Now we come to the subject of the unit of salvation. Everything is measured by units. The unit of salvation is the household.
According to the Bible, in God’s dealings and communications with man, He has given man many promises. If we know these promises, we will reap great benefit for ourselves. If we do not know them, we will suffer great loss.
God’s promise of salvation takes the household as a unit, not the individual as a unit. If a newly saved person sees this from the very beginning, he will be spared many headaches, and he will gain much benefit for himself. When God saves man, He takes the whole family, rather than an individual, as a unit.
Concerning eternal life, the Bible takes an individual, not a household, as the unit. However, concerning salvation, it shows that men are saved household by household. The unit of salvation is the household. We want to spend a little time to consider several portions of the Word. This will show us clearly that salvation is for the whole household. We can inquire of God according to these words. We can deal with Him not only for ourselves individually but also for our whole family.
We hope that all the children who are born among us will not need our extra effort in the future to bring them to salvation and to rescue them out of the world. Some have already been born into our fleshly family. We should make sure that they are born into our spiritual family also. We cannot afford to lose them year by year and then fight to rescue them back year by year. We cannot just beget them into the world; we still must bring them to the Lord.
If all the brothers and sisters agree that this is the way we should take, we will have at least as many saved ones as the number of children in our midst. The Lord has placed them in our hands. We should not let them go; we must make sure that they are saved. Otherwise, it will take considerable effort to bring them back from the world. All the little fishes born of our big fishes should be on our side; we should not let them go back into the sea and then struggle to catch them again. Whether or not the church will continue with its second generation depends on whether our children belong to the Lord.
I hope that the brothers and sisters will see the importance of this matter. Whether or not the church will go on in the next generation, whether or not those after us will go on, depends on whether we can bring our own children to the Lord. If we lose as many as are born to us, our second generation will be gone. If generation after generation all those who are born into our midst stand fast and if we also have some increase from the outside, the church will be strong and its number will increase. We must never give birth to a child only to lose it later. Instead, those who are born to us must be regenerated.
The Bible reveals the basic principle that God saves men household by household. How can we prove this? Let us examine various portions of the Word.
Genesis 7:1 says, “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark,” and 1 Peter 3:20 says, “A few, that is, eight souls, were brought safely through by water.”
The ark was not for an individual; it was for the whole house. In Genesis 6 we see a man who was righteous before God—Noah. The Bible does not say that the sons and daughters-in-law of Noah were righteous. The Bible only says that Noah was a righteous man before God. However, when God prepared a way of salvation for Noah, He commanded Noah’s whole house to enter the ark. Therefore, the household, not an individual, entered the ark.
A new believer should bring every member of his household into the ark. You can say to the Lord, “I have believed in You. You have said that my whole household can enter into the ark. Lord, please bring my whole household into the ark now.” God will honor your faith.