The uncommon community

Koinonia“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV84).

The first century Christians used the Greek word koinonia to describe their new community. This word is most often translated “fellowship” in the New Testament. It may also be translated “communion,” “partnership,” or “participation” depending on context. 

The word comes from the root word koine, which means “common.” Depending on usage, this word may mean to be “common” in the sense of being “ordinary,” or it may be used to describe something “held in common” or “shared.”

When the word is used to describe the original language of the New Testament, Koine Greek, it means ordinary Greek, common Greek. It was not the formal, classical Greek of Plato. It was the marketplace, everyday-Greek of the common people. I think God wanted the New Testament written in a language that common people could understand.

But when the first century Christians used koinonia to describe their newly formed community that began when the Holy Spirit filled them at Pentecost they certainly did not mean that this was a “common” or “ordinary” community. No, they used the word koinonia to describe the new life in Christ that they shared in-common and the new dwelling of the Holy Spirit that knit them together as one body.

Today, there are many common communities, ordinary fellowships of teams and tribes. They have a human sense of oneness built around a similar affinity. But this is not the koinonia of the New Testament. The fellowship of Christians in the New Testament was more than a likeness of belief and affinity, it was rebirth into the one family of God. It was the living Holy Spirit present in each and every one of them, binding them together as one.

You can’t have true fellowship, true koinonia, without the Holy Spirit. Without Him, it’s just a common get-together.

Invite Him to your next community group gathering. Look for Him in your next worship service. Listen for His presence in all of your gatherings. Then, you’ll finally experience the most uncommon of communities.

 

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