The Fellowship of the Saints
An In-Depth Study of the Church as Shared Life in the Epistles
Fellowship with God: The Vertical Source
Fellowship with One Another: The Horizontal Bond
Fellowship at the Table: Communion
Fellowship in Giving: Material Partnership
Fellowship in the Gospel and in Suffering: Partnership in Mission and Affliction
Summary: How Fellowship Shapes the Way a Believer Lives
Executive Summary
Fellowship is one of the most used and least understood words in church life. In the New Testament it translates κοινωνία, a word that means a real sharing in something held in common. This study follows that shared life in five directions: with God, with one another, at the Lord’s Table, in giving, and in the gospel and its sufferings. It builds on the word study in Study 3, Sharing in Common, and asks after each use what it requires of a believer.
The study reaches five conclusions.
- Fellowship begins with God. Believers are called “into the fellowship of His Son” (1 Corinthians 1:9), and the apostolic witness brings them into fellowship “with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).
- Fellowship with God is proved by fellowship with one another. Those who walk in the light “have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), and the first church devoted itself to it (Acts 2:42).
- The Lord’s Table is fellowship. The cup and the bread are a communion in Christ’s blood and body, and the one loaf makes the many one body (1 Corinthians 10:16–17).
- Giving is fellowship. The collection for the poor is called κοινωνία, and believers who give share in the grace of Christ, who became poor for their sake (2 Corinthians 8:4, 9; 9:13).
- Mission and suffering are fellowship. Believers are partners “in the gospel” and share in Christ’s sufferings and comfort (Philippians 1:5; 3:10; 2 Corinthians 1:7).
The study is arranged in five teaching sections. Each gives the significance of the theme, the key passages in the New King James Version quoted in full, exegetical observations, implications for the local church framed as Align and Adjust, and a block of ten questions for reflection and discussion. A summary, a note on sources, and a three-tier bibliography follow. It is Study 4 of the ten-study series on the church in the Epistles.
Introduction: A Shared Life
The next of the great pictures the Epistles use for the church is less a metaphor than a shared life. The word is κοινωνία (G2842), which the older versions render “fellowship” or “communion,” and which means at its root participation together — a real sharing-in a common thing.[1] The English word “fellowship” has grown thin, meaning little more than friendly company; the Greek word is far weightier. Believers do not merely enjoy one another’s presence; they share in Christ, in His Spirit, in His Table, in the gospel, in one another’s needs and sufferings. The church is the community of those who hold all of this in common.
This is the companion picture to the body, the household, the temple, and the flock: where those describe what the church is, fellowship describes the life the church shares. This study works through the ways the Epistles use fellowship — communion with God, communion with one another, communion at the Table, partnership in giving, and partnership in the gospel and in suffering — and after each asks what the truth requires a believer to adjust or align. Every passage is quoted in full from the New King James Version and set in italics; the Greek is a doorway only, and the Strong’s number in parentheses is a lookup aid.
Fellowship with God: The Vertical Source
Significance
The first and deepest use of fellowship is vertical, not horizontal. Before it is anything shared among believers, κοινωνία is a shared life with God — with the Son, and with the Spirit. This is the fountainhead: believers can have fellowship with one another only because they first share in Christ. Get the order wrong, and the horizontal fellowship has no source.
How the Term Is Used in Scripture
The believer’s calling is a call into fellowship with the Son:
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV): God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The apostolic benediction invokes the “communion of the Holy Spirit”:
2 Corinthians 13:14 (NKJV): The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
And John declares that his aim in preaching is fellowship — first with the Father and the Son:
1 John 1:3 (NKJV): that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Exegetical Observations
- Fellowship rests on God’s faithfulness. 1 Corinthians 1:9 begins, “God is faithful.” The fellowship to which believers are called depends on the One who called them, not on their own steadiness. Paul writes this to a church already divided into factions (1:10–12), and he grounds their unity in a faithfulness that is not theirs.
- A calling with a destination. Believers were “called into (εἰς) the fellowship of His Son.” The preposition describes movement into something. Fellowship with Christ is not an optional addition to salvation; it is what believers are called to. Paul gives the Son His full title, “Jesus Christ our Lord,” as if to remind a quarrelling church whose fellowship it is.
- The order of the benediction. In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul names “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” “the love of God,” and “the communion of the Holy Spirit.” The order is the order in which believers come to know God: through the grace of Christ they come to know the love of the Father, and they enjoy that love in fellowship by the Spirit. Fellowship is the Spirit’s particular gift.
- Witness opens the fellowship. In 1 John 1:3 the apostles declare “that which we have seen and heard,” so “that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Fellowship with God comes through the apostolic testimony to Christ, and it brings the hearer into a company that already includes the apostles. The vertical and the horizontal are joined in one sentence.
- Fellowship ends in joy. John goes on: “these things we write to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4). The aim of fellowship is not duty alone but fullness of joy. A congregation that knows fellowship with the Father and the Son should be, in the end, a glad people.
Implications for the Local Church
- Root your fellowship with believers in fellowship with God. You were “called into the fellowship of His Son” first (1 Corinthians 1:9). Align: pursue communion with God as the source of real community, not as a substitute for it.
- Draw on the communion of the Spirit. The Spirit’s fellowship is pronounced over the whole church (2 Corinthians 13:14). Adjust: depend on the Spirit as the living bond among you, not merely on natural compatibility.
- Measure the horizontal by the vertical. John makes fellowship “with the Father” the ground of fellowship “with us” (1 John 1:3). Align: let the depth of your walk with God set the depth of your life with His people.
- Rest on God’s faithfulness, not your own effort, for the bond. “God is faithful, by whom you were called” (1 Corinthians 1:9). Adjust: trust the One who called you into fellowship to sustain it.
For Reflection and Discussion
Worldview Questions
- If my fellowship with other believers flows from my fellowship with God, what does the quality of the first reveal about the second?
- What does it mean that I have been “called into the fellowship of His Son” — that communion with Christ is my calling?
- How does depending on “the communion of the Holy Spirit” change the way I expect community to be formed and held?
Discussion Questions
- Do we tend to pursue community as a substitute for communion with God, or as its overflow?
- Where is our fellowship with one another mostly natural compatibility, and where is it genuinely rooted in shared life with God?
- How would leaning on the Spirit’s communion change the way we handle relationships that are hard?
Analysis Questions
- Why does Paul ground the believer’s fellowship in God’s faithfulness (“God is faithful… you were called,” 1 Corinthians 1:9)?
- In 1 John 1:3, why does John make fellowship “with us” flow from fellowship “with the Father”? What order is he insisting on?
- What does “the communion of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14) add to our understanding of how the church is bound together?
Personal Evaluation
Is my communion with other believers plainly rooted in my communion with God — and which one is God calling me to deepen first?
Fellowship with One Another: The Horizontal Bond
Significance
The second use is horizontal, and Scripture binds it so tightly to the vertical that neither can exist without the other. Those who share in God share a life with each other — a life of shared devotion, practice, and recognition. Fellowship with one another is the visible proof that the fellowship with God is real.
How the Term Is Used in Scripture
John makes the two inseparable: walking in the light produces fellowship with one another:
1 John 1:7 (NKJV): But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
The earliest church’s shared life set fellowship alongside doctrine, the Table, and prayer:
Acts 2:42 (NKJV): And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And fellowship was formally recognized and extended — a right hand given:
Galatians 2:9 (NKJV): and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
Exegetical Observations
- An unexpected “one another.” In 1 John 1:7, after “if we walk in the light as He is in the light,” the reader expects John to say “we have fellowship with Him.” He says instead, “we have fellowship with one another” (μετ᾽ ἀλλήλων). Many commentators see the surprise as deliberate. Fellowship with believers is the evidence that one is walking in God’s light.
- Cleansing within the fellowship. The verse continues, “and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” The verb καθαρίζει is present tense: the blood goes on cleansing. Those who walk in the light are not sinless (1:8), but they live in a fellowship where sin is confessed and cleansed rather than hidden. Fellowship is not broken by honest confession; it is kept by it.
- Steadfast devotion. In Acts 2:42 the believers “continued steadfastly” (προσκαρτεροῦντες), a verb that means to persist in, to be devoted to, to hold fast. Fellowship was not an occasional activity but a settled devotion, placed beside the apostles’ teaching, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Some commentators read the four as two pairs (teaching with fellowship, bread with prayers), but either way fellowship stands among the marks of the church.
- Pillars who welcome. In Galatians 2:9 James, Cephas, and John, “who seemed to be pillars” (στῦλοι), gave Paul and Barnabas “the right hand of fellowship.” The leaders of the Jerusalem church recognized the grace given to a former persecutor and extended a public welcome. Fellowship includes acknowledging the work of God in others whose calling differs from one’s own.
- Fellowship remembers the poor. The same agreement carried one request: “that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do” (Galatians 2:10). The horizontal bond reaches beyond words of welcome to the material needs of fellow believers, a theme Paul carried out in his later collection for Jerusalem.
Implications for the Local Church
- Prove your walk with God by your life with His people. Walking in the light yields “fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7). Align: treat the reality of your fellowship as evidence of the reality of your walk.
- Treat fellowship as a core practice, not an extra. It stands beside doctrine, the Table, and prayer (Acts 2:42). Adjust: give fellowship the same steadfast commitment you give to teaching and worship.
- Extend the right hand of fellowship. The pillars formally welcomed and recognized (Galatians 2:9). Align: practice deliberate acts of welcome and recognition rather than leaving belonging vague.
- Let cleansing keep the fellowship open. The blood “cleanses us from all sin” as we walk in the light (1 John 1:7). Adjust: keep short accounts, so that unconfessed sin does not quietly break the bond.
For Reflection and Discussion
Worldview Questions
- If fellowship with one another is the proof that I am walking in the light, what does the state of my relationships in the church reveal?
- Acts 2:42 lists fellowship beside doctrine, the Table, and prayer. What does it say about my priorities that I treat some of these as essential and others as optional?
- What does “the right hand of fellowship” (Galatians 2:9) suggest about how belonging should be recognized and extended?
Discussion Questions
- Where is our fellowship steadfast, and where is it casual or optional?
- How does walking (or not walking) “in the light” show up in the health of our relationships?
- What deliberate acts of welcome — our “right hand of fellowship” — could we practice better?
Analysis Questions
- In 1 John 1:7, why does walking in the light produce both fellowship with one another and cleansing? How are they related?
- Acts 2:42 lists four devotions. How does fellowship relate to the other three, and why is it named among them?
- What is the significance of the formal “right hand of fellowship” in Galatians 2:9 for how the church recognizes belonging and partnership?
Personal Evaluation
Is the reality of my fellowship with other believers matching the claim of my walk with God — and where is unconfessed sin or neglect quietly breaking the bond?
Fellowship at the Table: Communion
Significance
The third use is the deepest corporate expression of the shared life: the Lord’s Supper. There the whole meaning of κοινωνία is concentrated — a genuine participation in the body and blood of Christ that makes the many into one. The Table is fellowship enacted.
How the Term Is Used in Scripture
Paul calls the cup and the bread a communion — a sharing — in Christ, and draws from it the unity of the many:
1 Corinthians 10:16–17 (NKJV): The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
Exegetical Observations
- Participation, not only remembrance. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 Paul calls the cup “the communion (κοινωνία) of the blood of Christ” and the bread “the communion of the body of Christ.” Christians have long differed over how Christ is present at the Supper. Whatever their view of that question, evangelical interpreters agree that Paul speaks of a real sharing in the benefits of Christ’s death, received by faith, and not only of a memory.
- Questions that expect agreement. Both questions in 10:16 begin with οὐχί, a form that expects the answer “yes.” Paul does not argue for the point as though it were new. He reminds the Corinthians of what they already know about the Supper and then draws the consequence.
- One loaf makes one body. Verse 17 draws the horizontal consequence from the vertical sharing: “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” Because all share in one Christ, all are joined to one another. The Table is both communion with Christ and communion with His people.
- An exclusive fellowship. The passage begins “flee from idolatry” (10:14) and ends “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons” (10:21). The Table is a fellowship that excludes rival loyalties. To share the Lord’s cup is to belong to Him alone.
- “The bread which we break.” The phrase describes a shared action: one loaf broken and distributed. Luke calls the church’s gathering “the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42; 20:7). The act of breaking one loaf so that all may share in it is a picture of the fellowship the meal creates.
Implications for the Local Church
- Come to the Table as communion, not routine. It is a real “communion of the blood… and body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:16). Align: approach the Supper as genuine participation in Christ, not a bare ceremony.
- Let the Table make you one. “We, though many, are one bread and one body” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Adjust: allow the shared loaf to override the divisions you bring, so the Table heals rather than exposes them.
- Share in Christ before you share with each other. The horizontal oneness flows from the common share in the one bread. Align: recognize that unity is created by shared participation in Christ, not manufactured by effort.
- Guard the Table’s fellowship. To partake unworthily or in division profanes what the Supper means. Adjust: come reconciled and reverent, honoring the communion the Table is.
For Reflection and Discussion
Worldview Questions
- If the Lord’s Supper is a real communion in Christ’s body and blood, how should that change the way I come to it?
- Paul says the one loaf makes us “one body.” How should the Table shape the way I regard the people I take it with?
- What does it mean that our unity is created by sharing in Christ rather than achieved by our own effort?
Discussion Questions
- Do we come to the Table expecting genuine communion with Christ, or as a routine?
- How can the Lord’s Supper heal our divisions rather than merely paper over them?
- What does it mean, practically, to come to the Table “reconciled and reverent”?
Analysis Questions
- Trace Paul’s logic in 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 from the “communion” of the cup and bread to “one body.” How does the argument move?
- Why does Paul call the Supper a communion (participation) rather than merely a memorial?
- How does the Table connect the vertical fellowship (with Christ) and the horizontal fellowship (with one another)?
Personal Evaluation
Do I come to the Lord’s Table as a true sharing in Christ that binds me to His people — or as a routine I perform while holding divisions in my heart?
Fellowship in Giving: Material Partnership
Significance
The fourth use is the most surprising to modern ears: κοινωνία is Paul’s ordinary word for a financial offering. To open the purse for a needy brother is not charity added to fellowship; it is fellowship — a tangible participation in one another’s lives. In the New Testament, the shared life reaches all the way to shared goods.
How the Term Is Used in Scripture
The Macedonian churches begged for the privilege of the fellowship of giving:
2 Corinthians 8:4 (NKJV): imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
The Corinthians’ generosity is praised as their “liberal sharing”:
2 Corinthians 9:13 (NKJV): while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
And Paul remembers the Philippians as the church that shared with him in giving and receiving:
Philippians 4:15 (NKJV): Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
Exegetical Observations
- Begging to give. In 2 Corinthians 8:4 the Macedonians were “imploring us with much urgency” to be allowed to take part. They were in “deep poverty,” yet it “abounded in the riches of their liberality” (8:2). Paul did not have to persuade them. They regarded the chance to share as a privilege to be requested.
- Giving as grace. The word translated “gift” in 8:4 is χάρις, “grace,” and Paul uses it again and again in 2 Corinthians 8–9: of God’s grace given to the Macedonians (8:1), of the grace of giving (8:7), and of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor” (8:9). Giving is fellowship because it is grace received and passed on.
- Equality and the manna. Paul explains the aim of the collection as “equality” (ἰσότης): “your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack” (8:14). He grounds it in Exodus 16:18, the gathering of manna: “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack” (8:15). The fellowship of giving reaches back to Israel’s daily bread in the wilderness.
- Giving as confession. In 9:13 the recipients “glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men.” The gift is a public confession of the gospel. The word for “liberal” (ἁπλότης) means singleness or simplicity, and in giving it means a generosity with no divided motive.[2]
- Fruit credited to the giver. In Philippians 4:15–17 Paul uses the language of accounts, “giving and receiving,” and says, “I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.” What the Philippians gave to Paul was not lost to them. It was credited to them before God. The fellowship of giving enriches the giver as well as the receiver.
Implications for the Local Church
- Count your giving as fellowship, not charity. Paul’s word for an offering is the same word he uses for communion with the Spirit (2 Corinthians 8:4). Align: file generosity under “fellowship,” and let it flow from your shared life in Christ.
- See generosity as a privilege to be sought. The Macedonians “implor[ed]… with much urgency” for the chance to give (2 Corinthians 8:4). Adjust: treat opportunities to share as a grace to pursue, not a burden to avoid.
- Let fellowship reach your possessions. The shared life includes “giving and receiving” (Philippians 4:15). Align: refuse to keep your money outside the circle of your fellowship.
- Let generosity prove the gospel. Liberal sharing causes others to “glorify God” (2 Corinthians 9:13). Adjust: recognize that open-handed fellowship is a witness, not a private transaction.
For Reflection and Discussion
Worldview Questions
- If giving to the saints is fellowship, how does that reframe the relationship between my spiritual life and my money?
- The Macedonians begged for the privilege of giving. What does my attitude toward generosity reveal about my heart?
- What does it mean that fellowship is meant to reach all the way to my possessions?
Discussion Questions
- Do we think of our giving as fellowship, or as a separate act of charity? What would change if we saw it Paul’s way?
- Where might we be keeping our money outside the circle of our shared life?
- How can generosity in our congregation become a witness that causes others to “glorify God”?
Analysis Questions
- Why does Paul use the same word (κοινωνία) for communion with the Spirit and for a financial collection? What does that unity teach?
- In 2 Corinthians 8:4, the Macedonians treat giving as a privilege they beg for. What produces that attitude?
- How does 2 Corinthians 9:13 connect material sharing to the glory of God and the proof of the gospel?
Personal Evaluation
Does my giving flow from my fellowship in Christ — reaching my possessions and pursued as a privilege — or do I keep my money outside the shared life of the church?
Fellowship in the Gospel and in Suffering: Partnership in Mission and Affliction
Significance
The final use shows fellowship as partnership — a shared enterprise and a shared burden. Believers are partners in the gospel and partakers in Christ’s sufferings. Fellowship is not only communion enjoyed but a work shouldered together and a cost borne together.
How the Term Is Used in Scripture
Paul thanks God for the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel from the first day:
Philippians 1:5 (NKJV): for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
He longs to share even in Christ’s sufferings:
Philippians 3:10 (NKJV): that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
And he prays that the sharing of Philemon’s faith would become effective in action:
Philemon 6 (NKJV): that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Exegetical Observations
- Partnership for the gospel. In Philippians 1:5 Paul thanks God “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” The phrase εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον means “for” or “toward” the gospel: a partnership aimed at advancing it. The Philippians’ partnership included their gifts (4:15–16), their prayers (1:19), and their own suffering for the faith (1:29–30).
- Partakers of grace in chains. In 1:7 Paul calls the Philippians “partakers with me of grace” (συγκοινωνούς), “both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” Those who stand with an imprisoned servant of the gospel share the grace given to him. Fellowship in mission means sharing the cost as well as the cause.
- Resurrection power and fellowship in suffering. In Philippians 3:10 Paul wants to know “the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” The order is striking: resurrection power comes first, and it enables the fellowship of suffering that follows. The participle συμμορφιζόμενος (“being conformed”) is present, describing an ongoing shaping into the pattern of Christ’s death.
- Sharing both the sufferings and the comfort. Paul tells the Corinthians, “as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation” (2 Corinthians 1:7). Fellowship in suffering is never fellowship in suffering alone. Those who share Christ’s afflictions share His comfort, and they share it with each other.
- Faith that becomes effective. In Philemon 6 Paul prays that “the sharing of your faith may become effective (ἐνεργής) by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Whatever the precise sense of “the sharing of your faith,” Paul’s aim is that partnership in the faith should produce visible good, and in this letter that good is the welcome of a brother.
Implications for the Local Church
- Be a partner in the gospel, not only a beneficiary of it. Fellowship is partnership “in the gospel” (Philippians 1:5). Align: take up a share in the church’s mission rather than merely receiving from it.
- Embrace the fellowship of His sufferings. To know Christ is to share His sufferings (Philippians 3:10). Adjust: stop treating hardship for Christ as a sign something is wrong, and enter it as fellowship with Him.
- Bear one another’s burdens as shared affliction. Partnership means the load is carried together. Align: enter the sufferings of fellow believers rather than watching from a distance.
- Let the sharing of your faith become effective in deeds. Fellowship is meant to “become effective” (Philemon 6). Adjust: turn shared belief into shared action and tangible good.
For Reflection and Discussion
Worldview Questions
- If fellowship is partnership in the gospel, am I a partner in the church’s mission or only a beneficiary of it?
- Paul sought “the fellowship of His sufferings.” How does that reshape the way I regard suffering for Christ?
- What does it mean for my relationships that fellowship includes bearing one another’s burdens as shared affliction?
Discussion Questions
- Where is our congregation genuinely partnered in the gospel, and where is participation mostly passive?
- How do we, in practice, “share in the sufferings” of one another and of Christ?
- What would it look like for the sharing of our faith to “become effective” in tangible good (Philemon 6)?
Analysis Questions
- Philippians 1:5 speaks of “fellowship in the gospel.” How does partnership in mission differ from mere attendance?
- Why does Paul link knowing Christ with “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10)?
- What does Philemon 6 mean by the sharing of faith becoming “effective,” and how does belief become partnership in action?
Personal Evaluation
Am I a true partner in the gospel and in the sufferings of Christ and His people — sharing the work and the burden — or chiefly a beneficiary who receives without shouldering the load?
Summary: How Fellowship Shapes the Way a Believer Lives
Fellowship is not finally a warm feeling to be enjoyed but a shared life to be lived. Gathered up, its uses describe how a believer actually holds life in common with God’s people.
Because fellowship is first communion with God, the believer roots his life with the church in his life with the Father, Son, and Spirit, letting the vertical set the depth of the horizontal. Because it is communion with one another, he proves his walk in the light by the reality of his relationships, treats fellowship as a core devotion, and extends the right hand of welcome. Because it is communion at the Table, he comes to the Supper as a real sharing in Christ that makes the many one, coming reconciled and reverent. Because it is partnership in giving, he counts his generosity as fellowship, pursues it as a privilege, and lets the shared life reach his possessions. And because it is partnership in the gospel and in suffering, he takes up a share of the mission and the burden, entering others’ afflictions and Christ’s own, and turning shared belief into shared action.
The whole can be caught in one question of alignment: Am I living as a true sharer in the common life of God’s people — communing with God, bound to His saints, one at His Table, open-handed with my goods, and a partner in the gospel and its sufferings? Where the answer is no, this study has named the adjustment. The believer who takes it seriously will find fellowship to be what the New Testament means by it — not pleasant company, but a life genuinely shared in Christ, with His people, all the way down.
A Note on Sources
Scripture is quoted from the New King James Version, with each reference given in full. Greek terms appear in the original script; the Strong’s number in parentheses is a lookup aid only, never the source of a definition. Lexical glosses are drawn from standard reference works — Strong’s Concordance, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, and Vine’s Expository Dictionary — and are cited by word (s.v.) rather than page. Definitions or renderings that would benefit from confirmation in BDAG or TDNT are marked accordingly and should be verified against those works before the material is taught. No citation, quotation, or reference in this study has been invented; where a source could not be independently confirmed, the point rests on the biblical text itself.
Bibliography
Directly Retrieved/Verified This Session
None in preparing this edition. The reference works named in the Note on Sources (Strong’s Concordance, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, and Vine’s Expository Dictionary) were used in the original preparation of the study. The exegetical observations added in this edition were written from general knowledge, and their notes say so.
Located Only Through Secondary Summary
None.
Not Directly Consulted This Session
Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. New York: Hunt and Eaton, 1890.
Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. New York: American Book Company, 1889.
Vine, W. E. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. 4 vols. London: Oliphants, 1939–1941.
Danker, Frederick W., ed. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG). 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1976.
Silva, Moisés, ed. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.
Nestle, Eberhard, and Kurt Aland, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.
Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.
Fee, Gordon D. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The quotations should be verified against the printed text before use in teaching.
[1] Strong’s Concordance and Vine’s Expository Dictionary, s.v. κοινωνία (Strong’s #G2842), from κοινωνός (G2844): “partnership, i.e., (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction”; rendered communion, fellowship, contribution, distribution. Confirm in BDAG before teaching.
[2] Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. ἁπλότης (Strong’s #G572), “singleness, simplicity, sincerity,” and in giving “liberality.” Gloss from general knowledge of the entry, not retrieved for this section. Confirm in BDAG before teaching.