I’ve always found fellowship to be an interesting word. While it does occur outside of Christian circles—for example, in academia or among fans of The Lord of the Rings—you are sure to hear it often in the church. You might associate the word with fellowship time, that brief part of the church service that tends to involve small talk in rapid-fire succession. Or you may understand fellowship as a close synonym for friendship—just a peculiar, Christian version of it. But what is Christian fellowship, actually?
The language of fellowship is popular in Christian circles because it is biblical language. The Greek word behind it, koinōnia, involves more than small talk or friendship. It refers to a close association with others that involves active participation in something larger than the individuals who share in it. Scripture uses this language to describe something unique about the relationship Christians have with one another. While much more could be said, allow me to highlight three characteristics of Christian fellowship.
1. Christian fellowship is grounded in our union with Christ.
Many people seek to be part of something larger than themselves by joining a club or association, whether that be for advancing a cause, enjoying a hobby, or participating in an activity. But the association Christ has built for His people transcends all these things. The members of this association participate in Christ Himself, the One who has redeemed us and set us apart for Himself. It is the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).
As Christians, we “in one Spirit” were “baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). That body is the body of Christ, the church, and each individual Christian is a member of it (1 Cor. 12:27). One of the practices the Lord gave us, the Lord’s Supper (or Communion), sets visibly before us not only our union with Christ but also our union with one another. It is “a participation (koinōnia) in the blood of Christ” and “in the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16). In partaking of it, “we who are many are one body” (1 Cor. 10:17).
In 1938, after the Gestapo shut down the underground seminary where Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught, he wrote Life Together, a brief but profound meditation on the joy and strength of Christian fellowship at a time when such fellowship was costly and precious. He wrote that we enter into this fellowship “not as demanders but as thankful recipients.”1 We did not work to be in this fellowship. Rather, God established it and firmly planted in it all who are united to Christ. Therefore, we can give thanks to God for providing us with a fellowship that transcends not only any earthly cause, hobby, or activity, but every barrier and border that would normally be impassible by human efforts (Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11–22). In this fellowship, we are made to be “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” the household of which Christ Jesus Himself is the cornerstone (Eph. 2:19–20).
This sanctifying work of Christian fellowship means that the church is a place where believers are made to grow in the Lord and shine forth the good news of the gospel.
2. Christian fellowship is anchored in the truth.
At the beginning of 1 John, the Apostle proclaims Christ “so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). Then John explains what it means to be part of this fellowship:
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5–7)
In the fellowship of Christ, darkness is cast out, light thrives, and the truth is practiced. Bonhoeffer once again provides powerful insight at this point:
Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake. . . . Human love has little regard for truth. It makes the truth relative, since nothing, not even the truth, must come between it and the beloved person. Human love desires the other person, his company, his answering love, but it does not serve him. On the contrary, it continues to desire even when it seems to be serving. . . . Spiritual love, however, comes from Jesus Christ, it serves him alone.2
Christian love marks Christian fellowship, which is anchored in the truth and serves other believers not to win their favor or affection but first to serve Christ. It “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). It holds other believers accountable to the truth out of love, not out of flattery:
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (Prov. 27:6)
This leads to a third characteristic of Christian fellowship.
3. Christian fellowship is a Spirit-wrought means of sanctification.
One of the ways Christian fellowship benefits those who share in it is by serving as an instrument to conform them to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:10–21). Sin likes to hide in the darkness. As Bonhoeffer put it, “Sin demands to have a man by himself.”3 But Christian fellowship, shaped by truth and the grace of the gospel, shines a light that breaks forth in the darkness of the heart. In it, fellow sinners speak the truth in love, bear one another’s burdens, confess sin, extend forgiveness, and help one another walk in the light when sin inevitably arises (Gal. 6:1–3; 1 John 1:7). It is Proverbs 27:17 in action:
Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.
This sanctifying work of Christian fellowship means that the church is a place where believers are made to grow in the Lord and shine forth the good news of the gospel. Ultimately, this fellowship is a gift from Christ to His people, who have the joy of “being built together into a dwelling for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).
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Jared Jeter
Rev. Jared Jeter is associate pastor at Dayspring Community Church in Apopka, Fla., associate editor at Ligonier Ministries, and resident adjunct professor at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Fla.
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