Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ's return] approaching. |
Bible Question: Why is it so important to attend church if my salvation is based on my personal relationship with Christ? I can pray at home. Where is this emphasizied in the scripture? |
Bible Answer: Hello, Hannah. You wrote: "Why is it so important to attend church if my salvation is based on my personal relationship with Christ? I can pray at home. Where is this emphasizied in the scripture?" Here is a few places: "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." --Romans 12:4-8 So we are to minister to one another with the gifts that God has given us (and God intentionally didn't give them to us all). As Christians, we belong to each other, and withdrawing from fellowship is denial of who you are. "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." --Ephesians 4:11-13 We are involved in the equipping and building up of one another. In addition, the Holy Spirit has equipped individuals in the church as teachers, and it is in the gathering of the saints that you get that teaching. "And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." TOGETHER we are being built as a spiritual house. Over and over again we see that we are saved as individuals, but we are saved INTO a community of believers, a communion of saints. "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." --Colossians 3:12-16 There are so many commands from God such as in the passage above which simply make no sense or are impossible to obey outside the context of the gathering of believers. We are baptized into the church: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." --1 Corinthians 12:13 (I would recommend this whole chapter as an answer to your question). The Lord's Supper is perhaps the clearest example of our common bond in Jesus Christ: "Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread." --1 Corinthians 10:17 The plain fact of Scripture is that the ministry of God's people is primarily to be in the context of the body of Christ, and not as a bunch of "lone Christians" roaming the spiritual prarie. The Christian life is a communal life. Spiritual growth occurs in this context, and sanctification is handicapped without it. You have something to gain from fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you have been given something to contribute as well. To neglect God's people is to neglect that to which you were called. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." --Hebrews 10:23-25 --Joe! |