gospel churches, all such decisions should be made in light of God’s Word. After all, Jesus has all authority, we are merely stewards of His authority.