On Fellowship

Doug Wilson

"This word identification needs to be developed further. The Greek word koinonia is usually translated as fellowship, which is good enough, but over time the word has lost some of its texture and depth for us in the modern church. We moderns think that fellowship is the “coffee and donut time” after the main service, where we all chat each other up a bit, and then head out for the parking lot. But the word koinonia involves much more than just being friendly for twenty minutes once a week. The word, as it is used of Christians in the New Testament, involves communion, identification, union, reciprocity, and inter-dwelling. As Christians we are called to eat together, and talk, and give, and sacrifice, precisely because we are members of one another.

"God does not point to a bunch of people over there, and say, “See? Those people think similarly to you. Be nice and polite to them once a week.” Rather, He brings us all together so that we become one people. We indwell one another. We exchange life. We are members of one body. When one part of the body hurts, the entire body hurts."