Marriage Without Living Together
Analogy★★★★Now this is maybe a little easier for the ladies out there to relate to than some of the men, but it’s really we are being married to Christ. Now what would you think if a man, asking the ladies again, if a man said to you, I’d like to get married, but do we need to live together? Would you accept that proposal? Or would you think there’s something wrong? When people say, I want to get baptized, but I don’t want to join a church, that’s suspect right there. So if you want to understand these principles, you can often just say, what would it be like if you applied that to marriage? And it will give you the answer.
Batchelor, Doug, “Every Nation and Tongue” (AudioVerse teaching 42597).
The point
The speaker uses a marriage analogy to explain the importance of church membership after baptism. He asks if a woman would accept a marriage proposal from a man who doesn't want to live together, implying that similarly, wanting baptism without joining a church is contradictory, as baptism signifies being married to Christ and becoming part of His body.