NOTE: 
A word of caution: I reccommend that you carefully consider the material presented below, using discernment wherever opinion or undocumented claims may occur. I do not condone or agree with any brother in Christ who stands in judgement of or corrects the Holy Bible. Any criticisms, corrections, or suggested improvements of the KJV (AV 1611) are the author's. Please disregard any and all 'changes', 'corrections', 'criticisms', and so-called 'improvements'.
  

Church membership is a topic of perennial interest and discussion in religious circles. Enrollment statistics rate high as an indicator of the popularity, status and influence of a denominational church. This is quite understandable when one considers the highly organized state of the professing church today. To many people, joining the church and becoming a recognized member of such is about their only religious experience, and on this they base their claim to being a Christian and their hopes of heaven.

In striking contrast to this, "church membership" and "joining the church" are expressions seldom, if ever, heard in assemblies. The reason for this is that the English New Testament (KJV) does not contain a single reference to the word "membership." Nor is its equivalent to be found in the Greek New Testament. The word "member" (in its singular and plural forms) occurs thirty-four times. Of these, twenty-one are references to the human body, the remainder referring to the Church as the Body of Christ, individual believers being the members. In many passages of Scripture the human body is employed as an illustration of the spiritual Body of Christ. The English word is always the translation of one Greek word, which signifies "a limb, or part of a body." The word is never employed in the sense of a member of an organization, social, fraternal, political, religious, or otherwise.

This introduces the vital truth that the Church of the New Testament is never presented as an organization, but always as an organism, with Christ as the Head, and believers as the living members. This is a most precious truth, and absolutely essential to a clear understanding of the truth of the Church as revealed in Scripture.

. . .the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. Eph. 1.22,23.

There is one Body. . .Eph. 4.4.

. . .Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the Body. Eph. 5.23.

And He is the Head of the Body, the Church . . .Col. 1.18.

. . .For His Body's sake, which is the Church. Col. 1.24.

There is a striking passage in 1 Corinthians 12.12,13 which reads:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. (The Greek has the definite article.) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free. . . .

The Body bears the name of the Head, being one with Him. This is beautifully illustrated in the case of the first Adam (the figure of Christ-- Rom. 5.14). Adam and his bride are spoken of as being "one flesh," Gen. 2.23,24, and we read:

In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them . . .and called their name, Adam, in the day when they were created.

Gen. 5.1,2

It is of this spiritual organism--the one Body, the Church, that believers are said to be members.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and members one of another, Rom. 12.4,5.

For we are members of His body, Eph. 5.30. (The best Greek texts omit the remainder of this verse . We are not members of His physical body, but of His Body the Church.)

Church theologians and historians write about "the visible church," but this is a misnomer. The true Church-the Body of Christ--cannot be seen by human eyes. Multitudes are already in heaven (although the Church is never so spoken of at the present time,) and human discernment cannot determine with exactitude those on earth who are truly born again. The local assembly is intended by God to be a visible manifestation of the true -a miniature of the whole, a microcosm of the Body. That is why Paul could write to the Corinthian assembly, "Now ye are body of Christ," 1 Cor. 12.27. (There is no definite article in the Greek text.) They were not the body of Christ, for that includes the total church; nor were they a body as separate from the whole; but the church was composed of the local members of the Body of Christ.

Unless a clear and constaait emphasis is maintained on this fact that true church membership is that of living members in a living organism, and if it is permitted to degenerate into the notion of a membership in a religious organization, the term "membership" can become a cold and sterile thing. But, in contrast, there is a warm, vibrant term often heard in assemblies--"fellowship"--a word that seems to inherently suggest closeness, community of interest, cooperation. The Greek word is, literally, "to share in common," and is translated, not only as fellowship, but as communion, communication, contribution and distribution. It is closely akin to the word for partner Luke 5.10, 2 Cor. 8.23, and partaker, 2 Pet. 1.4.

What makes fellowship so important is that man was created to enjoy fellowship with his God, and undoubtedly didso in his unfallen state in Eden. But the entrance of sin changed all that, and the spiritual death which ensued from Adam's disobedience made such communion impossible. Now, on the basis of the abounding grace of God, by means of the reconciling work of Christ on the cross and the regenerating work of the Spirit, believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus, 2 Cor. 5.17, with the spiritual capacity for fellowship with their God. John writes:

. . . truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 1 Jn. 1.3.

And to the Corinthians Paul declared:

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Cor. 1.9.

. . . and the communion (fellowship) of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. 2 Cor. 13.14.

Thus the believer in Christ has been brought into fellowship with the triune God. And this becomes the basis for our fellowship with all of like precious faith.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 Jn. 1.3. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 Jn. 1.7.

When the three thousand at Pentecost heard and believed the preaching of the gospel by Peter, Acts 2.22-41 , they were saved, and it is recorded of them:

And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers . Acts 2.42 (JND.)

It was not a question of joining a new church and becoming members of a new sect, but of sharing in a new fellowship with those who loved the Lord because of a common salvation, Jude 3. In this fellowship they continued stedfastly. The assemblies do not urge Christians to join their church and become members, they invite them to share in the fellowship of the saints because they are members of the Body of Christ. In the Lord's Supper the cup is - "the communion (fellowship) of the blood of Christ," and the bread is the "communion (fellowship) of the body of Christ." The assemblies do not ordain servants of Christ, but they give to them "the right hand of fellowship," Gal. 2.9, indicative of partnership in their labors for the Lord. Funds sent for the support of such workers are designated as - "fellowship in the gospel," Phil. 1.3-5; 4.14-16; (translated "communicate" in Gal. 6.6). Gifts for needy saints are likewise referred to as fellowship, 2 Cor. 8.4, (translated "contribution" in Rom. 15.26; and "communi-cate" in Heb. 13.16).

Because the basic thought in fellowship is sharing, the term becomes a comparative one, i.e., the measure of an individual's fellowship is the measure in which there is a sharing in the total activities of the local assembly. Some are in - "full" fellowship, participating in every way possible; with others it is "limited," "partial," "spasmodic."

Some will certainly ask, -- "But are not all true believers 'called unto the fellowship of the Son?' " They are; and therefore should be welcomed into the fellowship of the local assembly, Rom. 15.7, unless debarred by unclean lives, 1 Cor. 5.11, or unsound doctrine, Ti. 1.13.

Others will ask, -- "When all Christians give to the Lord's work and workers, or to needy saints , are they not fellowshipping with them?" They are.

Still others inquire, "When all Christians meet for worship, prayer, or Bible study, are they not having fellowship together?" They are.

What, then, is DISTINCTIVE about assembly fellowship? That which is distinctive about the teaching regarding fellowship and membership in the assemblies is that the erroneous practice of membership through joining a church is eliminated, and the truth of church fellowship because of membership in the Body of Christ is emphasized.