Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 33:129 (Jan 1876)
Article: The True Basis Of Fellowship In The Congregational Churches
Author: George Nye Boardman

BSac 33:129 (Jan 1876) p. 62

The True Basis Of Fellowship In The Congregational Churches

Rev. George N. Boardman

The following Article was prepared for “The General Congregational Association of Illinois,” in fulfilment of its appointment, and is now published at its request.

The topic assigned me is :

“What is the True Basis of Fellowship in the Congregational Churches? “

Fellowship is the natural consequence of adoption. When we have become members of the family of God, we are joint-heirs with Christ of the inheritance which God grants to his children. Fellowship is the participation, through the Holy Spirit, of each believer in the sufferings and glory of Christ, and in the blessings which all believers receive from Christ, and enjoy with him. It is not implied that each Christian receives the same degree of divine aid, but that all draw from a common treasury, and that each receives advantage from what is bestowed upon any one. The term, therefore, designates a necessary relation of Christians to one another and to their Lord. It expresses their partnership in a common possession.

The Greek word translated fellowship is κοινωνία, and might be translated the commonwealth. But the wealth or

BSac 33:129 (Jan 1876) p. 63

weal of the followers of Christ is mainly spiritual, consists in sentiments and aspirations, hope and faith, love and Christian experience; therefore a word expressive of these things is chosen, rather than a word almost appropriated to a certain form of state government. The apostle does, however, by reference to the commonwealth of Israel, show negatively, and then positively, what true fellowship is, in Eph. 2:12, 19: “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise”; but when the Gentiles were converted, he could say to them: “Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” The follower of Christ, then, through his fellowship or partnership, has a claim to the blessings which Christ as Redeemer bestows upon men, and also, to some extent at least, enters upon present possession of his rights. In partaking of the inheritance common to all the saints, one renounces a claim to all that which, by being personally his own, would abridge Christ’s authority as the ruler of the commonwealth, or as the chief and controlling person in the entire fellowship. The converts at Jerusalem, at the Pentecost, made the fellowship of the saints prominent and visible by holding all things common. It...