1 John 1:3-4; Acts 2:40-47, We Are a Fellowship

John’s purpose in writing this epistle is that he wants those receiving the letter to have fellowship with “us.”  I take that to mean that John is part of a church somewhere and he wants both to have fellowship.  What is “fellowship?”

·       Strong’s definition includes “fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, and intercourse; the share which one has in anything, participation; intercourse, fellowship, intimacy.”  TDNT (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament) says, “it implies fellowship or sharing with someone or in something.”

·       Perhaps you can hear the theologians trying to says that it is something deep.  We call the church potluck “fellowship.”  That is accurate, although of all the things that fellow-believers in Christ share, the same casserole might be the most shallow of all.  In the NT the “Church” is:

o   The fellowship of faith (Ac. 2:41-42; Titus 1:4). We have the same faith: it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

o   The fellowship of salvation (Jude 3).  There is one salvation, one Savior.

o   The fellowship of ministry (Phil. 1:5,7; Phlm. 17; 2 Cor. 8:23; Eph. 4:11-16).  We do not all have the same role or gift, but every believer is called to the ministry of the gospel (Matt. 28:18-20).  In this, for example, Paul says the Philippian church shared in (had fellowship in) his ministry because they contributed financially so he could do his ministry.

o   The fellowship of suffering (1 Peter 4:13; Phil. 3:10; 4:14; 2 Cor. 1:7, etc.).  When one suffers because of their ministry in the world, it hurts all of us.  Note that the first two Scriptures on this point tell us that we are in fellowship with Jesus when we suffer for His name.  Keep that in mind.

o   The fellowship of obedience (1 John 1:6-7).  “Fellowship” (koinonia) is used four times in 1 John, all in Chapter 1.  Here we see that we all share the same “walk” in the sense that we walk in the light.  Furthermore, God is light.  This is how we understand John when he says in 1:3 that our fellowship with each other is also fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 

§  This sharing of obedience implies that we are not in fellowship if we are in disobedience.  Thus, we cannot be yoked together with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-16a), involved in the fruitless deeds of darkness (Eph. 5:11), or sharing in the sins of others (1 Tim. 5:22).  (See also 2 John 11; Rev. 18:4).

We have just begun to scratch the surface on this.  Nothing in this list can be said to be the essence of fellowship.  The overall description of the Church is that it is the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).  Christ, who IS eternal life, has given us eternal life, His life.