In Search of Fellowship

Fellowship is another key word and theme in 1 John. The Greek word for it, koinonia, is only used in the first chapter, but the concepts behind it span the entire book and have ample impact in John’s writings on the whole. Understanding fellowship helps us understand God, His purposes behind making us and saving us, the relentless nature of His love, and the expectations He has for our lives. So let’s go in search of fellowship through the Bible.

Koinonia was a favorite word for Greek philosophers in describing a utopian society that never came to be. In the New Testament it came to be used for the common bond created by the saving grace of God through the blood of Christ. Only with sacrifice was true fellowship possible between God and humanity, spilling over into true harmony among those who have benefitted from it. But there was a time when there was fellowship without sacrifice …

Genesis 1-2 speaks of the man and woman that God made in complete innocence and they had beautiful fellowship with Him. God created the institution of marriage in that perfect environment and true intimacy between human beings was first experienced under this special relationship. It was all “very good” to God (Genesis 1:31). It didn’t last.

Sin is a fellowship-breaker, and the first sin is committed by Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, resulting in their hiding from God, their blaming of each other and their expulsion from the Garden and God’s direct presence and favor. Ultimately, it leads to death as well. The Flood account of chapters 6-9 and the Tower of Babel incident of 11 all magnify this brokenness until chapter 12 when God chooses a man from Ur to be his very own. He reaches out to Abram, telling him to go to country where He will take him and promising him offspring and a blessing. The blessing promised to him will also overflow to “all the families of the earth” through him – God’s specific intent to draw the world to Himself. The ensuing chapters show how God keeps these wayward patriarchs close to Him and begins to form a people of His very own.

Under Moses, after years of slavery in Egypt, Abraham’s descendants are delivered by God’s mighty hand from Pharaoh and God promises them that they will be His “treasured possession” and a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). He enters into a covenant with the people, agreeing with them in fellowship to take care of them as they follow Him wholeheartedly.

In Exodus 24 we see one of the first “fellowship offerings” sacrificed (some versions translate it “peace offering”). Leviticus goes on to prescribe the requirements for the different offering to cover for sin and guilt and atonement, but the fellowship offering is special. It is voluntary and it ends with a meal between the people who bring it and the priests who offer it. It is an offering celebrating the peace between God and His people. It is an offering of thankfulness for all the good things that come from this wonderful relationship. It is the fellowship offering that is made as one completes a vow he has made to God (See Psalm 116). Unity among the people is valued by this sacrificial reminder as well (Psalm 133).  

Of course, the story of the Old Testament is largely one of covenant unfaithfulness for Israel. Her history is marred with idolatry and turning from God. Though we see a God angered by all these offenses, we also see a God who simply will not give up on the ideal of fellowship. The books of the prophets are full of God’s tireless efforts to reach His children (Hosea 11, for instance).

Isaiah 5 gives us a metaphor of a landowner, who represents God, planting a vineyard that represents His people Israel, seeking a fruitful harvest, which represents covenant faithfulness and blessing. The landowner is said to have planted “choice” vines – a reference to God’s own choice of Abraham’s descendants and the value He placed on them. The passage goes on to show that this landowner spared no expense and did all the right things to set and an environment for fruitfulness among the vines, but they bore only wild, useless, grapes – a metaphor for sinfulness and idolatry. Then the question is asked, “What more could God have done for His vineyard?”

And this rings in the ears of Israel as the Assyrians sack the northern kingdom during Isaiah’s own lifetime; and as the Babylonians deport the people of Judah and destroy Solomon’s beautiful temple for God; and as the exiles struggle to rebuild what was lost and humbly return under Ezra. But 700 years after Isaiah, near the end of the reign of Herod the Great, shepherds receive a message of “peace on earth and good will toward men” as the long-awaited Messiah – Isaiah’s “Prince of Peace” – is born in the town of David (Luke 2:1-21). And Matthew’s Gospel makes the astounding claim from prophecy that this newborn child is “God with us” (1:22).

This Jesus then becomes the basis for a New Covenant, and He brings us a new vineyard metaphor in John 15. God the Father is the owner of this vineyard, and His Son is the vine. The branches that will bear fruit are His followers which are brought into deep and lasting union with Him through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and the once-for-all atonement of His perfect sacrifice. The “abiding” terminology of John 15 and the rest of the Upper Room Discourse of Jesus then flow over into John’s first letter that we are studying (2:6, 10). Paul uses a different metaphor for this unity of believers in Christ – the body (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:4-8; Ephesians 4:11-16). Christ becomes the Head and the Church is His body, together performing the will of God in joy and harmony. The disciples and their new 3,000-member church experience almost immediately the wonders of koinonia in Acts 2:42-47. The root word of koinonia has to do with having something in common, and these believers began to share everything with each other as the things of God became more important than the things of earth. And then the church expands and Jew and Samaritan and Gentile began to worship God through Christ together. Though this caused a lot of strain and required the rebuke of the apostles (See Galatians and 1 Corinthians for instance), the church has lasted through these centuries and spread throughout the majority of the world’s people groups. And one day, Revelation 5 and 7 tell us, that every tribe, tongue and nation will be represented in those who worship the Father and the Son in glory.

So, when 1 John speaks of “fellowship” just know that it represents the mighty redemptive effort of God intervening in the history of humanity. The end goal of salvation is not me getting to heaven, then as much as it is God gaining a people of His very own to treasure. And as one of that number, I benefit each day and for eternity.