Salvation and Church Attendance Requirements
The concept of salvation and church attendance requirements has been debated across various Christian traditions. The question of whether church attendance is necessary for salvation is tied to the understanding of the sacraments and the nature of the Church.
In the Catholic tradition, as represented by Thomas Aquinas, certain sacraments are considered necessary for salvation. According to Aquinas, three sacraments are necessary in the sense that without them, salvation cannot be attained: baptism, confirmation (or chrism), and the Eucharist, although the latter two are not necessary in the same absolute sense as baptism [2]. The necessity of sacraments implies a certain level of participation in the life of the Church, which is understood as an external, organized society.
In contrast, Reformed traditions, as exemplified by Charles Hodge, emphasize the importance of profession of faith and promise of obedience as terms of church membership. Hodge argues that the visible Church has always consisted of those who professed the true religion, together with their children, and that the terms of church membership under all dispensations have been the same [3, 4]. The Reformed view does not necessarily tie salvation to church attendance in the same way as the Catholic tradition, but rather emphasizes the importance of participating in the sacraments as a means of grace.
For Hodge, the Lord's Supper is a sacrament intended for believers, and those who partake of it profess to be disciples of Christ. The qualifications for participating in the Lord's Supper include self-examination to discern one's knowledge of Christ, faith to feed upon Him, and repentance, love, and new obedience [1]. Similarly, John Calvin emphasizes the importance of the sacraments as means of grace, and John Gill notes that self-examination is necessary to ensure that one is partaking of the Lord's Supper worthily [6, 8].
The Reformed tradition also emphasizes that the Church is not limited to those who are visibly regenerate. Hodge argues that it is not necessary for individuals to be assured of their regeneration to participate in the sacraments, but rather that they should have a credible profession of faith and a promise of obedience [5]. This view is in contrast to the Catholic understanding of the Church as an institution necessary for salvation.
The necessity of church attendance for salvation is not explicitly stated in the biblical text. However, the New Testament emphasizes the importance of gathering together as believers, as seen in Hebrews 10:25, which exhorts believers not to forsake assembling together [not cited, but a relevant biblical passage]. The biblical basis for the sacraments and church membership is found in passages such as Matthew 28:19-20, where Jesus commands his disciples to baptize and teach all nations [not cited].
The historical development of the doctrine of church attendance and salvation has been shaped by various controversies and councils. The early Christian Church faced debates over the role of the Jewish law and the nature of the Church, with some arguing that certain practices were necessary for salvation [7]. The Reformation period saw a significant shift in the understanding of the Church and the sacraments, with Protestant reformers emphasizing the importance of faith and the authority of Scripture.
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 68: this sacrament demands should exist in the heart, without producing supreme love and gratitude to Christ, and the fixed purpose to forsake all sin and to live devoted to his service. Our Church, therefore, teaches that it is required of them who would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves, of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience. It is, however, not to be inferred from this that a man must be assured that he is a true believe”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Third Part (Tertia Pars), Of the Number of the Sacraments, Art. 4: Article: Whether all the sacraments are necessary for salvation? I answer that, Necessity of end, of which we speak now, is twofold. First, a thing may be necessary so that without it the end cannot be attained; thus food is necessary for human life. And this is simple necessity of end. Secondly, a thing is said to be necessary, if, without it, the end cannot be attained so becomingly: thus a horse is necessary for a journey. But this is not simple necessity of end. In the first way, three sacraments ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 63: xi. 10 ), is “Jerusalem the golden,” the heaven to which we aspire. Fifth Proposition. The terms of admission into the Church before the Advent were the same that are required for admission into the Christian Church. Those terms were a credible profession of faith in the true religion, a promise of obedience, and submission to the appointed rite of initiation. Every sincere Israelite really received Jehovah as his God, relied upon all his promises, and especially upon the promise of redemption through the seed of Abraham. He not only boun”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 64: visible Church has always consisted of those who professed the true religion, together with their children. 2. That the terms of church-membership under all dispensations have been the same, namely, profession of faith and promise of obedience. 3. The requirements for participation in the sacraments were the same. That is, any one entitled to the rite of circumcision, was entitled to partake of the passover; those, under the Christian dispensation, entitled to baptism, are entitled to the Lord’s Supper. Those who, unbaptized, would be ent”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 64: undertakes to establish is, that none “ought to be admitted to the communion and privileges of members of the visible Church of Christ in complete standing, but such as are in profession, and in the eye of the Church’s Christian judgment, godly or gracious persons.” 576 576 Works, edit. New York, 1868, vol. i. p. 89. What he proposes to prove, therefore, is that those only who, in the judgment of the Church, are godly 570 or gracious persons are to be admitted to the sacraments. All his arguments, however, ten in number, are directed to p”
- 1 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Corinthians 11:27: But let a man examine himself,.... Whether he has a true sense of sin, sorrow and repentance for it; otherwise he will see no need of a Saviour, nor will he look to Christ for salvation, or be thankful to him for redemption by him; all which are necessary in a due observance of this ordinance; also, whether he is in the faith, whether he is a partaker of the true grace of faith, which is attended with good works, and shows itself by love to Christ, and to the saints; whereby a man goes out of himself to Christ for spiritual food and strength, peace and comfort”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 123: be by the brotherhood or by individual officers, or by Church councils or courts. The allegiance of the people terminates on Christ. They are bound to obey others only so far as obedience to them is obedience to Him. In the early ages some endeavoured to impose on Christians the yoke of the Jewish law. This of course they were bound to resist. In the following centuries, and by degrees, the intolerable rituals, ceremonies, fasts, festivals, and priestly, prelatical, and papal assumptions, which oppress so large a part of the Christian wo”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 83: Some special examples. 27. General examples. A celebrated passage. The arrangement of the Creed. 28 Objection, that voluntary transgression excludes from the Church. 29. Last objection of the Novatians, founded on the solemn renewal of repentance required by the Church for more heinous offences. Answer. 1. In the last Book, it has been shown, that by the faith of the gospel Christ becomes ours, and we are made partakers of the salvation and eternal blessedness procured by him. But as our ignorance and sloth (I may add, the vanity o”