As we enter into a deep relationship with Christ, we become members of his family along with our sisters and brothers in Christ.
God is faithful; by Him, you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
God has called us, not only to believe in Jesus but also to live in intimate, lasting fellowship with him. As we enter into a deep relationship with Christ, we become members of his family along with our sisters and brothers in Christ. The Christian life isn’t only a matter of believing the right things. It is living each day in true fellowship with Christ and his people.
When you hear the word “fellowship,” what comes to mind?
That’s not at all what Paul had in mind, however, when we told the Corinthian Christians that they were “called into the fellowship of [God’s] Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). The English word “fellowship” translates from the Greek word koinonia, which meant so much more than casual conversation after a religious meeting. Koinonia had to do with sharing something in common (koinos in Greek meant “communal” or “common.”) Koinonia could describe a business partnership, a deep friendship, or even sexual intimacy in marriage. Thus, to translate koinonia as “fellowship” can lead the English reader in the wrong direction.
Koinonia should be understood as “intimate fellowship.” I stand by the suggestion, though I might now say, “intimate, committed, lasting fellowship.”
So, Paul says that the Corinthians, as followers of Jesus, are “called into the intimate fellowship of his Son” (1:9). Now we need to decipher what Paul means by “of his Son.” Greek grammar gives us a couple of possibilities. Paul could be talking about the fellowship we have “with his Son.” Or he could be referring to the fellowship we have with other believers through or in the name of God’s Son. Either option works in Greek. So which is it?
Most commentators and translators prefer “with his Son” as the primary sense of the Greek in this verse (see, for example, the NIV’s “fellowship with his Son” or the CEB, which goes with “partnership with his Son”). In this rendering of the Greek, we are called by God into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The central reality of the Christian faith is “intimate, committed, lasting fellowship” with Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior, and Lord.
But there is also a sense in which we are called into fellowship with each other in the name of Jesus. When we enter into a relationship with Christ through faith, we are also adopted into the family of God. We are not only in a relationship with Jesus but also with all of those who have a similar relationship with him. So, though I believe Paul’s primary point in verse 9 is that we are called into deep, intimate fellowship with Jesus, it is also true that through Jesus we are called into deep, intimate fellowship with our sisters and brothers in his family.
The fact that we are called into fellowship with Jesus and his people reminds us that Christianity isn’t only a matter of believing the right things. Yes, theology matters, for sure. But biblically-informed theology underscores the profoundly relational dynamic of the Christian faith. God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has called each one of us into a relationship with Christ and, through Christ, into a relationship with his people. We share together in a calling to share life together with Christ and each other.
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