The word, a Greek word, is even popular among English-speaking Christians: Koinonia. Partnership. Participation. Translated communication, communion, distribution, fellowship. It is used by Luke, Paul, and John, in 8 Bible books. Have we fully understood and implemented the meaning of this concept?
I mean, really, what is a “fellowship dinner?” What is a “communion service”? Since both words – fellowship and communion - come from the same Greek word, they must be related somehow. Is it proper to say, “I’m taking communion,”? What does it mean to be “out of fellowship”? Or, “Let’s get together at my house for some fellowship”?
As is my custom when discussing Biblical topics, I like to examine the Biblical texts that cover that topic. Sounds obvious, but not all teachers in our day are bound to Scripture when searching out the mind of God. For me, it’s simply a lot easier and more direct to ask God what He meant when He gave His words to our spiritual forefathers. So let’s take a look:
Acts 2:42 is the best place to begin, I think. But for sure we run into trouble right away in trying to determine the Biblical usage of koinonia. First we need to understand that there are many words which we use in life, that in themselves are neutral. Like “religion” and “weather” etc. Put an adjective in front of those words if you want people to know what you mean. I believe koinonia, whether in Greek or in English, is one of those words. “Participation” is a generic concept. “Partnership” can be used in many ways. We need to see, in what people are being called upon to participate, before we know the model that is there for us.
Unfortunately, a little more translation study confronts us in Acts 2:42. Most translations list four things in which the early church was continuing per the verse. Catholic-leaning ones list only three. Consider these two lists: The early church and its leadership continued steadfastly in:
A. According to most translations:
1. Apostles’ doctrine
2. Fellowship (koinonia)
3. Breaking of bread
4. Prayers
B. Via the Douay-Rheims and a few others:
1. Apostles’ doctrine
2. Fellowship (communication) of breaking of bread
3. Prayers.
Which is it? This old English teacher wants to apply English rules about “ownership” or “genitive” to the Greek language. And his small knowledge of Greek tells him that the words “breaking” and “bread” do not have endings that demand an ownership context. That is, there seems to be no evidence in the Greek that “fellowship” is in any way bound to “breaking of bread.” Four separate items here are listed, in my opinion. Sounds like someone was interpreting as they translated… never a good idea when dealing with the Holy Words of God Himself. Tell us what He said, not what you think about what He said.
So let’s go with the list of four. These are the four things that the early church considered non-negotiables. Things they had to do. Steadfastly.
• Apostles doctrine. The very teachings of the apostles of Jesus. Essentially, that teaching was passed down to us in the form of the New Testament, and we assume that these good Jewish men passed on those portions of the heritage of Moses, the Israelite history, the prophecies, the songs, the wisdom, or what we commonly call the Old Testament. All of this together we call, the Bible.
• Fellowship. Koinonia. Not explained exactly here. We’ll talk about it in other Bible passages.
• Breaking of bread. A common phrase for a common meal. They ate together. And we are assured that they kept that very special meal, instituted by their Lord, that we call “The Lord’s” supper, the bread and the fruit of the vine. Jesus had left no specifics on how often this latter meal was to be kept, but it seems that the early church honored His wishes much more often than the evangelical church of our day, where occurrences can be as separated as far away as an entire year! For others it is monthly. For some it is weekly. Someday I may do more sharing on this topic, and the wild extremes to which the church goes in this celebration, but for now we simply say that the “breaking of bread” most certainly included both “normal” eating and supra-normal eating. These folks loved each other and wanted to share their lives in every way possible.
• Prayers. They brought their requests to God. They worshiped and praised the risen Christ. They interceded. They prayed in the natural and in the Spirit. They prayed together and individually. They would not have considered moving on without prayer. It is likely that prayer, as the Lord’s Supper, also played a much larger role in the life of the church of the first century than that of today. Hence its growth. It is probable that there were fewer meetings called specifically “prayer meetings” and more lengthy “church services”, as we call them, that included large portions of time for just praying. I’ve seen only one church in my experiences in the church world, that practices this sort of thing.
Now let’s follow the koinonia teaching through the rest of the New Testament, to see what all was involved in the steadfastly continuing in it.
After the book of Acts, the term koinonia is used almost exclusively by Paul. And to the church of Corinth are addressed by far the most messages of “participation” and “partnership”, a message they needed. As do we.
In his first letter to Corinth, (1:9) Paul brings out the most important of all fellowships, that which came from the call of God Himself: the partnership with His Son Jesus Christ. Union with Him. Partnering with him. Participating in His very life. In the next breath he exhorts the believers in Corinth to stop their fighting! There is a clear connection here between being connected to Christ and being one with each other. Seems we can’t have one without the other. Christ is in His body, and so to be a divider, a trouble-maker, in the body, is a serious offense. So true fellowship involves the absence of conflict.
It is that same sharing that is in view much later in the letter (chapter 10), when Paul discusses what we refer to today as “the communion service.” The context here is idolatry, and the unfaithfulness of Israel, though they had actually been given a participation in heavenly things as long ago as the days of Moses.
Paul contends that they actually participated with Christ, symbolically, when they ate the manna from heaven, and drank from the rock. Today, he says, we have a food and drink also. When we partake of bread and wine that was given to memorialize the death of Christ, we are actually sharing in Christ. It is a participation, a koinonia, in Jesus. Using Israel again, he says that when they ate food sacrificed to God, they were sharing in God, and when pagans eat food sacrificed to their idols, they share in demon spirits.
The point: Though we are dealing sometimes in physical visible materials, we have been put in touch with the realities of Heaven, and must recognize such when we partake. In that sense we don’t “take communion.” Communion is a sharing in Christ. When He is present, He takes us, fills us. We become one with Him. That is true fellowship. (And that is why some wanted to make Acts 2:42 a list of 3 instead of 4. We cannot keep the koinonia out of the Lord’s supper.)
In Paul’s second letter to this city, new meanings are attached to the koinonia. In a well-known verse in chapter 6 (14) he chides the Corinthian believers about their involvement with non-Christians. (See also Ephesians 5:4, where the church there is told not to have koinonia with darkness.)
We have always been quick to point out that when Paul questions what koinonia we have with unbelievers, he surely wasn’t talking about going to the work place. There are some Christian groups who would differ with that assessment. They have separated themselves totally from the world and associate with non-Christians only when it is absolutely necessary.
Each of us must decide what it means for us to be “bound” together with someone. But the context tells us that that “binding” is what koinonia is all about. Being bound to a wife puts us in close fellowship, unity, partnership, with her. What about being bound to a company? A school system? A business deal? A mortgage? Paul does not say we should not be bound to an evil unbeliever or concern. He does not tell us to stay away from partnership with unbelievers whose values differ from ours. His statement seems inclusive. Any unbeliever. The world. Don’t get so close to whatever, whoever, it is, that you could be considered bound. We’d love to interpret this passage to mean that what we happen to be into right now in our life is fine, but that sort of luke-warmness produces no Kingdom fruit. No change. No radical Christianity. Examine yourself. Are you bound to anyone or anything outside of Christ? Be free from it. The offspring of such a union will not be a blessing to God or man.
Surely a lot of red flags go up in people’s minds as they hear such things. But, but, Paul was a tent-maker! Yes, but he hung out with Christian tent-makers. But, but, I have to make a living! Yes, but God calls us, more importantly, to make a life. Are you really producing God things at your place of work, or have you been sucked into the very system God abhors? Were you called there to “be a witness”? Well, have you been? Are you so effective that people are quitting their work and coming over into the Kingdom?
Paul and Jesus both had ways of shutting down businesses altogether, when Kingdom work was at hand. Take a hard look at the demon-possessed fortune teller, and a certain pig-farmer with demon-possessed pigs. Can you imagine either of these men – Jesos or Paul - taking on employment from one of these employers? Yet do we not sign on to the purposes of the enemy when we bind ourselves to ungodly businesses? Not evil in the normal sense. But not godly either. Not producing God- fruit.
I confess that I spent too much of my life in a school system that has never produced one child of God, and that I joined that system, for one reason, so that I could make more money. More money than what? More money than the Christian school could pay me. Another reason was that Christians had encouraged me to be more “normal”, whatever that means.
God is forgiving and understanding. And I know this text may not say all I am making it say. But as for me, if I had it to do over, I would have stayed at that Christian school and helped turn out godly young men and women for the service of Jesus.
You will have to take your own situation before God, but I do hope you will consider the words of an old man who made a huge mistake, and try not to make it yourself. Much better to be dirt poor and happy in the Lord than fruitless and barren when it is time to stand before the Lord.
In chapters 8 and 9 of this letter, the apostle speaks of yet another possibility for “fellowship” among Christians (8:4, 9:13). Early on there was poverty in the church. Needs. Hurting believers. Paul does not address “charity” here, the idea of giving money to needy causes in the world. We are to love all men, for sure, but especially the household of faith. It is this household dealt with here.
The famous line of the Psalmist, that he had “never seen the righteous forsaken” faces great challenges in the history of the New Testament church. While the truth still abides, and cannot be broken, we must note that it is not an automatic provision from Heaven that supplies equally the needs of His people, but rather, clarion calls of desperation from church leaders in one part of the church to church leaders in the other parts. God has not gifted equally the finances of His people. He endows some with great riches, and leaves others in their poverty. The rich Christians are to look at their excess as the means by which God will bless the poor in the church. They are not to bow and pray religiously that poor people in the Body of Christ will have their needs met. They are to extract wallets from hips and purses, extract bills and checkbooks from same, and meet those needs until the hurt is felt. They are to tighten their belts and give sacrificially.
And if the poor receive “too much”, they are to pass on the bounty to needier folks than themselves. Giving is the Christian way of life. It is how God provides for His people. Extra money is not mine. It is the property of someone else, and I need to be diligent in finding who that someone is, for they may live 6,000 miles from me.
Sell the boat if needed. Sell the extra house. The things sitting in the garage. Give the cash to the poor. It’s what Jesus said to the rich young ruler, and it is still what he says to the rich young and old American and Westerner. It’s how the early church lived and prospered. Our money is not our own. We are not our own. We must give it away.
When we do that, we will have experienced true “koinonia”, fellowship, participation, unity, with the Body. Giving money to the rich doesn’t cut it. Making your denomination or congregation fatter with all your offerings is an abomination to God. Some of God’s people are hurting. Find them. Give to them.
The world has its own system for doing this thing. They copied it from us, and it doesn’t work for them, since they lack the Spirit-filled love that motivates it all. Their system is eventually perverted, controlled, warped, and called Communism. To a lesser degree, Socialism. Even lesser, liberalism. It all starts with a good idea in an idealistic heart, but needs more and more enforcement to make it happen in the real world. We seem to be living in America’s flirtation with this noble but deadly idea as I write.
Philippians 1:5 likewise speaks of financial “fellowship” in the Gospel. Translated “participation” by some. But coming from that same koinonia which we have been tracing. To be an avid giver to the cause of Christ financially is to be an eternal participant in the outcomes of those gifts.
Travel with me to the end of 2 Corinthians now, where we see Paul referencing the ultimate in koinonia, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. There is Grace from Jesus. There is Love from God. But in the Holy Spirit it is all brought home to me personally. Fellowship with, oneness in, unity with, the Holy Spirit of God. Such is the allusion in Philippians 2:1, “fellowship in the Spirit.”
Galatians 2:9 shows how “the right hand” becomes a symbol of connectedness in the church. The koinonia of the early church, as every church thereafter, was threatened by a huge doctrinal divide. In Paul’s mind it was simply a matter of salvation by grace or by works. Life or death, Heaven or Hell. The whole church got his point (see Acts 15, the story of the Council at Jerusalem) , and the original leadership extended a hand of greeting and welcome to later-comer Paul and his new revelation. Thus it has ever been when praying men have reached an impasse. When there is prayer and seeking God wholeheartedly on both sides, the fellowship continues. When one side grows cold, the fellowship is broken and the living part continues on. We learn from all of this that there is only one Body of Christ. To be in line with its leaders and its teachings, to be filled with its Spirit, is to be in fellowship. Showing up at a church supper or even a misguided “church service” does not put one in fellowship with the true church. Each man must search his own heart as to whether the fellowship he is experiencing is of the flesh or of the Spirit.
Ephesians 3:9 introduces the “koinonia of the mystery.” True believers have a common knowledge of truths of God that have been hidden from God’s sages of old. The prophets knew nothing of what we refer to as the “Spirit-filled” life. Fruit of the Spirit. Special gifts from the Spirit. The details of His coming. The abolition of external observances. How the blood of Jesus would cleanse us from our sin. The age of grace, and power in the Spirit vs the sword life of ancient days. All mysteries. But mysteries revealed to us, its guardians. We have been initiated with this private knowledge, but collectively.
One koinonia we must not ignore is listed with two other qualities as the highest goal of a Christian’s life. The fellowship of His suffering.
I have never suffered in this way. But when I was in Communist Romania many years ago, I remember the sweetness of the communications, the love, the fellowship, with those who were indeed suffering, and greatly. It was a different world. The aroma of Christ was so delicate and beautiful that it was only with tears that I came back to my own nation, whose church was caught up in a lot of things that had nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. Paul wanted it all. To know Christ! To know His power! To know the joy of togetherness with that Christ when suffering for His Name. Does life have anything better than these three?
Paul makes one other mention of koinonia in Philemon, verse 6. He talks about the koinonia of Philemon’s faith. Paul wants that entity to become effective. Through Philemon’s knowledge. Sounds like he is using the “communication” connotation rather than that which is signified by the English “fellowship.” Sounds like Paul wants him to be telling others, including his escaped servant, about his faith in Jesus, using the knowledge he has been gaining about the ways of Jesus.
It’s a good word, koinonia. It doesn’t mean simply getting together for a meal. That’s not what the early church engaged in. It wasn’t an outing at the local Coliseum for a major sporting event. It wasn’t a hunting or fishing trip, an ice cream social or a gab session. It was a coming together of those who already were “together” by the infused Holy Spirit. They came together in His name. These weren’t social sessions, to gossip about what was going on in the world. To share news events. Or business deals. These were love feasts, not the love of food, as today, but the love of God and each other. These Christians could not stay apart. They were members of a shared interest that compelled them to be together. Indeed how could they stay away from their brothers and sisters, with this fire burning within? There was the anticipation and delight similar to two lovers meeting in a secret place, to share one another’s company. They just had to be together.
Grudgingly showing up for a one-hour meeting of routine observances, then hurrying back to the delight of the world… this is not fellowship. This is work. This is duty. This is surface religion. It does nothing good for anyone.
Brother John sums up koinonia in his first letter, in the very first chapter.
1 John 1:3. …that you may have fellowship with us… the apostles. The leaders. The ones who were here before you got there. You may now fellowship with Christ’s Life in the world, the church. This fellowship is actually connected thereby to the Father of all.
1 John 1:6. …fellowship with Him (God), lived out by walking in the Light of His Word.
1 John 1:7 …fellowship with one another, the rest of the saints of God. You are part of a huge visible and invisible family.
How’s the fellowship at your church? Once a week meetings, at the end of which you hear those sad words, “See you next week” ? An occasional social event, that begins and maybe even ends with a quick prayer? Going over to the brother’s house to watch a great football game? (Muting the commercials of these ungodly events, of course).
Or is it deeper than that? People who are in love with each other and following each other’s needs and problems? Constant prayer and strategizing for the winning of the lost who shall soon be in Hell without your intervention? Real Spirit-filled worship and prayer that brings the Father Himself into every meeting? Frequent, even daily, consideration of the Body and Blood of Jesus via the crackers and juice?
It’s nice to have a good sermon and some public prayers and even a great meal. But without the fellowship of the Spirit bathing everything with purpose, God’s purpose, can we really say we’ve even been to church?
