"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all" (Ro.4:16).
Those who lived under the law were saved by grace through faith, just as the Gentile believers are. And here Paul speaks about David, who lived under the law:
"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Ro.4:4-8).
Now please address this:
The teaching that the catching up of the saints is "imminent" is supported by the following passage:
"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body...The Lord is at hand (eggus)" (Phil.3:20-21;4:5).
The Greek word
eggus means
"of times imminent and soon to come to pass" (
Thayer's Greek English Lexicon).
The Hebrew epistles also speak of an appearance of the Lord Jesus as being near:
"You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near" (James 5:8).
The Greek word translated "is near" at James 5:8 is
eggizo and in this verse that word means
"to be imminent" (
A Greek English Lexicon, Liddell & Scott [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940], 467).
In an article found on the "Pre-Trib Research Center" web site Dr. Renald E. Showers writes:
"In light of James' statements C. Leslie Mitton wrote, 'James clearly believed, as others of his time did, that the coming of Christ was imminent.' On the basis of James' statements we can conclude that Christ's coming was imminent in New Testament times and continues to be so today, and that this fact should make a difference in the way Christians live" [emphasis added] (Showers, The Imminent Coming of Christ).
We can know that those who received the Hebrew epistles were taught that the appearance of the Lord Jesus was imminent and His only imminent appearance is when the saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
And since that will only happen to those in the Body then we can know that those who received the Hebrew epistles were members of the Body of Christ.