Are all the saints, across all the generations, members of the Church?

The saints who were called by God’s grace are not limited to a specific time period or generation but are counted as “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). These are members of the Church including those who pleased the Lord even before the coming of Christ, along with those who believed in Christ and those who put their hope in Him. This was explained by Christ when He said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56), and “Moses, in whom you trust … for he wrote about Me” (John 5:45–46).

The struggling Church includes the living members who were told, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). Meanwhile, the struggling Church says, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1–2). The victorious Church in heaven encompasses those who passed from the struggling Church such the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as the prophets, the apostles, the teachers, the martyrs, the hermits, and all the righteous who have pleased the Lord throughout all generations.

935 St. Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 89.31 (NPNF I/8:436).

936 St. Augustine of Hippo, On Psalm 50 .

937 St. Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel According to John 9.10 (NPNF 1/7:78).