Someone asks, “Can a person become a Christian in a denomination?” The “church” about which one reads in the New Testament and denominations are the antithesis or opposite of each other. The Lord’s church came into existence nearly 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem (Acts 2), whereas denominations began hundreds to thousands of years later, first with the Catholic Church in Rome and then with a myriad of denominations that are still being established daily in cities throughout the world. That circumstance alone should be sufficient to discern that the church of the Bible and denominations are the reverse of each other, the former brought to pass by divine decree and the latter the product of manmade rebellion.
A person may be a denominational member when he or she learns the truth and obeys the Gospel, at which time the Lord adds him or her to His church (Acts 2:47). However, then, the newborn Christian is no longer a denominational person. There may be much yet to learn, and the new convert may need to alter several things in his or her life, but as a child of God (true Christian), he or she is no longer a Baptist, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, a Catholic, a Lutheran, an Adventist, a Disciple of Christ or Christian Church member, a Pentecostal or a Mormon.
There may be Christians in denominations, but if so, they are erring Christians, and the “latter end” will be worse for them than the beginning when they were already lost (2 Peter 2:20). Anyone who obeys the Gospel of Christ (e.g., Mark 16:16) and remains affiliated with a denominational church would be in that number.
Members of the churches of Christ need to acknowledge that someone may obey the Gospel of Christ, having come to that understanding without our help and having been immersed without our hands. The validity of one’s baptism does not depend on the validity of the baptizer’s baptism or his faithfulness to the Word of God – or else none of us has any assurance whatsoever of our own salvation. We lack the omniscience to know for sure that our fathers in the faith were faithful Christians, and even if we could know that, a knowable, unbroken line of succession of converts would be required all the way back 2,000 years ago to Jerusalem. Such a proposition would also nullify the seed principle of the Word of God (Luke 8:11).
Individuals coming to the churches of Christ from denominational pasts need to acknowledge that in most manmade churches that the Gospel plan of salvation is not taught. It is the most serious of personal missteps to take as a template what one now understands correctly about the biblical doctrine of salvation and apply it as a template overtop what one may have done in the past, which was not in accordance with what the New Testament teaches.
Some denominations may teach the Gospel plan of salvation (i.e., hearing God’s Word, Romans 10:17; believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior, John 8:24; repent of past sins, Luke 13:3; publicly acknowledging Jesus to be the Christ or Savior, Matthew 10:32-33; immersion in water for the remissions of sins, Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-5; faithfulness, Revelation 2:10; and repenting and prayer when Christians sin, Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:9). However, they do so with the intention of adding the baptized believer to their respective denominations (e.g., Christian Church, Church of the Brethren, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, United Pentecostal), rather than simply adding one to the church of the Bible over which our Lord is the Head. The difference is readily seen by what these individuals typically call themselves (e.g., Pentecostals, Mormons, etc.).
God does not have Baptist Christians, Methodist Christians, Lutheran Christians, Presbyterian Christians, Mormon Christians, Pentecostal Christians, Adventist Christians and so on. The children of God today are simply Christians. Period! Not sectarian Christians! The point we want to make here is that even if a denomination does teach the plan of salvation, with all the additional denominational trappings tagging along, including placement by baptism into a denominational fellowship, there is sufficient reason to ponder the validity with God of that baptism, even when making a break from that denomination.
Remember, there was nearly perfect similarity between the baptism of John the Baptist and the baptism of the Great Commission. Every outward act between the two was identical. Most of the reasons for the two baptisms were the same. The only difference between them was John’s baptism looked forward to the cross and the Great Commission baptism looked backward to the cross of Christ (Matthew 3:8, 13-16; John 3:23; Mark 1:4; Acts 19:1-6). See my article at the following link for a more extensive discussion of this point. https://www.gospelgazette.com/gazette/2005/feb/page2.htm
The inquiry with which we began is brief, and it is not possible to know from that alone what the one who posed the question fully intended or what are the circumstances that gave rise to it. Therefore, we have attempted to answer the question thoroughly enough to address it in any case. Often when answering questions live or such as we have here, one’s response is applied to a context of which the one answering questions is not aware and in a way in which he would not himself make application. Please exercise caution to consider this question and answer within the scope of the brief question and the subsequent reply (i.e., don’t misuse it for a personal agenda).
