1. "Family of God" is made of all born again believers. Though the term does not appear in the Bible, it is a very descriptive term when you consider the words that Bible does use, IE, God is our Heavenly Father (Luke 11:13), Jesus calls us his brethren (Hebrews 2:11), we are adopted into the family (Galatians 4:5), and we are called the children of God (John :12). A person becomes a "member" of this family at the moment of salvation (Romans 8:16-21).
2. The "church" is never directly associated with the moment of being saved for entrance. Though it is true that a saved person should become a part of a church after/at baptism (Acts 2:41), there is no place that states becoming a Christian puts anyone into the "church."
3. The "Family of God" is both in Heaven and earth (Ephesians 3:14-15) whereas the "church" is not mentioned being in Heaven at all. The names of the general assembly and church are written in Heaven (Hebrews 12:23) but the church age ends in Revelation 4:1 and the word church is never mentioned again after Revelation 3 except where God directs the book of Revelation to be shared with the churches that were written to (Revelation 22:16).
4. 112 times the word ecclesia is used in the Bible. Of these 112 times, 105 are used to describe either a single local church (Acts 8:1) or a group of churches (2 Corinthians 8:1) but NEVER used to describe a universal church of believers. The other 7 times are vague references but do not describe an all encompassing body of believers...that is the aforementioned "Family of God."
5. A born again person can not be removed from the "Family of God" (John 10:29).
6. A backsliding member can be removed for the church body (Matthew 18:17).
7. A person can be a part of the "Family of God" without being a member of a church (Acts 8:36-37).
8. A person must be saved and biblically baptized to be a member of a church (Acts 2:41).
Being saved is a blessing from Almighty God and that means being His child and a part of His family. But to become a part of the church clearly is a separate issue and we must see it as such. Also just attending a church is not what God intended because He chose us to be active members of his local church (1 Corinthians 12). When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth he was explaining to them their part in the church there as members (body parts) of the visible representation of Christ in that local church.
This article may seem like semantics but there is an important point to be made. Being saved is an automatic entrance by grace into God's family and Heaven and requires nothing of us but faith. However, being a part of the church requires some acts obedience and clear understanding of what is required of members and their duty to their church family.
Unfortunately today we see too many Christians failing to see the difference between the two or failing to be responsible toward their church and moving from church to church without any regard to what God ordained the church to be in their life.
By the way, no where does the Bible directly call the church the Bride of Christ. The church is compared to a bride in Ephesians 5 but the Bride of Christ is clearly described in Revelation 21:2 as the New Jerusalem, which is made up of the saints in Glory.
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