The Ark of Safety: Is There Salvation Outside of the Church?

By Ryan M. McGraw

This book explores the Westminster Confession of Faith’s claim that “there is no ordinary possibility of salvation” outside of the church by asking what it means, whether it is biblical, and why it is important. The author concludes that the Westminster Confession rightly stresses the role of the church in bringing people to salvation without making this claim absolute. We should love the church because Christ loved it and gave Himself for it. He died for the church so that we might live in and with it. Let us study this subject with our Bibles in our hands, the Spirit in our hearts, prayer on our lips, and our forefathers helping us along.

Table of Contents:
Part One History—What Does WCF 25.2 Mean?
1. Reformation and Early Reformed Background
2. The Westminster Confession of Faith and Beyond
Part Two Theology—Is WCF 25.2 Biblical?
3. The Church in the Old Testament
4. The Visible Church in the New Testament
5. The Invisible Church in the New Testament
Part Three Practice—Why Is WCF 25.2 Important?
6. The Ordinary Necessity of the Visible Church for Salvation

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
• Release date: Feb 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781601785275

Book preview

The Ark of Safety

Is There Salvation Outside of the Church?

Ryan M. McGraw

REFORMATION HERITAGE BOOKS

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Explorations in Reformed Confessional Theology

Editors

Daniel R. Hyde and Dan Borvan

Daniel R. Hyde, In Defense of the Descent: A Response to Contemporary Critics

Ryan M. McGraw, By Good and Necessary Consequence

Wes Bredenhof, To Win Our Neighbors for Christ: The Missiology of the Three Forms of Unity

Cornelis P. Venema, The Lord’s Supper and the ‘Popish Mass’: A Study of Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 80

Ryan M. McGraw, The Ark of Safety: Is There Salvation Outside of the Church?

The Ark of Safety

© 2018 by Ryan M. McGraw

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Direct your requests to the publisher at the following address:

Reformation Heritage Books

2965 Leonard St. NE

Grand Rapids, MI 49525

616-977-0889

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www.heritagebooks.org

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McGraw, Ryan M., author.

Title: The ark of safety : is there salvation outside of the church? / Ryan M. McGraw.

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : Reformation Heritage Books, 2018. | Series: Explorations in Reformed confessional theology | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017058511 (print) | LCCN 2017060771 (ebook) | ISBN 9781601785275 (epub) | ISBN 9781601785268 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Salvation outside the church. | Salvation—Christianity. | Westminster Confession of Faith. | Reformed Church—Doctrines.

Classification: LCC BT759 (ebook) | LCC BT759 .M34 2018 (print) | DDC 234—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017058511

For additional Reformed literature, request a free book list from Reformation Heritage Books at the above regular or e-mail address.

To Owen,

Calvin,

Jonathan,

and Meghan (Callie)

May you love the church as Christ loves her.

Contents

Series Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1: History—What Does WCF 25.2 Mean?

1. Reformation and Early Reformation Background

2. The Westminster Confession of Faith and Beyond

Part 2: Theology—Is WCF 25.2 Biblical?

3. The Church in the Old Testament

4. The Visible Church in the New Testament

5. The Invisible Church in the New Testament

Part 3: Practice—Why Is WCF 25.2 Important?

6. The Ordinary Necessity of the Visible Church for Salvation

Works Cited

Scripture Index

Confessions Index

Series Preface

The creeds of the ancient church and the doctrinal standards of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Reformed churches are rich theological documents. They summarize the essential teachings of Scripture, express biblical doctrines in meaningful and memorable ways, and offer pastoral guidance for the heads and hearts of God’s people. Nevertheless, when twenty-first-century readers pick up these documents, certain points may be found confusing, misunderstood, or irrelevant for the church.

The Exploration in Reformed Confessional Theology series intends to clarify some of these confessional issues from four vantage points. First, it views confessional issues from the textual vantage point, exploring such things as variants, textual development, and the development of language within the documents themselves as well as within the context in which these documents were written. Second, this series views confessional issues from the historical vantage point, exploring social history and the history of ideas that shed light upon these issues. Third, this series views confessional issues from the theological vantage point, exploring the issues of intra- and inter-confessional theology both in the days these documents were written as well as in our day. Fourth, this series views confessional issues from the pastoral vantage point, exploring the pressing pastoral needs of certain doctrines and the implications of any issues that cause difficulty in the confessions.

In exploring our vast and deep heritage in such a way, our ultimate goal is to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God (Col. 1:10).

Acknowledgments

My thanks go first to Danny Hyde, who willingly added this book to the Explorations in Reformed Confessional Theology series. Dan Borvan made many helpful editorial and stylistic suggestions as well. Joel Beeke also continues to help and promote my work, for which I am increasingly grateful. Without his encouragement and support, I would have accomplished very little over the past ten years. Jay Collier, as always, continues to be an enthusiastic director of publications whose behind-the-scenes labors have done much in promoting the good of the church.

I also thank Dr. Morton Smith and Dr. Joseph A. Pipa for introducing me to Reformed ecclesiology. This likely represents the greatest gain from my time as a student at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. It is as much an intimidating honor as it is a joyful blessing to teach ecclesiology as Dr. Smith’s successor. I pray that the Spirit would enable me to be to others even a fraction of the blessing that these men have been to me. I thank the congregations of Grace PCA in Conway, South Carolina, and First OPC in Sunnyvale, California, for their enthusiastic reception and thoughtful interaction with my teaching on the doctrine of the church. Greg Moeck also provided many fruitful Facebook conversations on ecclesiology over lunch. Our family misses him more than we can express.

Thanks to Shane Anderson and to Derek Brover, who both made serious suggestions in order to help with the book title. Shane’s title won out in the end.

Thanks to Ryan Hurd for his careful editing. It is rare to find an editor who gives thorough feedback on both form and content. Thank you for your work in making this project clearer and better.

Special thanks are due to Laura Cliff for her extensive comments, both on the content and style of the text. Your comments have been indispensable in improving the quality of the work as a whole.

I thank my children (Owen, Calvin, Jonathan, and Callie) for loving our local church and for praying for Daddy’s projects. My wife always deserves a fair share of credit for my books by patiently listening to me talk through them, by praying for my work, and by being enthusiastic about my teaching this material in the seminary and the local church.

Lastly, I worship the Father for making me part of His household, the Son for incorporating me into His body, and the Spirit for ushering me into His temple.

Introduction

In the nineteenth century, American Presbyterian minister Stuart Robinson wrote a book entitled The Church of God as an Essential Element of the Gospel.1 In our modern religious climate, when many profess to believe in Christ but rarely if ever attend church, Robinson risks losing readers through his title alone. Yet Puritan theologian William Perkins observed two centuries before Robinson that the church upon earth is the suburbs of the city of God, and the gate of heaven; and therefore entrance must be made into heaven in and by the church.2 More importantly, the apostle Paul called the church the Jerusalem from above, which is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26). As many have asked through the centuries, it is time to ask again whether current practices regarding the church match the picture Scripture paints.

Thus, this book aims to explain, examine, and apply the assertion in the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) that the visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation (25.2). I focus primarily on the last assertion in the sentence, that outside of the visible church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

This statement raises three important questions. First, what does this expression mean? Second, is it biblical? Third, why is it important? The first question demands an understanding of the history and context of the phrase. The second requires evaluating it carefully in light of the Word of God. The last asks what we should do with what we find in the Bible regarding the importance of the visible church. In turn, these three questions require that we explore the matter in light of historical, biblical, systematic, and practical theology. Studying church history helps us understand how our forefathers in the faith understood the Bible and often helps us better understand it, while the Scriptures alone remain the foundation of all that we believe and do as Christians. Nevertheless, even the Bible cannot help us if we do not know how to apply it.

The first section of this book addresses the origin and use of the famous phrase "outside of the church