Even though there is not a direct and explicit verse in the New Testament that commands Christians to formally join a local church, every Christian should formally join a local church because Scripture implicitly requires it.

Jesus himself used this principle for teaching many times. For example, Jesus referenced the 10 Commandments. He pointed to do not commit adultery and do not murder. Jesus made it perfectly clear that not murdering implied a clear command not to hate. He also made it clear that not committing adultery clearly implied a command not to lust. If you fail to keep the implied command of not lusting and hating, then you fail to keep the command not to commit adultery and not to murder.

Similarly, there are passages in the Bible that make implications how the local church is to live together, and if we miss the implications of those commands, then we can fail to keep the command altogether. So then, are there any implied commands about local church membership? The next question that should come to your mind is, “Show me where Scripture implies it.”
 

My point in this article is this: While the bare command to be a member of a church is not present, there are many commands in the New Testament that you cannot obey without being a member of a local church.

We have already looked at the explicit analogies with the metaphors for membership, and now we will look at how particular verses in the Bible cannot be followed without the structure of church membership being in place.

The following verses will be examined to demonstrate obedience to these commands can only be obeyed if formal membership in the church exists. If it can be demonstrated that certain biblical commands cannot be obeyed without formal membership, then formal membership would rightly be called an implied command. If it is an implied command, then it has the weight of an explicit and formal command.

In Acts 2, what were the people who were baptized in added to? They were added to something, and the group they were added to was numbered. From the very beginning the church kept count of who joined the church. This necessarily means that there were those who were in the church, and there were those who were out the church. They clearly kept count. So then, how could they keep count unless they were added to a group who formally identified with the church?

They were not just Christians who had a private relationship with Jesus but did not become a member of a church. They were added to a church as soon as they were baptized. 

After the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, believers in the church and the non-believers who heard of the events were both afraid (v. 11). The fear was so great that many did not dare “to join” the church, presumably for fear that they would suffer a similar fate.¹ This is often a concern for some who oppose church membership. What does the word translated “join” in the English Standard Version mean? The word in the original is can mean “to bind closely,” “to join together,” and “unite.”  This same word occurs in 1 Corinthians 6:17 to refer to the union that occurs between a believer and Christ. At the very least, the use of the word “join” refers to more than a casual showing up. It indicates some sort of formal connection, more like formally joining a club.

In 1 Timothy 5:9-12, Paul gives Timothy a set of instructions for enrolling widows on the list of those receiving support from the church. He writes, “Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works…But refuse to enroll younger widows…”

The verb translated “enroll”  can be either specific (“to put on a list”) or general (“to consider as part of a certain group”).² The former meaning would make the point more marked in that the church was clearly keeping an accessible list of widowed members. Yet even the latter meaning would mean that the church was distinguishing between people in a way consistent with the practice of church membership.

Why mention the widow’s list? It’s difficult to imagine the church keeping a list of widows but not keeping a list of members. If it didn’t keep the latter list, what group of widows would even be considered for inclusion on the former list? Any widow in the entire city of Ephesus? The widow who showed up a few times a few years ago? Of course not. The church would have some specified group that it was drawing from. That specified group would be those who formally joined the church in Ephesus. And it would be the membership rolls that the church used to enroll widows.

There was an immoral person expelled from the church in Corinth, and Paul says not to associate, or even eat with, those who are sexually immoral and claim to be Christians. Paul then says, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.”

First, we should notice Paul’s language. It is very important. Notice Paul says, “inside the church.” He also says God judges those who are “outside” the church. So, there is an inside and an outside of the church. How do we know who is inside the church and who is on the outside? Is a stranger to the church who visits on Sunday morning someone to be considered “inside the church?”

Paul called upon the Corinthian church to judge those who were inside the church, not those who were outside. They were responsible for the testimony of those who belonged to the church, not those who didn’t. This passage does not make sense if the Corinthian church didn’t have some public, formal means by which people identified themselves with the church. It also doesn’t make sense if the church does not hold the people who are inside it to a standard of behavior or teaching, and we will look at that in detail later

In 2 Corinthians 2:6, Paul refers to the ex-communication of this individual as the “punishment by the majority.” While we will think of church discipline later, it should be noted that the existence of a “majority” means that there was a set of people from which the majority is formed. There cannot be a majority of an unspecified group; it must be a majority of something or some defined group. Was it the majority of people Paul mentioned those who happened to be present the day the vote was cast to ex-communicate the immoral person? Could non-Christians then vote to ex-communicate from the church? Could any Christians who happened to be visiting that day from another city who didn’t know the situation vote?

The most natural assumption to make is that Paul meant the majority of an acknowledged membership of the church. Those who covenanted together and comprised the body of believers in Corinth.

In 2 Corinthians 2:6, Paul refers to the ex-communication of this individual as the “punishment by the majority.” While we will think of church discipline later, it should be noted that the existence of a “majority” means that there was a set of people from which the majority is formed. There cannot be a majority of an unspecified group; it must be a majority of something or some defined group. Was it the majority of people Paul mentioned those who happened to be present the day the vote was cast to ex-communicate the immoral person? Could non-Christians then vote to ex-communicate from the church? Could any Christians who happened to be visiting that day from another city who didn’t know the situation vote?

The most natural assumption to make is that Paul meant the majority of an acknowledged membership of the church. Those who covenanted together and comprised the body of believers in Corinth.

It is difficult to imagine, if not impossible, to see how these commands and metaphors of how the church should function and be obeyed without a clear sense and structure of formal membership in the local church. Among other scriptures, these examples give strong evidence that participation in the life of the church body wasn’t casual or easily dissolved. It was a relationship that one formally entered into, and it came with responsibilities and privileges.

¹ It is grammatically possible that “them” of v. 13 refers only to the Apostles, but the context demands that we understand the “them” to refer to the church.

² The Greek word is κολλᾶσθαι

² The Greek word is kαταλεγέσθω