Is Church Necessary for Salvation? Do I need to go to Church?
Many church leaders today seem to make "church" attendance a requirement for salvation, often quoting Hebrews 10:25:
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, true. But what does this mean? It is explained more thorougly in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
The assembling together(Hebrews 10) and the gathering together(2 Thessalonians) is the same event and refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. We are not to forsake(abandon or give up on) the coming of Christ when we will be gathered together unto him.
There are many who await the coming of Christ, they are eager and strong in faith, but when the day doesn't come and as time goes on, they start to lose hope and start to lose faith. In the parable of the seed, we are to be like the seed that fell on good ground and bring forth our fruit with patience.
Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Christ will come again and we are to exhort or encourage each other not to lose faith, to stay strong, and to not be troubled, especially as that day comes near.
These verses do not relate to attending a church building. You do not have to attend a worship service or gather at a special building to be saved. Gathering together does give us a chance to pray together, to teach and learn, to edify and uplift, and to help each other grow. A true gathering of the Church should accomplish those things to the glory of God.
Today, many of the church buildings teach false doctrines and use guilt to keep you there. Brothers and sisters, follow Christ and love one another and you will be saved; You are the Church.
2 Thessalonians 2 is about the return of Jesus and our gathering to Him. Heb 10:25 is about the continual gathering of the "church" amongst themselves to fellowship until Jesus returns and it is not about the return of Jesus. You cannot just pick out a phrase and make it say what you want. These two verses are unrelated and do not expound on each other.
I believe these verses are speaking of the very same thing. I certainly didn't just pick out a phrase and make it say what I wanted. It says exactly what it says. I take this very seriously and don't appreciate false accusations. I try to read in simplicity. It's plain for me to see that both verses say the same thing.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together ... and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching
The assembling together is referring to the day that is approaching..Christ's return is the assembling together. We are not to forsake the hope of Christ's return. That is confirmed by 2 Thessalonians 2 which says the same thing, just with a little extra detail. They line up perfectly.
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." KJV
"Assembling of ourselves together" clearly shows a congregating of believers. Who is assembling? "Ourselves". To Jesus when He returns? No together, meaning Christians gathering together. 2 Thess 2 clearly says gathering to Jesus when He returns Heb 10 clearly says it's the saints gathering with other saints until He returns. There is nothing in Heb 10 that would lead us to think it's the rapture.
Take another look. The word used for assembling and gathering is the same word in the Greek. These are the only two spots in the Bible where this word is used. Why should we believe they mean something different?
"To Jesus when He returns?" Yes, absolutely. I think you may be reading it in the wrong way. There's no need to overthink the word "ourselves". We ourselves are being gathered unto Jesus. Not of our own, but our own selves, our persons.
This is exactly why I wanted to share these verses: To shed light on a much misunderstood verse. Why do you take so much offense to the idea that these verses are related?
Just to be clear for others, I did not mention a rapture.
It really is irrelevant if it's the same word as we can be gathered together or gathered to Jesus. Gathering to Jesus is the rapture which 2 Thess 2 is clearly talking about. When you insert your meaning into the scripture it's called eisegesis. This is not a commonly misunderstood passage.
I try to have that level of communication with god inside of me... not really have to be in a certain building decided by other people. I speak to him directly in my heart and mind daily. Thank you lord for all of you blessings.
Amen
Great article. We forget sometimes that the people are the Church, not the building and needed that reminder.
You are part of something bigger!
I agree that people are the church. I do however think it's a great benefit to have regular worship and fellowship with other Christians. Regular fellowship means developing relationships than can be difficult, and helping others through hard time that you may become involved in which can cause you difficulty as well. It's through these struggles with each other that we learn about the fruits of the spirit, and learn to trust God.
True, fellowship is so important.
God did not intend for us to celebrate and praise Him by ourselves.
True, but I see more and more people falsely preaching that you must be a part of an establishment or join the "mother church" to be saved. Or you must do certain rituals to be a member of "the church". This is all false. Many of us do not have access to a true gathering of the body and I wanted to encourage those people and also to point out how many preachers are misinterpreting Hebrews 10:25 to guilt people into "joining".
Hewbrews 10:25
You assemble to Resemble!!
This does not me going to a building, it means being amoung like minded people!!
Blessings to you!!
Thank you.
Church is not a building.
It is the people, the assembling together with other believers.
I am a big believer in home churches.
Anywhere that 2 or 3 are gathered is
church.Not just the churches, religions in general teach false doctrines. I hope you don't take it as a sign of disrespect but I feel you yourself are teaching false doctrines with your post too.
What do you believe? If you care to tell me where you believe I am in error I will listen.
In what aspect? About religion in general or about the role of churches?
Thank you, I appreciate that.
In a Biblical sense, the false doctrine that your post implies is that there is a correct way of interpreting scripture and a wrong of interpreting scripture while all you have to back up your claims about it is informed opinion at best. Why do you think your interpretation should be viewed as correct while someone else's shouldn't?
The more general false doctrine I am not in favor of is the idea that the Bible should be interpreted as something positive and meaningful while it is full of morally reprehensible acts ( for examples genocides) and ideas ( for example regulating how slavery should be carried out instead of banning it and instead banning something clearly less consequential like shellfish). Additionally, I don't think it's reasonable to treat it as correct either as its objective truthfulness remains unproven. Simple questions like how do you know that the Bible is correct while the Quran or the Book of Agita are false come to mind.
The most general false doctrine that you are implying indirectly is the there is merit in believing in something on faith.
The main reason I decided to comment was the fact that you can see how churches use sneaky tactics to keep you hooked and scared not to comply, but failed to see that religion in general is doing the exact same thing even when there are not churches involved. The exact holy book you are quoting has that built-in.
In the essence of living as part of the body of Christ, let's therefore continue to fellowship, to gather together, to lift up our hands in one accord, to strengthen the whole body of Christ, to spur one another, --anything that is proper to the body of Christ, let us practice it daily as members of one body. In the essence of Christ return, let's then continue and do more and more how we can excel in the life we have together in the Lord until he come again. Hebrews 10 and 2 Thessalonians 2 are differ in their context yet they are both useful in edifying and lifting up the the chuch, the body of Christ, the "ekklesia" I speak blessings to all! thanks for sharing this to us :)
Both verses use the same Greek word for gathering and assembling and by their very context show that they relate to the same event: The gathering together unto Christ. They are nearly identical in nature. Don't forsake Christ's return. Have patience and faith, not losing the hope of that day.
Thank you for reading.
@pretradition yes I agree with you in the specific word used by the authors of both Hebrews and I Thess 2:1--the context of greek word in hebrews 10 "assembling" is no doubt the same in I thess 2:1 they are both in the form of noun. What I am saying in my comment is not the specific context of the word/s that's found in the particular verse, I am referring to the whole context of both chapters--Hebrews 10 and I Thess 2. I fully understand your point in this article and it is true that there are many of those religious groups and if there are some christian churches (I don't want to judge them) that are intentionally corrupting the true meaning of the church because of their personal greed. But to us, who wants to keep the sound teaching of the infallible word of God--it's our rightful duty to become active, cooperative and participative in as much as our time permits, to involve ourselves in the gathering of the believers for edification and worship so that the body of Christ may continue to grow in strength, in faith, in hope and in love until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this gathering or assembling should know no limits in the four corners of the building or under the name of a specific local church. it should be anywhere even in our houses as the early believers is doing in the book acts. I thanks God for your passion and love for His word. Bless you more :)
Save yourself, nobody else is going to. Religion was the first form of government and still plays a major factor in today's mental slavery. The bible like most religious books were written and edited by secret societies. Dont think for one second that one book has all the answers.