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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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FELLOWSHIP

Communion with God, which results in common participation with other believers in the Spirit of God and God’s blessings.

In the beginning Adam was placed in the Garden to enjoy friendship and communion with God. When Adam and Eve chose to assert their own autonomy rather than live under the Creator’s gracious care, the fellowship was broken. As a result, Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Lord’s presence (Gn 3:8). Yet God immediately sought them out and revealed his plan for the ultimate restoration of sinners through the work of the Redeemer (v 15).

The OT tells how God began to draw a special people into fellowship with himself. Enoch is described as a man who walked with God (Gn 5:22, 24 OET GEN 5:22 · OET GEN 5:24). Noah, likewise, walked in communion with the Lord (6:9). And Abraham, the father of Israel, is called “the friend of God” (Jas 2:23). No OT person had deeper fellowship with God than did Moses during his 40-day encounter with the Lord on Mt Sinai (Ex 24). Later in Israel’s history, David wrote psalms that reflect a heart vitally in tune with the living God (Pss 16, 34, 40, 63).

As a result of Christ’s finished work on the cross, God now makes his permanent abode in each believer’s heart (Jn 14:23). As a result, the fellowship that now prevails under the new covenant is nothing less than the vital, spiritual union of the believer with Christ (vv 20-21). Fellowship with God is the goal of the Christian life (1 Jn 1:3), and this relationship will be perfected forever when we see our Savior “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12), when God dwells with his people in eternity (Rv 21:3).

The gospel restores fellowship not only with God but also among believers. Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples illustrates the relationship between the vertical and horizontal dimensions of fellowship (Mk 14:22-25). In the upper room, Jesus shared with his disciples a sacred love feast. The hearts of the Lord and his followers were knit together by a deep sense of love and commitment. Later, the disciples discovered that their own hearts were strongly united out of their common loyalty to Jesus. Following the cross and the outpouring of the Spirit, the church was born—that new society of people in fellowship with God and with one another.

The depth of camaraderie among the first Christians is portrayed in the early chapters of Acts. The believers met together in house groups for teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer (Acts 2:42, 46 OET ACT 2:42 · OET ACT 2:46). So profound was their sense of togetherness that the Christians pooled their possessions and distributed them to brothers and sisters in need (2:44-45; 4:32-35). Perhaps the dominant characteristic of this early Christian fellowship was the love among the believers (1 Thes 4:9; 1 Pt 1:22).

Motivated by love, Paul organized among the gentile churches a collection for poor believers in Jerusalem. In Romans 15:26, which speaks of the gifts of the churches in Macedonia and Achaia, the word translated “contribution” is the common Greek word for “fellowship.” Similarly, the fellowship that the Philippian church shared with Paul assumed the form of gifts to support the apostle’s ministry (Phil 1:5; 4:14-15).

Scripture uses several images to describe the spirit of togetherness that characterized the early church. The first is “the household of God” (Eph 2:19; 1 Tm 3:15), or “the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). In God’s household, love and hospitality are to be the rule (Heb 13:1-2). Further, the church is depicted as the family of God on earth (Eph 3:15). God is the Father, and believers are his faithful sons and daughters. The life of God’s family is to be governed by love, tenderness, compassion, and humility (Phil 2:1-4). Finally, the Christian fellowship is represented as the “one new man” or the “one body” (Eph 2:15-16). In spite of great natural diversity in the body, the Holy Spirit binds believers together into a single organism (4:4-6). In this fellowship of love, no believer is insignificant. Each member has been endowed with gifts for the spiritual edification of the entire body.

Scripture lays down the basis of fellowship in 1 John 1:7: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (rsv). Jesus Christ, then, is the source and fount of all spiritual communion. Only when rightly related to the Lord do we experience true fellowship with another Christian. Just as light and darkness are incompatible, so a believer can have no real fellowship with an unbeliever. Neither can the Christian be in fellowship with one who walks contrary to the teaching of Christ (2 Jn 1:9-11), or a professing brother who is immoral, idolatrous, a drunkard, or a thief (1 Cor 5:11).

Scripture lays down several guidelines for enhancing the communion of believers in the body: (1) Love one another with the same compassion that Christ displayed to his own (Jn 13:34-35; 15:12). The law of the fellowship should be the rule of love (Heb 13:1). (2) Cultivate that spirit of humility that seeks the other person’s honor (Phil 2:3-5). (3) Lighten fellow believers’ loads by bearing one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2). (4) Share material blessings with brothers and sisters in need (2 Cor 9:13). (5) Tenderly correct a sinner while helping to find solutions to the problems (Gal 6:1). (6) Succor a fellow believer in times of suffering (1 Cor 12:26). (7) Pray for one another in the Spirit without ceasing (Eph 6:18). The Christian will want to seriously regard the saying of an anonymous saint, “You cannot draw nigh to God if you are at a distance from your brother.”