The Necessity of the Church for Salvation

The church is indeed a necessary part of salvation. God reveals Himself in the person of Christ, Christ reveals Himself through the church, and the church reveals Christ to the world. In order for someone to “access” God they must in one way or another go through the church. While it is possible, hypothetically speaking, for someone to be saved apart from the church, this is not the way God has chosen to bring about the salvation of the world. Hypothetically speaking, a person could be trapped on a deserted island and come across a copy of the Bible and find the way of salvation written in its pages, but even then one must remember that the gospels and letters of the New Testament that explain clearly the way of salvation were canonized by none other than the church. The Holy Spirit was of course present and influencing these church leaders, but He still chose to use the church. More often than not, people “find” God not through a careful study of the Scriptures on their own, but rather through seeing the character and peace of Christ on display within someone with whom they are friends or with whom they interact in one way or another. The church is to be understood as the body of Christ, which means that the church is the physical element or the Christ that the world sees which either draws people in or turns them away. Also, the salvation process is one that is meant to involve community. Salvation is not an individualistic matter.