Thursday | 28 January 2021

It is a fellowship

In this present season, the Lord has been addressing our church movement regarding fellowship and the sacramental nature of our communion services. We have come to see that our sacramental perspectives and practices are contrary to the teaching of the apostle Paul. He taught that the communion meal is fellowship, or participation, in the offering of Christ.

The Greek word for ‘communion’, used in the Scriptures, is koinonia. This word can equally be translated ‘fellowship’, ‘participation’, and ‘sharing’. For example, Paul wrote, ‘The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion [koinonia] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion [ koinonia] of the body of Christ?’ 1Co 10:16. 1Jn 1:3.

Communion is not a sacrament at all; it is the fellowship of the body of Christ. Sacramentalism denies, and even wars against, fellowship, because it promises that a person will receive blessing from God apart from participation in offering as a member of Christ’s body. In response to the word of the Lord, we are returning to the tradition that was laid down by the twelve apostles as they established the Jewish church in Jerusalem. Act 2:46. This is the same tradition that the apostle Paul and his fellow apostolic messengers established among the Gentile churches. 1Co 11:2. 2Th 2:15.

Importantly, our participation in communion is not because we specifically eat a piece of bread, and drink wine; or ‘remember’ the historical event of Christ’s crucifixion. Nor are these elements, in any way, ‘transubstantiated’ into the body and blood of Christ when they are blessed for us by a clergy-style leader. The communion is not another ‘sacrificial event’ that somehow contains the elements of Christ’s one offering, from which we can draw for our benefit. Christ Himself is the great High Priest of our confession. Heb 3:1. He priests to us a daily participation in His offering and sufferings.