1. “Those who believed” (Acts 2:44; see also 4:32).
The church includes those who have believed. Only those who believe are included in the church. To believe does not mean to merely believe the truth of the gospel, much less to believe a religion. It is to believe in the Lord Jesus and to receive Him as the Savior, thereby obtaining His life. Only those who believe and who receive the Lord are included in the church.
2. “Those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Those who have believed are those who are being saved. Once a person believes in the Lord, he is saved; once he receives the Lord as His Savior, he receives the Lord’s salvation. The church includes only those who are saved by faith. A false believer, one who has not been saved, is not included in the church.
3. “Disciples” (Acts 11:26).
A person who believes in the Lord and is saved wants to follow the Lord and to receive His teaching. Thus, believers are the Lord’s disciples. Only those who have been saved by the Lord and who want to follow the Lord and to receive His teachings are included in the church. Those who are Christians in name only are not in the church because they have not believed or been saved.
4. “Those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints” (1 Cor. 1:2).
All who have believed in the Lord and are saved are sanctified in Christ. They are sanctified by God; they are saints called out of the world by God. Those in the church are sanctified, the called saints. False believers are not in the church.
5. “Members of His Body” (Eph. 5:30; see also 1 Cor. 12:27; Rom. 12:5).
The church is the Body of Christ; consequently, those who are in the church are members of the Body of Christ. In order to be a member and to participate in Christ, one must be saved, which is to obtain the life of Christ and to be joined to Christ. Since nominal Christians do not have the life of Christ, they are not members of the Body of Christ. Thus, they have no part in the church. They can participate in Christianity as a religion, but they cannot participate in the church as the Body of Christ. The church is the Body of Christ, which is joined to Christ through His life and nature; false believers cannot be members of the Body of Christ, because they do not have the life of Christ. All true believers have the life of Christ and are joined to Christ. Only believers who are joined to Christ as members of the Body are in the church.
Today people may have false teeth, false eyes, or false legs. These things appear to be members of the human body, but they do not have the life of the human body and cannot be joined in oneness with the body. In the same way, many false believers have been brought together into so-called “churches.” They appear to be members, but they do not have the life of the church, which is the life of Christ and the life of the Body of Christ. Therefore, they are not members of the Body of Christ and cannot be joined in one Body with the church. Strictly speaking, they are not in the church. They are merely in Christianity and have a false name of being those in the church.
6. “My brothers...‘the children whom God has given to Me’” (Heb. 2:12-13).
Since the church includes only those who are saved and have the Lord’s life, the church includes those who are the Lord’s brothers and God’s children. Since the church is the house of God and is joined to God with His life and nature, those who are in the church must be born of God and be God’s children in order to be the Lord’s brothers and heirs of God with the Lord. Anyone who does not have a life relationship with God has no part in the church and is not a member of the church as the Body of Christ.
7. “As living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5).
Those who have been regenerated by God to have His life and nature are living stones. Living means that they have been made alive in their spirit; they are not deadened in spirit without the life of God. It is not difficult to know whether a person has been made alive in his spirit, just as it is not difficult to know whether a person is living or dead. As soon as we touch a person’s body, we know whether it is living or dead. Similarly, it is easy to tell whether a person is living or dead spiritually. Our spirit has a spontaneous sensation. We speak with people before they get baptized in order to sense whether they have truly been made alive in spirit. This is not difficult to discern or sense. Anyone who has touched God inwardly will be alive in spirit; anyone who has simply believed some doctrines will be dead. The spirit cannot be made alive through doctrinal teachings. The Holy Spirit must be imparted into the human spirit in order for it to be living. Once the Holy Spirit is imparted, the human spirit is made alive. Doctrinal teachings cannot enliven the spirit. The church includes only those who have an enlivened human spirit.