Thoughts on Fellowship

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (I Cor. 1: 9).

     The church of God at Corinth consisted of called saints, those who were sanctified in Christ Jesus (1:2). The state or condition to which they were called by God, is expressed by the term "the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ." To this state they attained through the "grace of God which is given by Jesus Christ" (1: 4). Because they were called into such a state they were to avoid all schisms among themselves (1: 10). Being bound by a common tie, they were to avoid those things which would disrupt the community. They were to "endeavor to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4: 3). By this means they would "walk worthy of the calling wherewith they were called."

     What is involved in "the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord"? How do we attain unto it? Who are participants in it? How do they remain in it? What action will separate them from this state? Surely these are matters of grave importance, and should challenge the thinking of every person on earth who believes that there is a God, and that Jesus Christ is his Son, and our Savior. The state of fellowship represents a complete change of relationship. The prior condition is described as "being alienated from the life of God." The new state is described as one of sonship, in which the participant is "an heir of God through Christ" (Gal. 4:7). From a state in which there was no sharing of the blessings of God, a transformation takes place in which the one who is called becomes a sharer of the divine bounty as a son.

     It is our conviction that the community of saints in Christ Jesus is the earthly culmination of that eternal purpose which is described as "a plan for the ages to gather together in one all things in Christ" (Eph. 1:10). The mystery of fellowship was hidden in God from the beginning of the world (Eph. 3: 9). In other ages it was not made known unto the sons of men, but in this final age on earth, it was revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The purpose of this revelation was "to make all men see" (Eph. 3: 9). If, then, we are to see the truth upon this wonderful subject we must go to the revelation contained in the Christian scriptures. Our ideas, opinions and notions relative to fellowship mean nothing unless they coincide with God's revelation. Our task is to ascertain from the new covenant scriptures what significance and meaning is attached to the term by the Holy Spirit.

     The concept of fellowship with the Father, and with the Son, belongs to mankind only since that Son came in the flesh. This is abundantly clear to the student of the first epistle of John. Juda-

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ism provided an elaborate system of rules and ceremonies by which its adherents were kept apart from God, each other, and the world about them. The keynote was struck at the foot of Sinai, when their constitution was to be announced. Bounds were placed about the mountain so that the people might not come near. The threat of death was held over the Israelites. They were literally fenced off from God. The ritualism of the law maintained barriers between the people and God. The Almighty communed with them from the thick darkness of the most holy place. He was separated from them by a thick veil.

     The temple had its court of Gentiles, and across its barrier no Gentile dared step to mingle with "the chosen race." There was the court of women with its partition enclosing it, and there were separate precincts for Levites, priests and high priest. Much instruction was given to enable the people to keep in their proper places, separated and segregated. They dare not study how they might come together; they had rather to exercise diligence to keep apart.

     The death of the Messiah marked the end of this state by a startling symbol. As he expired, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Mark 15: 38). The significance of this is graphically depicted by the writer of the Hebrew letter. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb. 10: 19-22). The boldness and full assurance which is ours should be contrasted with the excessive fear and trembling at Sinai (Heb. 12:21). Then the command was "Draw not nigh!" Now the invitation is "Let us draw near!"

     The death of Jesus not only established a nearness of the people to God expressed by his language, "I will receive you, and be a Father unto you" (2 Cor.6:17, 18), but it also removed barriers which separated men from their fellows. "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us... that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph. 2:14, 16). It is worthy of note that the work of achieving unity is not credited to man. That is the work of Jesus. He made both one. He broke down the barrier of separation. He abolished in his flesh the enmity. He made in himself of two one new man. He reconciled both unto God in one body. He came and preached peace. It is through him we all have access by one Spirit unto the Father. "Therefore ...ye are fellow citizens with the saints" (Eph. 2: 19). Not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done. The unity is achieved by the Spirit. It is called "the fellowship of the Spirit" (Phil 2: 2). All we can do is to guard and maintain that "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Any person who erects a wall of partition to divide, separate and segregate brethren, regardless of what that wall may be, thereby opposes the work of God's Son and does despite to the Spirit or grace!

     The temple with its sacerdotal orders and its ritual pageantry is gone. It "stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation" (Heb. 9:10). What has taken the place of these things since Jesus has entered "into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb 9: 24)? My answer is that the koinonia, the fellowship of God, through the Spirit, has displaced the ceremonies and rules of the Mosaic dispensation. These things "could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience" (Heb. 9: 9). There was an impenetrable barrier between the person and his God, for "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest."

     What a change has been wrought by grace! The veil has been rent! We have

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access unto the Father by one Spirit. I need not climb a sacred mountain nor make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to feel a closeness with God. "Neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father ... the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." My body is a temple. My heart is a most holy place. God dwells in me, even as I dwell in Him. We mutually come closer together. "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you" (James 4: 8). "Ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Cor. 6: 16). This fragile structure of clay houses the Deity. The symbol of God's presence in the tabernacle was the Shekinah, visible as a cloud or pillar of fire. The Holy Spirit rests upon us as the cloud did upon the tabernacle in the wilderness.

     "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom we also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2: 21, 22). A holy temple! A habitation for God! "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own" (I Cor. 6: 19)? "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Cor. 3: 16)? What a transformation! In other days men had to go up to God. "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God" (Exo. 23: 17). Now God has appeared unto us. He dwells in us and walks in us, not at stated seasons, but every hour of every day. How foolish, therefore, for men to talk about sacred seasons and holy days. There are no special sacred places and no special sacred days. Under the old regime nothing was counted sacred unless it was fenced off from the profane on every side; under the new order all that God has made is sacred, and nothing is profane except for one who defiles it by his sinful attitude. "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness therof" (I Cor. 10: 26).

      Fellowship has to do with sharing. It can never be divorced from this idea. Through grace Jesus shared our lot. "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same" (Heb. 2: 14). "He emptied himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7). "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8: 9). The Christian life is a shared response to God called forth by the gift of God of which we have been made partakers. We are made partakers of Christ through the gospel. Our obedience to the demands of the gospel, introduces us into that state or condition called fellowship with God. We are in fellowship with each other only because we sustain the same relationship to Him. We cannot create that state, nor is it left to us to invent the terms by which we enter it. We are called unto it by the Father.

1. Fellowship with God is not contingent upon a perfect knowledge of the divine revelation.
2. It is not contingent upon attainment to a life of sinless perfection.
3. It is not contingent upon an ability to explain or expound every point of doctrine.

     (This is the first of a series of essays on the subject of fellowship which will be presented each month through this year. The editor humbly requests your careful consideration of these articles and will welcome criticism and correction in harmony with the divine revelation.)