Biblical Facts About Fellowship

A brief Bible study on 'fellowship' within Christianity.

I would like to use this installment to simply put forth some basic facts about fellowship that come into play whenever conflict arises in the church and/or between Christians.

In light of the Scriptures, these are things we MUST admit to be true:

1. God wants His people to be united. On this there can be no disagreement, since it is taught so clearly in Scripture. See John 17:20-21; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:1-4.

2. Not every instance of sin is a reason for the breaking of fellowship. This is the only logical conclusion, in light of Scripture, and again there can be no disagreement. For instance, Paul did not write the Corinthian brethren to tell them he was breaking fellowship with them, even though they were mired in a great number of sins. Instead, he wrote to correct their errors. John also wrote that if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7-10). We will sin, John says, but if we confess it to Him and repent, we are staying in the light, and staying in fellowship with Him and one another.

3. There are cases, however, where fellowship between God’s people must be severed. On this point there must also be no disagreement, since the Scripture is clear that people were 'disfellowshipped', if you will, at times. See the cases of Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17), for example. We cannot disagree on the fact that there are times when the Bible calls for severing of fellowship. Paul wrote the Corinthians to correct their errors, but he also told them not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is “sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person” (1 Corinthians 5:11), which proves there are specific cases when breaking fellowship is necessary as prescribed by God in His Word. This also indicates that there are habitual, persistent sinners that the church cannot continue to fellowship.

That's pretty straight-forward and simple stuff.

In the next entry, I'll focus on what God has to say about when to 'break fellowship' with another believer, but only as an absolute last resort.

Yes, despite the fact that church discipline is frowned upon in this politically-correct day-and-age, to the point where it's no longer practiced in many local churches, I can assure you that it is most certainly Biblical, and it serves a major benefit to us as individual believers as well as the true Body of Christ.

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