The Fellowship

by JAS. MARTIN | Category: General | Oct 1956

Two wonderful verses enclose the message to the Church of God in Corinth, namely, "God is faithful through whom ye were called into the Fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord " (1 Corinthians 1.9), and "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15.58).

The word "fellowship " is a most interesting word, and a study of its derivitive meaning may be helpful. The word in English has a suggestive derivation. It is derived from the Icelandic, "felagi," meaning " a partner in goods," from "fe," meaning " cattle or property," and" lag," meaning" a laying together or law." Thus even in our English word there is maintained the fundamental idea of partnership, that underlies the Greek word, Koinonia, which, in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, is variously translated "communion, fellowship, communication, and contribution," the word "fellowship" being the most frequent. "But in 1 Corinthians 1.9 the word Koinonia evidently means not the act of having, acting, and suffering in common, nor yet that which is in common possessed: but rather the community of those who are partners together." (Here we quote NEEDED TRUTH, Volume 5, page 252, where a fuller treatment of this and kindred words may be found). To get to the root meaning we must go back to Acts 2.44, and 4.32, where it is written that the saints in the Fellowship " had all things common" (Gk. koinos). It is acknowledged that in Greek, as in English, this word" common" (Gk. koinos) has a dual meaning. It means "common, belonging to several, jointly possessed, or shared," as in Acts 2.44. It also means "ordinary," and by the process of thought eventually means "unhallowed, profane or vulgar, defiled or unclean," as in Mark 7.2, etc. It is the former meaning that is at the root of the idea of" Fellowship." This is a Partnership (in 1 Corinthians 1.9) of which the components are "Ye," the saints of verse 2, and "His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." "His Son " connects up with the opening word of the verse, "God" it implies the DEITY of the Son, and His eternal relationship to the Father. "Jesus "tells us of Him who came, bearing that Name given at His lowly birth, as the perfect Man, the Saviour. " Christ " speaks of the sent-One from the Father, the Messiah, the One anointed to do His Father's will. And" Our Lord "clearly indicates His relationship to us, His all-authority over our complete being. With such a One we have been called into fellowship, into a Community, where His will, His interests, His desires, and His business are paramount. But, wondrous thought, He requires our devotion, our loyalty, and our service. The call to such an honoured, yet responsible relationship came from God the faithful God. He is trustworthy and dependable. There will be no failure in Him. The saints in the Church of God in Corinth, and in many Churches of God since, may show a record of failure. He wavereth not!

Although John in his three epistles writes of fellowship (Gk. Koinonia) in the more abstract sense of the noun, yet the ground on which we maintain fellowship with one another, inside the Fellowship of God's Son, is on the truth that "our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." Fellowship with the Father lifts us outside the world and its things; and fellowship with the Son lifts us outside ourselves, to love the brethren even to laying down our lives for them.

Being in this Fellowship must regulate our lives in every other sphere. If fellowship with any one or any thing outside the Community forfeits our fellowship with Him, it will ultimately mean a " putting out" from the Fellowship of His Son, and will be dishonouring and grievous to our God. Nothing can make us so truly pilgrim in character, and separate in walk, as a realization of the privileges and responsibilities of having been called by a faithful God into the Fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord."

JAS. MARTIN | Oct 1956
General