There are two leading thoughts concerned with fellowship, the first, partnership, and the second, communion. When we think of fellowship with each other our minds take in both thoughts, but when we speak of fellowship with God it is communion that we think of. In the New Testament there are a number of passages of Scripture that bring the subject of fellowship before us, and the consideration of some of these should give us God's thoughts on the matter.
On the day of Pentecost about three thousand souls accepted the word preached by the apostles, and were baptized. In their baptism they separated themselves from the generation that had crucified and slain the Lord Jesus, and acknowledged that the One who had been rejected by the leaders of the nation was the promised Messiah. God had raised Jesus from the dead, and made Him Lord and Christ, His new place at God's right hand as His anointed being God's answer to man's rejection, and the expression of God's pleasure in what He had done.
Those who believed "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and prayers" (Acts 2:42). Their fellowship was founded on the apostles' doctrine, the teaching concerning a dead and risen Christ, now glorified in heaven; and much of their fellowship would be in the breaking of bread, which was the memorial of the Lord Jesus, and in prayer to Him whom they now acknowledged as their Lord and Master.
They had not been attracted by the promise of any material prosperity, and the fellowship into which their acceptance of the Gospel had brought them held out no earthly prospects, but rather placed them where they would be subjected to the assaults of the enemy, who had used the leaders of Israel to slay their Master. There was much to enjoy together of Christian fellowship, communion in the things concerning Christ, speaking together of the truths ministered by the apostles, which no doubt brought out what Jesus had spoken to them while on earth, and what had been written in the Old Testament concerning Him.
In the beginning of the Acts only Jews had been brought to God, but soon the word reached out to the Gentiles, and a number of gatherings had been formed by the labours of the Apostle Paul. At Corinth there were many believers, and writing to them the Apostle said, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). This is the fellowship into which all Christians have been called, for the epistle is sent to all, even as it is written in verse 2, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth … with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." And this is the only fellowship into which God has called Christians.
We have not chosen this fellowship for ourselves, God in His grace has called us into it, and every true Christian, who has believed in the Lord Jesus and has received the Holy Spirit belongs to this circle of fellowship. The bond that binds us together in this fellowship is the Son of God, the One to whom we owe everything. In 1 Corinthians 10:16, the death of Christ is given as the basis of our fellowship, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
At the Lord's supper we enjoy the precious privileges that belong to this fellowship, when we remember the Lord, and show forth His death until He comes. There are three circles of fellowship to which the Apostle calls our attention in 1 Corinthians 10:18-21: the fellowship of Israel after the flesh, the fellowship of demons, and the fellowship of the Lord's table. Those who presented peace offerings in Israel gave the fat and blood to Jehovah, and ate with their friends what was left, after Jehovah and the priests had their portions. The sacrifices of the heathen to idols were to demons, and those who offered and ate of the sacrifices had fellowship with demons.
Christians, who partook of the Lord's supper, were partaking of the privileges of the Lord's table, which represented all the wide range of blessings and privileges belonging to the Christian circle. There are responsibilities, however, as well as blessings and privileges, and every Christian who has been called into the fellowship of God's Son is under obligation to walk in consistency with the death of Christ in all his ways.
Fellowship with devils is utterly incongruous with Christian fellowship, even as Paul had written in 1 Corinthians 10:21, "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partaker of the Lord's table, and the table of devils." No one who is associated with heathen temples has a right to be at the Lord's table. In this chapter the apostle is considering religious fellowships, but in 2 Corinthians 6 many other associations are thought of.
When Paul wrote, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers," he was not writing only of religious associations. The Christians ought not to be found in any voluntary association that is inconsistent with Christian fellowship. We have been united together as Christians in one body, and this is not a voluntary association, but a vital unity formed by the Holy Spirit, and Christian fellowship is to he governed by this. Unbelievers have no part in the unity of the body, and no part in Christian fellowship.
Unbelievers are unrighteous before God. Many may be good men and righteous by human standards, but if outside of Christ they are unrighteous in the sight of God, and there cannot be any true fellowship between those who are Christians and those who are not. Believers have been "made the righteousness of God" in Christ, and this has put them in an entirely new place before God, and is to govern their relations with others in this world.
If a believer is united in marriage to an unbeliever there are divine instructions to govern their relationships, as in 1 Corinthians 7:12-14, where the unbeliever is viewed as sanctified in the believer, and the children as holy before God. The Apostle Peter also in his First Epistle 3:1, exhorts the believing wife so to act as to gain her husband. We have to meet unbelievers in all kinds of ways in this world, and to bear testimony to Christ before them, even at a feast, if we are disposed to go (1 Cor. 10:27).
With light and darkness there is nothing in common, and those who have been enlightened with the knowledge of God cannot have partnerships with those in the darkness of ignorance of God. They have nothing in common to converse over; all they have in common is the flesh, and the Christian has crucified the flesh with the passions thereof. All worldly associations are for the improvement of man in the flesh, for the advancement of present interests, or for the gratification of the flesh.
In the religious world there is no agreement with the Christian who is faithful to God, although they would feign draw the believer into association with them; but Scripture says, "What concord hath Christ with Belial? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Those who value the Name of Christ cannot go on with those who worship the worthless gods of this world, and who have no regard for the Christ whom we adore. Christians are the temple of the living God, who dwells in them. How then can they be associated in any way with the idolatry of this world?
Separation from every worldly association is involved in the divine call, "Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." God has called us out from all that is unholy, from all that is inconsistent with Himself, that we might he wholly for Himself and for His will. Once believers belonged to the religious, political, social and other worldly circles of fellowship, but the call of God, and the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, has put us outside of them all, and God would have us realise that this is a real and practical separation.
For the early saints, and in some degree for those in Christendom, separation from the world entails opposition, and perhaps persecution. Therefore we have the divine promise, "I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." The sense of this blessed relationship will sustain us whatever we have to face as walking the path of separation in obedience to the will and call of the Lord.
Paul had good cause for thanking God upon every remembrance of the saints at Philippi, and his prayers for them were always with joy for their "fellowship in the Gospel from the first day" until the time of his writing the epistle. Paul would never forget how Lydia had received him and his companions into her house, after she had heard and believed the Gospel. It was not simply fellowship with Paul, but with the Gospel which had brought to her the glad tidings of the grace of God.
The fellowship of the Philippian saints had been very practical, for Paul was able to write to them, "Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity" (Phil. 4:15-16). Having received the blessings of the Gospel, the saints at Philippi sought to further the Gospel in helping the servants of the Lord in every way. The Apostle counted on their prayers, even as he wrote, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:19).
Before exhorting the saints to unity, Paul wrote to the Philippian saints, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit" (Phil. 2:1). True Christian fellowship is "fellowship of the Spirit." In the Christian circle the motives that control our actions lie in the divine nature, and the Spirit of God gives character and power to all true fellowship. In the world fellowship is governed by similarity of outlook, and mutual interest; but in the assembly of God the Spirit of God binds the saints of God together, and enables them to express their feelings and desires towards one another in a way that gives pleasure to God.
The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is also referred to by Paul in the closing words of 2 Corinthians, where he writes, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." Grace, love and fellowship belong only to one circle on earth, a circle in which the whole Trinity is interested, and for which it cares; the circle that has been formed by the Spirit, through the work of the Son, for the pleasure and worship of the Father.
When the Apostle John wrote, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us" (1 John 1:3), he was not writing concerning ecclesiastical fellowship, as Paul does in 1 Corinthians, but the fellowship that belongs to the family of God as having the knowledge of God, and as having the eternal life that was manifested in the Son of God in Manhood. First, the Apostle desires that all believers might have fellowship with the servants of the Lord who brought the truth, and communion with the Father and the Son in the enjoyment of it.
At the beginning, those who believed continued in the Apostles' fellowship; and for us this is in relation to the full knowledge and revelation of God in Jesus. It is true that the Apostles had a special place in fellowship with the Father and the Son, as sent by the Son to make the truth known, but we also have our part in praising the Son before the Father, and in speaking to the Son about the Father. But, at all times, wherever we meet a true believer, we can speak together of what has been made known to us in the Person of the Son. In this divine fellowship the Apostle desires that our joy may be full. What can bring joy to our hearts like speaking together of all that we have found in Jesus.
Christian fellowship belongs to those who walk in the light; and every one who has the knowledge of God walks in the light. We may not always walk according to the light, but from the moment the light of God entered our souls, we walked in the knowledge of God. There are many professors of Christianity who say they have fellowship with God, and it is the attitude of every professor; but if they walk in this world without the knowledge of God in their souls they walk in darkness, and "lie, and do not the truth."
The elect lady was warned by the Apostle John not to receive into her house, or even to bid God speed to any who did not bring the doctrine of Christ (2 John 10), for any who had the least fellowship with such was a "partaker of his evil deeds." Firmness and courage might be needed to act as commanded of God, but lack of faithfulness could bring damage to the saints of God. Fellowship with evil is viewed very seriously in Scripture.
To Gaius, John writes of his entertaining the servants of the Lord who were strangers, who "for His Name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles" (3 John 5-7). In receiving such, those who received them were "fellow-helpers to the truth," which these faithful servants of the Lord brought. These two short epistles then clearly bring out that to have fellowship with one who brings evil doctrine is to have fellowship with evil, but to have fellowship with those who bring the truth is to have fellowship with the truth.
When the Holy Spirit came from the ascended Christ, and three thousand souls were brought into blessing through the preaching of the apostles, there was remarkable unity among the saints of God, although the teaching of the unity of the body of Christ had not yet been ministered, for they "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers"; and "they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people" (Acts 2:42, 46, 47). Fellowship in those early days was most precious, the teaching of the apostles concerning the risen and glorified Christ, who had lately been crucified and slain in Jerusalem, having been received by faith in the heart, and Christ Himself was ever before them in the breaking of bread, and their resource to whom they looked in prayer.
This delightful unity and blessedness did not last long, for a watchful enemy brought in murmuring and dissension, and the flesh desiring for itself the credit that be-longed to true devotion to the Lord brought upon itself in Ananias and Sapphira the unsparing judgment of God. Judgment began at the house of God, for all had to learn that there were not only privileges connected with Christian fellowship, but also the responsibility of maintaining what was due to God in righteousness, holiness, and truth.
With the call of the Apostle Paul to the double ministry of the Gospel and the church, the truth of the unity of the body of Christ was made known, and the truth of the fellowship of God's Son into which all Christians are called (1 Cor. 1:9). Men have formed many circles of fellowship, even among saints of God or those who profess to be saints of God; but there is only one fellowship into which God has called His saints, and that is the "fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Because of this, we are in duty bound to refuse to belong to any other fellowship than that to which God has called us.
The fellowship of God's Son has Christ Himself as the bond of His people, and Christ as the object of our hearts and activities, and God does not recognise any other fellowship for His people. Before being called of God, the converted Jews had their fellowship in the Jewish religion, which centred in the temple and the altar; and the converted Gentiles had in heathenism their fellowship with demons in their idolatrous sacrifices; now all was different, the Jewish religion had been set aside in the cross of Christ, and the converted heathen had been separated by the cross from all that had previously engaged him; and together, the converted Jew and Gentile found their fellowship in the things of God, in which Christ was the centre and object, and where the Name of Christ was upon them.
The foundation of Christian fellowship is the death of Christ, for "the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16). In this fellowship, "we being many are one bread, one body; for we all partake of that one bread." All who, by the work of the Spirit of God, have part in the one body, the body of Christ, are not only brought into the blessings and privileges of Christianity, but they are under obligation to walk in consistency with the death of Christ.
How infinitely great are the blessings into which God, in His grace has brought us! In the spirit of the new covenant we have the forgiveness of sins, and the knowledge of God; and for us the new covenant is a "ministry of righteousness," and a "ministry of the Spirit." Already we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, knowing the relationship of sons to God, and being accepted in the Beloved. Soon we shall have our part in the divine inheritance that is Christ's, but already we are the heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.
Only those who have believed the Gospel of our salvation regarding the atoning work of Christ, and His resurrection, have the blessings of Christianity, and only they are entitled to the privileges of the fellowship of God's Son. We are living in a day when there is a great profession of Christianity, when many who know not the Lord partake of His Supper, but they have no title to this privilege if they are not sheltering beneath the blood of the true Paschal Lamb. In the assembly of God we partake of the precious privileges that belong to the body of Christ. There we worship by the Spirit of God; there we sing our praises to the Father and the Son; there we pray in divine liberty, and there we have the ministry provided by God for the comfort, edification and encouragement of His people. In the assembly the members of the one body function under the control of the Spirit of God, and under the direction of the Lord, for the pleasure and glory of God, and for the joy and delight of His saints.
Our individual walk must answer to the mind of God, and any who compromise the holiness or righteousness of God become subject to divine discipline, exercised by the assembly on behalf of the Lord. The assembly has also the authority of God to loose as well as to bind, and all discipline has in mind the restoration of the offender when there is self-judgment and repentance. We cannot have the joys of Christian fellowship if the honour of the Lord's Name is not safeguarded from every kind of evil. Only those who are Christ's ought to be at the Lord's Table, and only those free from complicity in evil dishonouring to the Lord.
Paul had warned the elders of Ephesus that grievous wolves would enter in among them after his departure, not sparing the flock, and from among themselves men would rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20). In 2nd Timothy, the Apostle warns of the vain babblings that would increase "unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus." The Apostle did not look for increased fidelity among professing Christians, but rather for declension, which had already set in. "All they … in Asia" had turned away from him who had brought to them the rich blessings of the Gospel. They had not given up the truth of Christianity, but had not cared to be any longer associated with one who was bound with a chain for the testimony of the Lord.
The faith of some had been overthrown by the teachings of Hymenaeus and Philetus, and those who named the Name of the Lord are called upon to depart from iniquity. It is no longer only from the corruptions of heathendom that Christians are to be apart, as the Apostle had instructed the Corinthian saints, we are to be separate from the corruptions of that which professes Christ's Name as well. Nor is it simply moral corruption that we are to be separate from, but as here, doctrinal corruption, that which is a perversion of the truth of God.
God's house is no longer viewed as "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15), but as "a great house" in which there are vessels of dishonour as well as the vessels to honour. We are not called upon to separate from the great house, for then we should have to give up the profession of Christianity, but we are to be separate from the vessels of dishonour. Loyalty to Christ demands that we should not be associated with anything or anyone that compromises the Name of the Lord.
The call here is to the individual, for the apostle, by the Spirit, views the corporate testimony as ruined. It is irretrievably ruined, for there is not a call to get back to the unity that marked the church at the beginning, but for the individual to be true to Christ's Name in purging himself from all that is dishonouring to Him. Association with evil defiles, as is seen in this and in other Scriptures, and we must be free from evil associations if we are to be vessels of honour, and fit for the Master's use.
Having freed ourselves from the evil associations of the religious world, God does not wish us to be independent of other Christians; but, fleeing every desire of the flesh, we are to follow "righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22). We may be isolated in our faithfulness, but we are not to be independent. There are others who have heard the call to separation, and have acted on it; and we are to walk with them in the path of God's will.
We are not called upon to form something new, or to do anything different from what had been enjoined on the Christian company before the church was in ruins. Righteousness, faith, love and peace are some of the marks of the divine nature working in the Christian, so that we are to go on together as Christians, manifesting together the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). God has not left us without instruction, and the light of "All Scripture" is available for us.
No enlightened Christian will deny that we are in the "last days" of which the Apostle forewarns Timothy and ourselves in the beginning of chapter 3 of his second epistle to his son in the faith; and in the midst of the conditions described by the Spirit of God, we are cast upon the same resources that were available to Timothy. First, the Apostle writes, "Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life …" Paul's doctrine is still available for us, and in our gatherings we have this divine teaching to guide us.
The truth of the assembly has not been set aside because of the failure of the church, it remains for the guidance of all who desire to be true to Christ. Two or three who gather together in the Name of Christ, have this wealth of divine teaching for their direction in their gatherings. We cannot claim to be the assembly in any locality in this day of ruin, but we can claim the Scriptures as our guide for our assembly gatherings. We have nothing else to direct us, and desire nothing else. All improvisation of men is to be refused because we have the light of God in the Scriptures.
No amount of failure can relieve us from following the mind of God for His saints in their gatherings. The Second Epistle to Timothy does not set aside the instructions of 1st Corinthians; it is supplementary to it because of the failure of the church, but it is also complementary to it, as showing what should be our guide in the days of brokenness and ruin. Indeed, all that Paul has written, in all his epistles, remains for our instruction, to guide us in our individual life, and also as gathering together in our weakness in these last days.
The ship may be broken in pieces (Acts 27), and we may be only twos and threes on broken pieces of the ship, making for the land, but we still have the privileges that belonged to the assembly at the beginning, and we still are responsible to act according to the light of God's word, and to safeguard the holy Name of the Lord in our gatherings, for it is to His Name that we gather.
Wm. C. Reid.