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Fellowship

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

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

I’ve discussed God’s love some, so let’s move on to the unusual idea: the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The English term fellow refers to someone who puts money into a project with one or someone who has a stake in what you’re doing. The Greek term translated fellowship is koinonia, which means “partner, sharer, or companion.”

We should get this. It should click. But as we look at the book of Acts, and then at our own lives, chances are that we don’t see the same sort of partnership. As far as we know, miracles aren’t an everyday event with us. Could there be another way to look at it? There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher, our Counselor, our Guide, our Paraclete, etc., but when it comes to the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, could it also be that thing we have in common that we share a stake in that makes us members of a fellowship with one another? This isn’t a suggestion that such is all it is, but that such may be part.

Another way to consider this is in terms of how this is all supposed to work. Is it God and me—no one else need apply? Or the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and me—all others keep out? I think it’s clear that it’s not. I suspect that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit involves connection with God and connection with other people who have connections with God.

The other thing about fellowship is that being part of one means we have a stake in heaven and in other Christians' lives.  We have an investment. As the second passage above points out, the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. He is the stake that makes fellowship in the Kingdom possible.

 

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