Written by Jared Jeter, a contemporary pastor, editor, and professor.
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…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. As Christians, we in one Spirit were “baptized into one body. That body is the body of Christ, the church, and each individual Christian is a member of it. 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.” In partaking of it, “we who are many are one body.” 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.” 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.
So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. [Ephesians 2:19-20]
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