Are There Other Saved People?

Are there other saved people? This is the gist of questions some friends and I pondered after the release of last week's article, “Will People in Denominations Be Saved?” I first want to state that anyone content to stay in a denomination will not be saved. The Scriptures attest to this in Matthew 15:1-9. 

Then there come to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God; he shall not honor his father. And ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.

The question posed by the Pharisees was sectarian in nature. Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? The response of our Lord is telling. Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? Jesus explained that by holding to and binding their uninspired traditions, they have voided the word of God in practice. What can we prove from this? First, anyone who binds the traditions of men over the Word of God has thus voided the Word of God. Second, one can easily observe this among the churches of men today. With this considered, are there other saved people?

The question is how one is added to the New Testament church, the body of Christ? What all must he know to be saved and added to the body of Christ? The Bible simply teaches that a man must know he is lost, that Jesus paid the atonement for his sin on the cross, and that to receive the benefit of the gift of salvation, he must obey the Gospel of Christ (Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess Christ, and be Baptized (Immersed) for the remission of sins).  At this point, a person is saved. He does not need to know the history of the kings of Judah and Israel, nor about Daniel and the 70 weeks (for further reading regarding this subject, see the article entitled, “What Do I Need to Know to be Saved?” https://www.ironworkspress.org/articles/what-do-i-need-to-know-to-be-saved) One simply needs to know that in response to man's sin, God sent Jesus. It is written 

So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world:  but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,  that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

(Gal 4:4-5)

When one is aware of sin, the sacrifice of sin, and obedient to the Gospel, he is saved and added to the church (cf. Acts 2:41-47). So what if someone is scripturally baptized but worshipping with the wrong church? Did God add them to the true church? 

I will answer this by saying first, it matters what a man is taught (cf. Rom 10:17). If his understanding of what he must do to be saved is dependent on the teaching of a denomination, he was not added to the New Testament church. What if he were scripturally baptized? To be scripturally baptized, the baptism must follow hearing, believing, repenting of sin, and confessing Christ as Lord. If one is baptized to join a denominational church, doing so after they believe they are saved, the Lord does not add them to the church that belongs to Christ. One might understand that he is added to the church when he obeys the Gospel, but not understand the specificity of that church. Many believe that all the sectarian groups are part of the collective. If one generally believes they are added to the universal church when they obey the Gospel, they are not wrong, but they can also be incorrect in their understanding. The Bible teaches that any man who recognizes his sin, the Savior, and obeys what the New Testament church teaches is saved and added to the church. 

A word in passing about baptism. We need to be mindful about equating being right on baptism to being right on salvation. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Latter Day Saints teach that baptism is for the remission of sins (because the Bible does); are they correct on salvation? I remember that some brethren were very excited about Francis Chan some years back because he started to change his tune on baptism. Does that make him right about salvation? A broken clock is right twice a day, but remains a broken clock, unless repaired. 

There are examples where brethren have obeyed the Gospel and subsequently had a wrong understanding about many issues. The epistles deal with correcting many issues among the brethren. There were factious brethren (1 Cor 1:11-13; Titus 3:10, et. al.). With this considered, if there are over 40,000 varieties of synthetic denominations, could there be some confusion about the church? I know some individuals have read the NT and, after reading it, have obeyed the Gospel just like the Bible teaches, but in their immaturity, have attended denominational churches because they did not understand that said church was not pleasing to God. Does a man need to know exactly why we sing acapella before he can be saved? Does he need to know why we give of our means, etc.? Are those the necessary elements of New Testament worship? Yes, they are. Is your preacher including that in the invitation at the close of his sermon? If he is not, should he?

So if a man is taught by the Word of God, if he obeys the Word of God, is He saved, yes. Is it possible that a man can do those things and attend a denomination and need correction? Yes! This may not be the exact situation, but it can give us insight into the need for corrections and salvation. In Acts 18, we are given some information about Apollos. 

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John: and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately

(Acts 18:24-26)

Apollos was teaching accurately about Jesus, but only knew John’s baptism (which was outdated as soon as the words of Acts 2:38 were uttered). It is well understood that Apollos was saved. It is inferred that he must have received John’s baptism, which, as the Spirit states in Luke 3:3, was a baptism unto the remission of sins. Apollos was saved, but his teaching was incomplete. He was preaching the baptism of John, which was no longer the valid baptism of the kingdom. Our brother was corrected kindly by Priscilla and Aquilla, who heard him. There is no record of Apollos being baptized again, just as there is no record of the twelve apostles being baptized in Acts 2. The Scripture does attest to the fact that those who were taught wrong by Apollos had to be corrected and baptized Scripturally under the New Covenant (cf. Acts 19:1-7). Imagine this. What if a brother were worshipping with an erring congregation of the Lord’s church? If they recognized they were lost, recognized the savior, and obeyed the Gospel as you did, were they added to the body of Christ? Yes, they were. Is it possible they need to be corrected and shown the way of God more accurately? Certainly!

So that it is not misunderstood, two things can be true at once; one can be saved and needs further instruction. Secondly, one cannot remain saved if one rejects the truth  and remains in an apostate church. Certainly, there are men and women among the denominations who, if they were taught the way, love the Lord enough to leave their churches for the church that belongs to Christ. Are there other saved people? No. All the saved are added to the church of Christ when they obey the New Testament pattern. Are there some who need to be corrected and brought home? Yes.