“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…as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body… just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…” Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:23, 25
Perhaps you have heard people speak the words in this title or something equivalent to it: give me Jesus but not the church, I don’t need to go to church to worship God, etc. The idea is that one can have a relationship with the Lord without being in His church. So many are disgruntled with organized religion, prompting this kind of thinking. For this, one of the fastest growing “religious groups” in the United States is the “nones,” those who answer “none” when asked about their religious affiliations. Many of them profess to be spiritually minded, believing in God, believing in Jesus, etc., but they have no interest in the church.
While we cannot exhaust this issue in this short discussion, we can discover enough to see the biblical problems the view faces. This is not to question anyone’s sincerity or integrity, but it is to question their reasoning in light of the biblical data on the subject. We will start with Matthew 16 and then ponder a few of the biblical analogies for the church to demonstrate the impossibility of being connected to Christ but not His church.
In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asked the disciples who the people said He was. The responses were a mix of John the Baptizer, Elijah, or one of the other prophets seemingly resurrected. When He asked the disciples who they took Him to be, Peter gave the good confession that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God (16:16). Upon this foundational principle, Jesus promised to build His church (16:17-18). Without changing subjects, He promised Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven (16:19). The point here is that, in response to the good confession that He is the Messiah, Jesus immediately pointed to His grand plan, to build His church.
This alone is reason enough to never downplay the significance of the church, but this truth becomes overwhelmingly clear when coupled with apostolic analogies. We will begin in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 6:19-20, where Paul described the church at Corinth as the temple of God. The meaning of the term temple is a dwelling place or house for a deity, in this case the only true God. This imagery is also used in Ephesians 2:19-22 and 1 Peter 2:4-9 to describe the relationship of God to His people. Peter described Christians as “…living stones…being built up a spiritual house…” (1 Peter 2:5). The point is that, to dwell with God, we must be a part of His temple/house.
In Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:23-25, and Colossians 1:18, the church is explicitly described as Christ’s body. The analogy describes a powerful bond between Christ and His church as the head and body must be connected for the organism to live. Of course, Christ does not depend on the church to live, but His purpose for the church depends on this connection being maintained. This is bolstered by the language of Ephesians 1 and 5. In Ephesians 1:22-23, the church is described as “…the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” He is the one Who fulfills all things, but this fulfillment was brought about in the church. In Ephesians 5:23-25, He is the Savior of the body, the church, for which He gave Himself.
This makes the notion of being “in Christ” but not in His body fallacious. The idea of being united to Christ while separate from His body is as workable as being a living thing with a head and body severed from one another. We know what happens if our head is severed from our body, and this reality carries over to this body of which we must be a part. So, let us hold fast to the head, understanding that we are His body. The church does not save people, but the Lord places the saved in the church (Acts 2:47).