What happens if you are not a member of the body of Christ?
If someone is not a member of the body of Christ, Scripture says that person is eternally lost. Congregational membership—Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, or otherwise—cannot change that. Only through God’s salvation and the Holy Spirit’s work of placing a person into the body of Christ does one receive eternal life, eternal salvation, and the hope of glory.
Les teaches that it is not so important what congregation a person belongs to as whether that person is a member of the body of Christ. A person may be Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, or anything else, but unless they are a member of the body of Christ, they are eternally lost. Once a person has entered into God’s salvation and the Holy Spirit’s work of placing them into the body of Christ, then they have what the Bible calls eternal life, eternal salvation, and the hope of glory. Les also emphasizes that the body of Christ is a revelation given only through the apostle Paul; it is not found in the Old Testament or alluded to in Christ’s earthly ministry, and it is wrapped up in the predominantly Pauline word “mystery.”