The Word Abused . . .

JOINING THE CHURCH

If there is a verbal anathema that is well nigh universal among our own Church of Christ folk, this would be it. Join the church? How sectarian can one get! Everyone who knows anything about the Bible knows that you don’t join the church, but that the Lord adds you to the church, for that is the way Acts 2:47 reads: “The Lord added to the church day by day those that were being saved.” So, you might “become a member” or “obey the gospel” or “be added by the Lord,” though that term added is not often employed in everyday lingo, but you never talk about “joining the church.”

And our folk have made the point stick. They realize, like their preachers tell them, that they didn’t join anything. but that they were added to the church, and so you almost never hear any of our people commit such a faux pas as “I joined the Church of Christ back in my teens.” If one talks in any such manner it only shows that he is not yet well grounded.

Do the scriptures warrant any such notion as this? It doesn’t hurt to take a look, even if we end up shooting down a sacred cow. Sacred cows never give milk anyhow. They usually just stand around and bellow, calling attention to themselves, and never do any real good. We are usually freer, happier, and more natural when the sacred cows take off for the woods where they belong. This is no big deal, whether one dares to say join or not, but I seek to liberate people who have this vocabulary hangup and have to watch their words lest they commit some unpardonable sin. Maybe it is only a sacred call that we are after, but I’m for chunking rocks at him just the same. Here goes.

It is prophesied in the Old Testament that those who turned to the Lord on Pentecost would indeed join the church: “Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people” (Zech. 2:11). It is generally agreed that this refers to Pentecost in Acts 2. The prophet said that they would “join themselves to the Lord,” and to join the Lord is to join his Body or his church.

There is an interesting difference between join and added to. The first implies human initiative, a step one can take toward some intended goal. The word is used this way several times in scripture. Philip joins himself to the chariot on Acts 8:29, the prodigal son joins himself to a citizen in a far country (Luke 15:15). And yet the word sometimes suggests divine initiative, with the Lord joining things or people together. Jesus warns against tampering with what God has joined together” in Mt. 19:6, and Paul speaks of the Body being “joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied” (Eph. 4:16). And sometimes, as in Eph. 5:31 where a man is to be “joined to his wife,” it looks as if the joining calls for both human and divine action.

The term added to is divine action only and never human. No man can add anyone to God’s number, not even himself. Man may well “join the church”— except it is church that is really not a good scriptural term (it should be assembly or community)— in that he obeys the gospel. He does what the Lord requires, which is all the power he has. By God’s grace he is added to or made a part of (or joined to) the Body of Christ.

So join may be used of human or divine action or both, while added to is divine action only. I believe that will hold up. These two terms follow each other in Acts 5:13-14. Verse 13 says, “None of the rest dared join them,” referring to the reluctance of the unbelievers to cast their lot with the community of Jewish believers. Here is a clear-cut instance of join being used in referring to “becoming a member” of the church, for it is in effect saying: None of the unbelievers would dare to join the church. If the doctor who wrote those words had been schooled in our Christian colleges or Bible schools, he would not have used the word join like that!

Verse 14 shows the power that the gospel finally had, despite the reluctance: “More than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” Surely only God did the adding. But the people who believed did the joining!

Joining can be thought of as obeying. Joining oneself to the disciples, an expression found in Acts 9:26, is to become like the disciples. To be “joined unto the Lord,” as in 1 Cor. 6:1 7 is to obey the Lord and to become like him. Just as I Cor. 6:16, “he who joins himself to a prostitute,” has similar implications. Joining and obeying are used together in Acts 5:36, which well illustrates our whole point. “For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four thousand joined themselves: who was slain, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.” They joined Theudas; they obeyed Theudas.

Would it not therefore follow that those of us who obey Jesus join Jesus, and vice versa? Join the church is therefore as meaningful as become a member of the church. So go ahead and say it, bracing yourself if you must: “I joined the church when I was 15 years old.” Say it, brother, say it, and declare yourself a free man! Let them say what they will, one can “join the Lord’s church,” and we have proved it. He can only hope that the Lord will add him to that number that make up “the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven.” It may well be true that many who have joined have never really been added, but that can only mean that they didn’t join the right thing, or better still, the right Person.

I was motivated to prepare this piece by a booklet issued by Dan Ottinger (Box 40662, Nashville 37201) entitled Joining the Church, which is a chapter of his forthcoming book, Creeds Under Fire. In the booklet he tells the story, reproducing the letters, of how a prominent Church of Christ editor, now deceased, refused to publish his letter challenging this bit about “You can’t join the Lord’s church,” once the editor had again repeated this old cliche’. The editor promised to publish the letter, which set forth the position I have stated herein, but then backed down. Brother Ottinger is convinced that the editor could not bear to have one of our sacred cows butchered right there in the columns of his own paper. So he chose to back down on his word rather than boot out the old cow! Or is it only a calf? If you would like a copy of the booklet, and thereby find out who the editor was!), send 75 cents to the brother at the address given. Things are changing, you know! —The Editor