Thoughts on Fellowship

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     In this series on the koinonia, or fellowship, of the disciples of our Lord, it is appropriate that we consider the related term koinonos, which designates the sharer or partaker. As William Barclay points out in "A New Testament Wordbook" this term in classical Greek means a companion, a partner, or a joint-owner. In secular usage it was primarily a business term. In Luke 5:10 we are told that James and John were partners with Simon in a fishing enterprise. In the same sense Paul informed those who asked about the status of Titus that he was his partner (2 Cor. 8:23). When asking Philemon to receive back his runaway slave as a brother, the apostle says, "If you consider me a partner, receive him as myself" (verse 17). In the New Testament, therefore, the word is used of partnership in either secular or spiritual pursuits.

     The Galilean fishermen who became ambassadors for the Christ would not need an explanation of what it meant to be a koinonos in the Lord. They understood its implication from the partnership of the fishing nets. They had been joined together by a common objective, they had mutually toiled and endured hardship, and had shared in prosperity and adversity, depending upon the size of the catch and the vagaries of the market.

     When Paul seeks to enforce the point that those who eat the bread and drink the cup together are in fellowship, he cites an example. "Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" (1 Cor. 10:

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18). A certain portion of some sacrifices was to be eaten by those qualified under the law. Those who thus ate were partners or sharers in the benefits and blessings derived from attendance upon the whole service centered about the altar. Paul extends his reasoning to show that one cannot be in partnership with the Lord and with demons at the same time (see verse 21). There is nothing in common between God and idols, so there can be nothing in common between ourselves and both at the same time. "You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of demons."

     We share with each other in Christ because He has shared His bounty and grace with us. We are not in the fellowship because of our attainments in wealth, power, prestige, wisdom, or knowledge. These do not necessarily debar from entrance into the fellowship, and neither do they enhance it We are not in the fellowship because we understand everything alike, or because we have reached a certain stage of spiritual development. "The brotherhood" we are told to love (1 Peter 3:17) does not consist merely of those who agree with us upon some controversial point such as Bible classes, colleges, individual cups, the pastor system, contribution baskets, or a manner of breaking the bread. Those who use it in such a fashion are schismatic and sectarian in their outlook. They suffer from restricted vision and spiritual astigmatism. "The brotherhood" of Christ stems from the fatherhood of God. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren because we have the same Father as himself. He said, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father" (John 20:17).

     Every person on this earth who is a child of God is my brother. He is in "the brotherhood." When we talk of the brotherhood in such a manner as to exclude any of God's children we are sectarian. Such a narrow, partisan usage of the term is quite frequent. It is promoted by factional leaders and editors. I regularly receive a number of journals and read reports of those preachers who contribute news items to them. All speak of "work in the brotherhood" but they do not mean by the term what God's word implies. To one the brotherhood is limited to those who oppose classes, to another those who use fermented wine in the Lord's Supper, to another those who break the bread in a certain fashion, to another those who oppose orphan homes, to another those who object to individual cups, to another those who employ instrumental music, to another those who oppose its use.

     It is a rather strange phenomenon that all of these various factions have a paper, and generally the editor and certain chosen cohorts in his favor, constitute the ruling hierarchy of each "brotherhood." Regardless of how you stand in the grace of God, if you do not continue in the good graces of the editor, you will be ruined and hounded out of "the brotherhood." Pressures are exerted to keep people "in line" and brain-washing methods are employed to stifle individual thinking and to confine men behind the "paper curtain." It has long been a question with me as to whether the schismatic spirit produces a faction which then creates an editorial mouthpiece, or whether an editor creates a faction "in his own likeness, and in his own image." But there is no denying that the sectarian spirit is so rife, and there are so many "brotherhoods" in existence, that the one thing which is unique in these days is a wholly unsectarian plea, and when brethren hear it, they say like the ancient Athenians, "May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears" (Acts 17:19, 20).

     Any group which forces you to believe something other than the great fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, as condition of admission to their fellowship, has laid another foundation than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And that "something else" is the creed of that group, and the group constitutes a sect in the fair import of that term. And any group which establishes admission to brotherhood upon any other basis than the new birth is doing despite to the Spirit of grace, and opposing God's plan for the ages.

     We are participants with God because we share in the divine nature. The very word koinonos is used in this connection. "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4). Being partners in the divine nature brings us into an intimate relationship with all who share in that nature. It also obligates us to use our faith as a foundation and upon it to build a life structure using as materials the "excellencies" which are enumerated. This indicates that when we are called to glory and virtue we are far from being spiritually perfect or mature. We are one in Him, not because of personal attainment but because of grace.

     Due to differences in early training, environment, and temperament, as well as variations in aptitudes, skills, and opportunities of study, there will be many things upon which we will disagree. These differences can be resolved if they need to be. There are some matters on which we may always differ, but they are of such little consequence as to warrant no particular effect upon us; there are others of a graver nature, but upon these we should bestow more abundant study and consultation. The whole problem is one of attitudes -- toward God, His word, and each other. A recognition of kindred ties in Jesus will enable us to treat each other as brethren while we draw closer to Him and each other in our efforts.