THE SCRIPTURAL CASE
1. Fellowship — KOINONIA: A Word Study
The word koinonia occurs about
twenty times in the New Testament. It can refer to (a) sharing one’s goods
or wealth with those in need, and may then be translated
“contribution”, or “distribution”, or “to
communicate”; (b) participation in a common life of faith, which would
include the Breaking of Bread; (c) association with the Lord Jesus Christ (which
would also include the Breaking of Bread) and with his Father (The Committee of
The Christadelphian, “Fellowship: Its Spirit and Practice”,
The Christadelphian, Vol. 109, No. 1291 — Jan. 1972 — p.
13).
Following is a summary of the passages where
koinonia occurs:
A. Sharing one’s
goods:
-
“To make a certain
contribution for poor saints” (Rom.
15:26).
-
“Fellowship
(‘joint participation’: Diag.) of the ministering to
saints” (2 Cor.
8:4).
-
“They
glorify God.... for your liberal distribution unto them” (2 Cor.
9:13).
-
“But to
do good and to communicate forget not” (Heb.
13:16).
B. Participation in a common life of
faith:
-
“They continued in the
apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread, and in
prayers” (Acts 2:42). (This shows that, though “fellowship”
may include joint participation in the emblems of Christ’s death, it is
not confined to that one
activity.)
-
“The
right hand of fellowship” (Gal. 2:9). (A partnership of preaching
the
gospel.)
-
“For
your fellowship in the gospel...(I thank God)...” (Phil.
1:5).
-
“Fellowship
of the Spirit” (Phil.
2:1).
-
“For your
fellowship is with the Father and his Son.... if we walk in the
light....we have fellowship one with another” (1 John
1:3,7).
C. Association with Christ and his
Father:
-
“By whom (God) ye were
called unto fellowship of his Son” (1 Cor.
1:9).
-
“The
cup..... communion of the blood of Christ; the bread....communion
of the body of Christ” (1 Cor.
10:16).
-
“What
communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor.
6:14).
-
“The
communion of the Holy Spirit be with you” (2 Cor.
13:14).
-
“The
fellowship of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9). (The shared effort in
preaching to the
Gentiles.)
-
“Fellowship
of his sufferings” (Phil.
3:10).
-
“Our
fellowship is with the Father and his Son.... If we say we have
fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie....” (1 John
1:3,6).
There is a related verb, koinoneo,
that is used in similar ways: (a) of giving to those in need, (b) of the
relationship between fellow-believers, and (c) of association with our Lord;
though we have also here a negative use: (d) of having association with
forbidden deeds or doctrines, against which the saints are
warned.
Again, the relevant passages are as
follows:
A. Giving to those in
need:
-
“Distributing
to the necessity of the saints” (Rom.
12:13).
-
“If the
Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things.... (they should)
minister in carnal things” (Rom.
15:27).
-
“Let him
that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth”
(Gal. 6:6).
-
“No
church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye
only” (Phil. 4:15).
B. The relationship between
believers:
C. Association with our
Lord:
-
“The children
are partakers of flesh and blood...(and) he (Jesus) also...”
(Heb.
2:14).
-
“Rejoice....
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Pet.
4:13).
D. Association with forbidden deeds and
doctrines:
-
“Neither be
partakers of other men’s sins” (1 Tim.
5:22).
-
“For he
that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John
11).
-
“What
communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14). (This word is
koinonia again, as above, but the implication is as the last two
quotations.)
As a summary of the use of these two words in the
New Testament, we may remark:
- They are used in the positive sense, to be shared, 25
times; and in the negative sense, to be withheld, only 3 times —
which should certainly give us a hint as to which is most
important!
- Fellowship is with the Father and Son 10
times; and with one another only 6 times. (Even here, however, we may have
fellowship with one another only because we have been called together out
of the world by God.) Fellowship is His to bestow, not ours. We share
“fellowship” with our brethren, certainly — but we share what
we have each received as a gift, and not what we have each
earned!
Scriptural fellowship — as we have seen
— is joy: for us, the joy of mortal men and women in sharing common
knowledge and purpose with the Eternal Father and with His Son, to whom He has
committed all power and authority:
“Truly our fellowship is with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that
your joy may be full” (1 John 1:3,4).
“As Paul writes to the Corinthians, we have
been called unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord. In him we have
a friend who never fails, a companion who never tires, who fills our moments of
prayer and meditation with strength and comfort and hope, who answers our
spiritual seeking with fresh insight, new vision, and deepening peace. For as
we, with the same insatiable thirst as the psalmist, reach out for God, in sky
and sea and earth, and long for the deep inner peace, which is His gift, He
meets our uplifted eyes and upraised spirits. For, ‘In thy light shall we
see light’, and share it in the living fellowship of His
family” (S. Harris, “A True Fellowship”, The
Christadelphian, Vol. 106, No. 1261 — July 1969 — p.
309).