Introduction

In Acts 2:42 we read that one of the four things the early church devoted itself to was “fellowship.” Fellowship was a very important part of their reason for meeting together. It was one of their objectives. But what is fellowship?

We often hear people talking about fellowship. We hear it said that what we need is more fellowship. But our modern ideas of fellowship have become so watered down that the word no longer carries the same meaning it did in New Testament times.

We are not surprised that the early church devoted itself to “the apostles’ teaching” and also “to prayer.” Apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, these are the two most important means of growth, power, and effectiveness in the Christian life and this is everywhere evident in the rest of Scripture.

But Luke tells us these early Christians also devoted themselves to fellowship. They just didn’t have fellowship; they devoted themselves to it. This means that fellowship was a priority and one of the objectives for gathering together. They made fellowship a priority.

Today, however, we often view fellowship as what we do in “fellowship hall.” It’s the place where we have casual conversations and savor coffee and donuts. This is not bad and can contribute to fellowship, but it falls far short of fellowship according to biblical standards and according to the meaning and use of the Greek words for fellowship.

Still others who may have become fed up with church seek fellowship through viewing a worship service on television, but this too misses the picture.

Give your TV a hug! Joel S. McCraw has suggested that if you are one of those who gets their religion by watching religious broadcasts on the TV, or listening to the gospel via radio, you might want to step up to the set after a service and “Give your TV a great big hug.”

Foolish, isn’t it. The electronic religion of multitudes of people creates an emptiness—interpersonal relationships are so desperately needed to keep our faith glowing and growing. If you drop off your associations with other Christians and disassociate yourself from them in worship and service, you’ll run out of spiritual fervor and dedication in a short time. There is no substitute for “going to church and worshiping with others of like precious faith.”¹

You may be thinking, “My view of fellowship is much richer and deeper than mere social activity. True fellowship involves getting together for spiritual purposes: for sharing needs, for prayer, for discussing and sharing the Word to encourage, comfort, and edify one another.” And you are right. This certainly is an aspect of Christian fellowship, and one much more important than the first idea. It is an area of fellowship that is often lacking in the church today and one that needs to be remedied. But even this does not comprehend or grasp the full and rich meaning of “fellowship” in the New Testament.

In order to grasp its meaning and relate our lives to its truth, we need to study two Greek word groups, koinwnia, and its derivatives, and metocos, a word which will come into importance because of its spiritual relationship to koinwnia.

English Definition of Fellowship

Before we begin a study of the Greek words, let’s get a glimpse of our word “fellowship” from the English dictionary to see what it might add to our understanding. An English dictionary can shed a lot of light on the Bible if we would use it in our Bible study. The translators chose English words according to their real and exact meanings. When we study our Bibles we assume we understand the full significance of a word, but often our ideas are very incomplete. This is particularly true of the word “fellowship.”

According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary it means: (a) companionship, company, associate (vb.); (b) the community of interest, activity, feeling or experience, i.e., a unified body of people of equal rank sharing in common interests, goals, and characteristics, etc.; (c) partnership, membership (an obsolete usage but an important one. It shows what has happened to our ideas of fellowship).

There are three key ideas that come out of this:

(1) Fellowship means being a part of a group, a body of people. It is opposed to isolation, solitude, loneliness, and our present-day independent kind of individualism. Of course, it does not stop there because we can be in a crowd of people and even share certain things in common, but still not have fellowship.

(2) Fellowship means having or sharing with others certain things in common such as interest, goals, feelings, beliefs, activities, labor, privileges and responsibilities, experiences, and concerns.

(3) Fellowship can mean a partnership that involves working together and caring for one another as a company of people, like a company of soldiers or members of a family.

But what about Christian fellowship according to the Word of God and the words for fellowship as they are used in the New Testament?

Greek Words for Fellowship

The Koinwn Words

(1) Koinos (the root word)

The language of the New Testament is called koinh Greek because, through the conquests of Alexander the Great, it was the common language of Christ’s day for Romans, Greeks and Jews alike. Koinh means common. Koinwnia comes from koinos which means “common, mutual, public.” It refers to that which is held in common.

(2) Koinwnia (n) and Koinwneo (vb) (primary words)

There are two main ideas with this word: (a) “to share together, take part together” in the sense of partnership or participation, and (b) “to share with” in the sense of giving to others. As we will see, there are four key ideas that come out of these two meanings according to New Testament usage.

The New Testament usage according to sentence construction refers to: (a) the thing shared in common in some way by all parties involved as relationships, blessings or burdens, privileges, or responsibilities (all believers in Christ share many things in common); (b) the person(s) doing the sharing with others; (c) the person(s) with whom there is sharing; and (d) an abstract quality of the concept of fellowship, with no object, used alone as in Acts 2:42.

(3) Koinwnos, Koinwnikos (secondary words)

Koinwnos means “a partner, associate, companion” (2 Cor. 8:23; Luke 5:10; Phil. 1:7) or “a partaker, sharer” (1 Cor. 10:18-20; 2 Cor. 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:1; 2 Pet. 1:4).

Koinwnikos, is an adjective meaning “characterized by koinwnos, ready to share or partake” (1 Tim. 6:18).

The Metocos Words (metocos, metoch)

These words come from meta, “with,” plus ecw, “to have.” The basic idea is “to have with” or “to have together.”

Metocos means: (a) “a sharing in, a partaking of” (Heb. 3:1, 14; 6:4; 12:8); and (b), “a partner, associate” (Heb. 1:9; Luke 5:7).

Metoch means: (a) “sharing, fellowship”; or (b) “partnership” (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14 where it is used with koinwnia).

Based on the meanings and uses of these words, four key ideas develop that are important if we are to grasp the richness the New Testament’s teaching on “fellowship.” If we understand these four concepts we will begin to have a grasp of the doctrine of fellowship and its implications and demands on our lives.

Concepts of
Fellowship in the New Testament

A. Relationship

In the New Testament, what is shared in common is shared first of all because of a common relationship that we all have together in Christ. Koinwnia was an important word to both John and Paul, but it was never used in merely a secular sense. It always had a spiritual significance and base. The idea of an earthly fellowship founded upon just common interests, human nature, physical ties like in a family, or from church affiliation was really rather foreign to the apostles.

In the New Testament, believers can have fellowship and share together because they first of all have a relationship with Christ and share Him in common (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:3). The New English Bible translates 1 John 1:3 as follows: “what we have seen and heard we declare to you, so that you and we together may share in a common life, that life which we share with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Fellowship is first the sharing together in a common life with other believers through relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Fellowship is first and foremost a relationship, rather than an activity. The principle is that any activity that follows, should come out of the relationship.

In Acts 2:42 the early church was not merely devoting itself to activities, but to a relationship. It was this relationship that produced an active sharing in other ways. It is so important that we grasp this. Fellowship means we belong to each other in a relationship because we share together the common life and enabling grace of Jesus Christ.

There is also, however, a negative aspect. Because of our relationship with Christ, there can be no legitimate fellowship with the world, demonism, idolatry, or anything that is contrary to Christ and our relationship with Him (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14f).

B. Partnership

Both koinwnia and metocos mean to share together in the sense of a partnership. As sharers together of the person and life of Christ, we are automatically copartners in His enterprise here on earth.

Both sets of Greek words were used in this sense by classical and New Testament writers.

(1) In the secular realm, koinwnos (a form of koinwnia) and metocos were both used by Luke to refer to the partnership of Peter with James and John (Luke 5:7, 10).

(2) In the spiritual realm, koinwnos was used by Paul of Titus (2 Cor. 8:23) and Philemon (Philemon 17), and koinwnia of the Philippians (Phil. 1:5) because he viewed them as partners in the ministry of the gospel, as co-workers who shared in ministry (cf. Gal. 2:9).

(3) In the spiritual realm, metocos was similarly used by the author of Hebrews to express the concept of our partnership with the Lord (Heb. 1:9) because we are also sharers of His life and calling (Heb. 3:1, 14). “The concept of fellowship as a spiritual partnership is firmly embedded in the new Testament …”² by the use of both word groups.

Whereas the word relationship describes believers as a community, partnership describes them as the principals of an enterprise. A business partnership is always formed in order to attain an objective, such as providing a service to the public at a profit for the partners. In the same way, the concept of a spiritual partnership implies that it is created with the objective of glorifying God. Just as all believers are united together in a community relationship, so we are all united together in a partnership formed to glorify God …

… Biblical fellowship, then, incorporates this idea of an active partnership in the promotion of the gospel and the building up of believers.³

This element is strongly brought out in the argument of the author of Hebrews who shows us that believers are both partakers of and partners with Christ in His salvation, kingdom, and purposes for earth and man.

In Hebrews 1:14 this “salvation” which believers are to inherit, within the context of the passage, includes the believer’s share in the Son’s triumphant dominion in which He has partners, those who belong to Him and are involved with Him in His kingdom and reign (1:9; 2:10,13; 3:1). This partnership, however, begins here on earth, and this forms the foundation for what believers will share with Him in the future kingdom. We are responsible to share with Him in the work He is now doing on earth so we can share in the blessings of the future by way of rewards (cf. Luke 19:11f; 1 Cor. 3:12f). A steadfast confidence in Christ is vital or we will defect and fail to carry our responsibilities as His companions. As those who share in His life through faith, we are also partners with Him in His enterprise and purposes here on earth. We are His representatives on earth (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5f).

Perhaps one of the keys here is our understanding of the word metocos, which is used a number of times in Hebrews (cf. 1:9; 3:1,14; 6:4; 12:8). As seen above, this was a term used of business partners. It was used in precisely this way in the papyri and in its only occurrence in the New Testament outside of Hebrews, in Luke 5:7.

Note Hebrews 3:14 which may be rendered, “… we have become partners with Christ.” It can mean “sharer, partaker.” “Of Christ” then becomes what we share in: we partake of His life. This is true, but I don’t believe this is the point here. As in Hebrews 1:9, the author is saying we become companions, partners of the Christ, the Messianic King, but to share in what He is doing now and in the future, we need fidelity and confidence in Him (cf. Rev. 2:26-27).

Distinction Between Relationship and Partnership

Relationship describes what we are: a community of people bound together by our common life and blessings that we share together through our relationship with Christ. Partnership describes how we are related to each other in that relationship: we are partners in an enterprise and calling in which we are to work together in a common purpose to obtain common objectives for the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ (cf. Phil 1:27).

Later, as we look at the foundation for fellowship, we will see that our relationship with Christ is like a coin, it has two sides, union and communion, or relationship (the positional side) and fellowship (the experiential side).

C. Companionship

Companionship is the interchange or communication (communion) that exists among companions, those associated together through a relationship they hold in common. The key ingredient in companionship is communication. Key words that describe companionship are “interchange, communion, sharing.” Communication is the sharing of concepts, feelings, ideas, information, needs, etc. through words or other symbols like body language and actions so that all members of the relationship hold these things in common.

In the Christian community, companionship includes communicating on a spiritual level through a mutual sharing of the things of Christ: the Word, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the ministries and gifts of the various members of the body of Christ.

Companionship through communication would include:

(1) The Vertical: This is our communion and fellowship with the Lord through the Word, prayer, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the abiding life.

(2) The Horizontal: This is our communion and fellowship with the body of Christ, other believers. This includes: (a) assembling together as a whole body (Acts. 2:42; Heb. 10:25); (b) assembling in smaller groups (2 Tim. 2:2); (c) meeting together one-on-one (1 Thess. 5:11); (d) sharing and communicating truth together and building up one another (Rom. 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Thess 5:11; Philem. 6); (e) sharing together in worship, i.e., the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 10:16), the singing of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16), prayer (1 Cor. 14:16-17), the ministry of the Word (Acts 20:20; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Pet. 4:10-11); (f) sharing together as partners in the needs, burdens, concerns, joys, and blessings for the purpose of encouragement, comfort, challenge or exhortation, praise, prayer and physical help according to the needs and ability (cf. Phil. 1:5 with 1:19; and 2:4 with 1:27; also 4:3; Rom. 12:15; and 1 Thess. 5:11,14,15; Heb. 10:33).

This means we must develop the loving art of communication. We need to be willing to share our own burdens and aspirations and be available to hear what others are saying so we may minister to needs according to the directives of the Word. The ultimate goal is to build up and enrich others in the things of Christ that we may all together experience the sufficiency of His life and tune our lives into His. We need others for that. As the early church was first devoted to the apostles’ teaching, they were also devoted to caring for one another and to sharing with one another what they were learning and what Christ was meaning to them (Acts. 2:42; Heb. 3:12-14).

Ted Malone, whose radio show came on early in the morning, told of an Idaho shepherd who wrote: “Will you, on your broadcast, strike the note ‘A’? I’m a sheep herder way out here on a ranch, far away from a piano. The only comfort I have is my old violin. It’s all out of tune. Would you strike ‘A’ so that I might get in tune?”

Malone honored the request. Later he received a “thank you” note from the distant shepherd saying, “Now I’m in tune.”

One of the purposes and responsibilities of personal and public worship is to enable the aspirant to keep tuned to the Great Shepherd. One of the joys of the Christian life is to help others recapture the missing note!⁴

D. Stewardship

A steward is one who manages the property of another. A steward is not an owner; he is a manager. As stewards we must recognize that all we have belongs to the Lord and has been given to us as trusts from God to invest for His purposes. Believers need to be willing to share their material possessions for the promotion of the gospel and to help those in need. Good stewardship stems from recognizing our relationship to Jesus Christ, but it also means recognizing our partnership in Christ’s enterprise on earth.

In any good partnership, the partners share equally in both the privileges and responsibilities, the assets and liabilities, and the blessings and burdens. What kind of partnership would it be if one partner took all the income and enjoyed all the privileges while the other partner did all the work and paid all the bills? Would you enter a partnership like that? No, of course not! Partners are to share and share alike in all the aspects of their enterprise. They may not do the same things. In fact, they will be much more successful in their enterprise if they work and share according to their abilities, expertise, and training, but still share the load.

It is interesting that one of the most prominent uses of the koinwnia group of words is its use in connection with sharing material blessings—giving money to meet financial needs. Of the 36 usages of these words, they are used 9 times specifically in connection with giving, and in a couple of other passages giving would be included among other aspects of fellowship (Acts 2:42; Phil. 1:5; Heb. 10:33).

Giving is meant in the following passages: koinwneo (Rom. 12:13; 15:27; Gal. 6:6; Phil. 4:15); koinwnia (Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:13; Heb. 13:16); koinwnikos (1 Tim. 6:18); and metecw (1 Cor. 9:10, note context vss. 9-14). Therefore as partners in Christ’s enterprise on earth, “we need to share with one another, realizing that we are not owners but stewards of the possessions God has entrusted (not given) to us.”⁵

The concept and application of this partnership/stewardship combination is seen clearly in 2 Corinthians 8:12-15. “Paul envisioned a continual flow of believers’ possessions toward those who have needs. This is an outworking of koinwnia, and an important expression of true fellowship.”⁶

What was happening here? What was Paul wanting to see done? Paul was asking the Corinthian believers to have fellowship as partners, as fellow sharers in Christ and laborers together in the gospel. As partners, they were to give out of their abundance to other partners, to other believers, even though they had never met. Why? Out of love, certainly, but also because they were partners in the Savior’s enterprise on earth.

Note 3 John and its application here:

3 John 5-8 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; 6 and they bear witness to your love before the church; and you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support such men, that we may be fellow workers with the truth.

“Acting faithfully” (vs. 5) refers to their partnership as those who share in common the life and enterprise of Christ. It goes on to say, “especially when they are strangers.” Why is this? Because we share a common relationship through a common life, the person of Christ, and thus, a common objective.

“To your love” (vs. 6) refers to the expression of Christ’s love in the lives of these saints as they shared in His life through fellowship or communion with Him. “To send them on their way” refers to fellowship. Here was a group of believers who, recognizing their partnership, shared their resources with these missionaries. The word used here is propempw, which became a technical term for sending someone forth with all that they needed for their journey. It involved “supplying them with food and money to pay for their expenses, washing their clothes and generally helping them to travel as comfortably as possible.”⁷

“For they went out for the sake of the Name” (vs. 7) refers to the purpose of their going out. They were missionaries involved in the enterprise of propagating the gospel, the news about the Savior. This is the enterprise and objective we should all have in common as Christians. They sought nothing and refused to accept any support from unbelievers (“accepting nothing of the Gentiles”). Why? Because there was no common relationship in Christ. They were not partners together in this enterprise. They were instead, the objective.

“We ought” (vs. 8) refers in the Greek text to a moral obligation. It is the Greek ofeilw, “to owe a debt.” We owe such a debt to others of the body of Christ because we are partners. “Support” is the Greek @upolambanw which means “to bear up, lift up by giving financial aid, support.” Why? The reason is expressed in the final words of verse 8, “That we may be fellow workers with the truth.” Because we are partners and should live like it by sharing in the work (cf. Gal. 6:6 and the partnership principle there).

These four major areas cover the doctrine of fellowship as it pertains primarily to our relationship with one another, but the basis of our relationship to one another is our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is that vertical aspect of fellowship that forms the foundation and means of fellowship in the body of Christ.

Relationship:
The Foundation for Fellowship

As we’ve seen, fellowship is first a relationship. But, sometimes the term relationship is used of our subjective experiences. A man might say, “I have a good relationship with my wife.” He means that they get along well, they communicate and enjoy one another’s company. But the most basic meaning of relationship deals with objective fact. It refers to the condition or fact of being related to someone as a son to a father or a wife to her husband. This is particularly true with the concept of relationship as we use it theologically. Relationship refers to an objective fact.

Relationship means we are related to God as His children, born into His family by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ. Then, as believers in Christ, we are related to Christ and to each other in that we have been joined into union with Him; we are members of His body through the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. Fellowship means we share this relationship and it is an objective fact regardless of our spiritual condition (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2 with 3:1-3). In this sense, we must understand and act on the following concept: RELATIONSHIP stands to FELLOWSHIP as UNION stands to COMMUNION.

This means we must ever keep in mind that our experience with God and with one another grows out of the objective fact of our relationship with the Lord Jesus (cf. Eph. 2:5, 6). Only those who are in relationship with one another (objective fact) can have true fellowship (subjective experience).⁸ We must first have a real living relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ before we can have experiential fellowship with God. As this is true with God, so it also becomes true in our fellowship with one another (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).

In the Bible, fellowship embraces both the objective and experiential aspects. However, for the experiential to occur, we must first have the objective fact. Why? Because the relationship aspect of fellowship (the objective fact) forms the foundation for all the other aspects of fellowship. In relation to God, relationship/union provides the motivation, the means, the confidence, everything we need to reach out to appropriate our new life as those who are related to the living Christ. It is because we are related to Christ that we are partners and related to each other. It is because we are related as a household of God’s people that we share and give (Gal. 6:10; 3 John 8).

Partnership:
The Means of Fellowship

As pointed out earlier, Paul and John never used the term fellowship in a purely secular sense. It always had a spiritual base and a spiritual means. The idea of an earthly fellowship founded upon simply common interests or common likes or dislikes or similar personalities or human opinions or purely physical ties was a foreign idea in connection with Christian fellowship.

For these human authors of Scripture, Christian fellowship was tied directly into spiritual realities. Certain things must be involved or we do not have Christian koinwnia. The first essential is the foundation (the objective aspect), but it also includes the means of fellowship (the subjective aspect).

If we are to share experientially in the life of Christ, and if we are to share together as partners and as companions in an effective and meaningful way, certain things are a must. Without God’s means of fellowship, we can’t have true Christian fellowship. What we end up with is mere religiosity as it pertains to God, and simply social interchange and a compatibility of old sin natures as it pertains to men.

Let’s take a look at God’s means of fellowship.

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

In 2 Corinthians 13:14 we have the clause, “fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” A question arises as to whether “of the Holy Spirit” is objective (the object of our fellowship, a participation or sharing in the Holy Spirit), or subjective (the fellowship or sharing which the Holy Spirit produces or provides as the means, the agent). In Philippians 2:1 we have the same construction and the same question. There is no question that all believers mutually share in the person and ministries of the Holy Spirit as is clear in Hebrews 6:4 (metochos).

There is a clue from the text as to how this should be understood. We are not merely left to our feelings or imaginations about this. In both passages the clauses “fellowship of the Holy Spirit” are preceded by statements which give us an objective guide according to the normal conditions of Greek grammar. Let’s take a look at both verses.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

This verse has three “of” clauses in the Greek, each referring to the three persons and gifts of the Trinity. Normally we would expect such clauses to be parallel grammatically. If we can determine the pattern of one by the nature of the clause, the others would normally follow the same pattern (cf. Tit. 3:5).

(1) “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is the grace which the Lord Jesus Christ gives (subjective), not grace which the Lord Jesus Christ receives (objective).

(2) “The love of God” is clearly the same. It is the love we receive from God (subjective), not the love we give to God (objective). This follows by the pattern set in the first clause, but also from the last statement, “be with you all.” The context deals with what we receive, not give.

(3) “The fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” Following the above examples, it is more likely that the third genitive (tou @agiou pneumatos) is also subjective (“the fellowship engendered by the Holy Spirit”; cf. Eph 4:3) than that it is objective (“participation in the Holy Spirit”).⁹

Philippians 2:1 If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

This passage likewise consists of three clauses, one with “in,” and two with “of.” Again we have a similar parallel. “Encouragement in Christ” is an encouragement which comes from being in Christ. “Consolation of love” is a consolation which comes from love. So likewise, “fellowship of the Spirit” is a fellowship which the Spirit gives.

All aspects of fellowship are dependent upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Before salvation, fellowship with God in the sense of relationship (union) depends on His pre-salvation work, the conviction of truth, followed by His work of regeneration and baptizing accompanied by the Spirit’s indwelling as a gift of the Father and the Son (John 16:8f; 2 Thess. 2:13; Tit. 3:5; 1 Cor. 12:12,13). After salvation the experience of fellowship in communion with God depends on the filling of the Spirit. Carnal Christians cannot have true fellowship either with God or with one another. They simply will not be functioning as partners, companions, and stewards. About the best they can have is a compatibility of human friendship, or backgrounds, or of likes and dislikes, but true fellowship engendered by the Spirit will certainly be hampered because carnality grieves and quenches the Spirit. In a question designed to show how Israel’s sin had hampered their fellowship with the Lord and ability to function as God’s people according to His purpose for the nation, Amos asked, “Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment (an agreement)?” (Amos 3:3).

Fellowship in the Gospel

Acts 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Central to these believers’ fellowship was the teaching of the apostles. Being devoted to our relationship, partnership, companionship, and stewardship depends on our devotion to Scripture.

Philippians 1:5 “in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” This partnership for all the churches of Macedonia as with the Thessalonians began with hearing and receiving the Word (cf. 1 Thess. 2:13).

1 John 1:1-3 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

The coming of the Son and the proclamation of His Word was not an end in itself, its purpose was fellowship. Fellowship in all its aspects comes from the proclamation of the Word of Christ. True fellowship must have its foundation in the Word and it must get its energy, direction, and scope from the Scriptures. This is central, but unfortunately in our day of the “feel good” kind of Christianity other things have become central and the Bible has been given a back seat.

A passage that is pertinent here is 1 Corinthians 1:10-2:5. These verses deal with the division brought about by the variance of men’s opinions concerning personalities and forms and emphasis in worship as it pertained to such things as baptism and its importance, and the use and function of showy gifts like tongues. What the Corinthians were emphasizing in their meetings was undercutting the ministry of the Word which proclaimed the sufficiency of Christ, a wisdom certainly not of this world. Furthermore, because they had failed to grasp the very heart of the gospel, their fellowship with Christ, they were cliquish and snubbing the poorer saints when the church came together (11:17-34). So, Paul sought to demonstrate that what men need is the wisdom of God’s Word and its message of Christ. This is the basis of fellowship, not forms of worship or showy gifts.

So we should also note the preceding context, 1:9, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” As we have seen, fellowship has as its fundamental meaning the concept of having a share in, partnership, having a common share. All believers share in common the life of Christ positionally and experientially. Consequently, they also share with one another in Christ’s enterprise on earth. This is the hinge upon which Paul attacks the party spirit in the verses that follow.

Companionship:
The Method of Fellowship

Fellowship With God: the Vertical Dimension

Companionship, as suggested previously, involves communion or communication, interchange, intimacy, sharing and receiving. If there is going to be fellowship with God, we must first draw on the Lord’s resources as we listen to Him in His Word, as we allow the Spirit of God to talk to us through Scripture and through the various providential events of life (trials, blessings, etc.) and through the lives of others around us. We need to be open to Him, receptive, teachable. In our communion with the Lord, we need to listen to His voice and respond in obedience.

Note this emphasis in these words from the Psalms and Proverbs:

Psalm 78:1 Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

Psalm 81:8 Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! … 11 But My people did not listen to My voice; And Israel did not obey Me. …13 Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!

Psalm 106:25 But grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the LORD.

Proverbs 8:32 Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways. 33 Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect {it}. 34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.

In communion, we also talk to God in prayer and pour out our needs and burdens to Him as is seen, for instance, in the Psalms.

Psalm 4:1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Thou hast relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

Psalm 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.

Psalm 39:12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with Thee, A sojourner like all my fathers.

Psalm 54:2 Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.

Psalm 84:8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob!

Psalm 102:1 A Prayer of the Afflicted, when he is faint, and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to Thee.

Psalm 143:1 A Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Thy faithfulness, in Thy righteousness!

In communion we give as we make our requests to Lord and we receive as we listen and He answers and directs our paths.

But this is only part of the communion or fellowship aspect of our relationship with God. There is another aspect as seen in some of the verses quoted above and in a number of verses in the New Testament on fellowship. This actually involves a result, but nevertheless, a vital part of communion or fellowship. It is the aspect of loving obedience. Obedience becomes one of the proofs of our communion and fellowship with the Lord. Listen to these words of our Lord.

John 14:23, Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.’

“Abode” is monh, the noun form of menw, “to abide, remain, live with.” In essence the Lord said, we will come and make our ‘abiding place’ with him. In the upper room the Lord taught the disciples, and as such He teaches us, that obedience to his commands would bring with it the continued experience of His Father and Himself in deep communion with one another. Now, this is not to be understood as a condition by which we merit fellowship by the good deeds of obedience. He had just finished discussing the promise of the Holy Spirit whom He called the Helper, the Enabler, the One given to us to enable us to live obediently and victoriously through the process of fellowship (cf. John 14:16-17). Failure to walk obediently hinders fellowship without deep seated confession. As we saw in Amos 3:3, two can’t walk together unless they be agreed.

Scripture gives us a number of illustrations of fellowship and communion. I want to share three.

Illustrations of the Vertical Dimension of Fellowship

Abiding in the Vine

The first illustration of communion or of maintaining a right relationship with the Lord in the sense of fellowship is that of the vine in John 15. In essence this forms a discourse on fellowship in the key relationships of life. In this passage we see three areas of relationships: (a) the relationship of believers to Jesus (vss. 1-11); (b) the relationship of believers to each other (vss. 12-17); and (c) the relationship of believers to the world (vss. 18-27).

The first thing this passage demonstrates is the concept of priorities. The most important of all relationships which must be maintained is our relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the foundation and source of all our other relationships and our capacity for fellowship. To enforce this truth, the Lord used the analogy of the vine and the branches, one not unfamiliar to the disciples because of their culture.

The passage stresses:

The Right Stock	Verse 1	“I am the true vine”
The Right Vinedresser	Verse 1	“My Father is the husbandman”
The Right Cultivation	Verses 2, 6	“He prunes”
The Right Connection	Verses 4	“Abide in me, and I in you”
The Right Fruitage	Verses 5, 8	“That you bear much fruit”

While God has provided everything we need for fellowship in all its aspects, we must appropriate that fellowship by abiding in Christ. We must exercise our volition to act on our new life in Christ.

There are four ways people seek to have fellowship and try to live the Christian life.

(1) By their own ability, effort, and will power. But Christ said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). While we have a responsibility to appropriate our new life in the Lord, while diligence on our part is called for (1 Tim. 4:7), the fact remains that in and of ourselves we are totally incapable.

(2) Do nothing at all, just let go and let God. But the Lord said, “abide in the vine” (John 15:4). This means we have the responsibility to abide, to depend on Him, to do the things abiding requires. Note the emphasis of Scripture:

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Philippians 2:12-13 … work out (appropriate, put to work) your salvation with fear and trembling,

1 Timothy 4:7b … Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

2 Peter 1:5 Now for this very reason also (the reason of God’s abundant supply of everything we need for life and godliness), applying (bringing alongside of God’s grace) all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence …

(3) The partial approach (“Lord, help me to do it”). In this approach, “there is the assumption—unconsciously perhaps, but still very real—that there is a certain reservoir of goodness, wisdom, and spiritual strength within my own character that I should draw on for the ordinary duties of life, but that beyond that, I need the Lord’s help.”¹⁰

(4) The abiding approach (John 15). This is the approach that results in and describes true fellowship. The relationship that believers are to have with the Lord is illustrated in the visual image of the vine/branch analogy.

The vine/branch analogy does not in any way illustrate the picture of salvation. Rather, the text and context suggests that it is related to the discipleship relationship, the relationship of those who are believers in Christ. Only the disciples are present and Christ is talking directly to them about their relationship to Him and their responsibility of fruitfulness. Judas had already departed to do his dirty work. Further, the Lord’s final words about this vine/branch relationship are related to fruitfulness and discipleship (cf. vs. 8, “and so prove to be My disciples,” i.e., become what disciples ought to be).

The subject of the passage is the vine/branch relationship for the purpose of maximum fruitfulness for the glory of God. Our Lord is showing the need for maintaining a proper connection with Him for fruitfulness: from fruit to more fruit to much fruit so that God is glorified in the believer’s life. The means of this fruitfulness is the work of the Vinedresser (vs. 2). Abiding is the duty of the branches (vss. 3-5, 7), but it is also promoted by God’s loving discipline (cf. vs. 6 with Heb. 12:5-11).

In John’s writings, the phrase “in Me” (used in some 24 verses) refers not to a common essence or organic connection as the phrase “in Christ” does in the writings of Paul, i.e., position. Instead, it refers to fellowship, to a commonality of purpose and commitment. Because of this, a branch “in Me” is not a branch organically connected to Him as a literal branch is organically connected to a vine. Instead, it pictures a branch that is deriving its sustenance from a literal vine by which it is able to bear fruit.

The analogy of the vine and the branches depicts a relationship that mature and growing Christians sustain with Christ because of remaining in close fellowship to him, rather than a relationship that all Christians have because of salvation (Pauline theology). Fellowship rather than organic union or spiritual position is the picture. To be “in Me” means to be in fellowship, living obediently through having communion with the Lord, and this is evident from the command “abide in me.”

The Greek word for “abide” is menw which means “to stay in a sphere, to stand against opposition, to endure, to hold fast.”¹¹ It means to continue in a place and, when a place is involved, it can be close to the idea of living in that place or sphere.

“The word ‘abide’ which occurs ten times in the passage, means the maintenance of an unbroken connection rather than repose, and bespeaks the necessity of a constant active relationship between the believer and his Lord, if the resultant life is to be productive.”¹²

It means to remain in fellowship. It involves renouncing all confidence in our own merit, wisdom, and strength. It means we look entirely to Christ as the source of our merit, wisdom, and strength.

To abide in Christ is, on the one hand, to have no known sin unjudged and unconfessed, no interest into which He is not brought, no life which He cannot share. On the other hand, the abiding one takes all burdens to Him, and draws all wisdom, life, and strength from Him. It is not unceasing consciousness of these things, and of Him, but that nothing is allowed in the life which separates from Him.¹³

When we do not abide we lose our fellowship with the Lord, we are severed from fellowship with the vine. Because of John’s use of the term, it has nothing to do with salvation. It means we are no longer drawing upon His life as the means of our sustenance and fruitfulness. If we continue in this state, we come under the discipline of the Lord (vs. 6). But how are we to understand this verse? The statement of verse 6 has caused needless perplexity. Hodges writes:

The main reason for that is the strong impulse many readers have to identify the reference to fire with hell. But this is an unjustified interpretive leap. There is no reason at all to think of the fire as literal, just as we are not dealing with a literal vine, literal branches, or literal fruit. “Fire” here is simply another figurative element in the horticultural metaphor.

What happened, therefore, in vineyards all over Palestine, could happen to the disciples as well. If they failed to “abide” in Jesus, they would be separated from their experience of fellowship with Him: they would be “cast out as [or, like] a branch.” Intimate contact with the True Vine would be lost. But more, this loss of vital communion with the True Vine would result in the “drying up” of their spiritual experience: they would be “withered.” And finally, they would be cast into the “fire” of trial and divine chastisement: “they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”¹⁴

Dining With Christ

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.

“The words of Jesus spoken to the Laodicean Christians were clearly a call to personal fellowship with Himself. In the ancient Middle East, sharing one’s table with others was a fundamental and basic way of having communion with them. It was the very essence of hospitality and a signal of personal acceptance.”¹⁵

Our Lord is addressing a Christian church here and, while there may have been some professing Christians there, the passage is addressed to the church as a whole. He is talking to believers who had become spiritually destitute, who were materially rich, but spiritually poor in their spiritual independence and failure to have real fellowship with the Lord. It was a lukewarm congregation. Though they had works, they were like lukewarm water that the Lord said he would vomit out of His mouth to show His displeasure with their spiritual condition.

Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5-9 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Amos 3:3 Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment (have agreed)?

As these passage show, another picture of communion or personal fellowship with the Lord is that of walking in the light. Walking in the light means to walk in an open, honest-to-God fashion, so one is open to what His light reveals with a willingness to confess and deal with sin and apathy and self-dependent ways.

Quite clearly John teaches us that regardless of our verbal claims or our religious actions, if we are not walking in the light, honestly dealing with our attitudes and actions in the light of the Word through confession and the filling of the Spirit, we are not having true fellowship. Without God’s means, we can’t have fellowship with the Lord or with one another. As seen in these illustrations, fellowship with God means we are walking with God, dining with Him, abiding in the Vine, but this is done through the control and in the energy of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16; Phil. 3:1-3).

Known sin grieves the Spirit’s person (Eph. 4:30) and quenches His power; it short circuits His ministries in one’s life and hampers one’s capacity for true fellowship (1 Thess. 5:19, cf. Amos 3:3 and Isa. 59:1-2 with 1 John 1:5-9). This results in carnality, the control of the flesh rather than the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:3; Rom. 8:2-4). This means we are operating by our resources, using the weapons of the flesh (2 Cor. 10:3) not God’s (Eph. 6:10f; Phil. 3:3). As a result, we become controlled by our desires, our opinions, by our wisdom, by our own methods for meeting our needs, by our everything.

We can all appear to be having fellowship when we go through the motions of churchianity. We can appear to be in fellowship by our presence in a worship service, by our involvement in various religious activities, or when we find those who happen to agree with our viewpoint, but if the Holy Spirit is not in control, if we are not abiding, if we are not walking in obedience, then, there is no fellowship. This is why differences among carnal people cause divisions, rather than growth and the sharpening of character (Prov. 27:17).

Fellowship With Christians: the Horizontal Dimension

The Basic Principle

God has created us to be dependent people—dependent on Him and on one another. His judgment in Genesis 2:18, “it is not good for the man to be alone,” is a principle that speaks not only to marriage, but to all of life and especially to the spiritual fellowship of all believers. Marriage is a miniature cosmos of relationships which forms the foundation and soil for other relationships of community life.

No man is an island. None of us has the ability to go it alone. We need the communion or companionship of one another. Spiritual fellowship both on the vertical and horizontal planes are absolute necessities. They are not options nor are they luxuries we can do without. J. I. Packer has an important insight about fellowship on the horizontal plane:

We should not … think of our fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotion. We should recognize rather that such fellowship is a spiritual necessity; for God has made us in such a way that our fellowship with himself is fed by our fellowship with fellow-Christians, and requires to be so fed constantly for its own deepening and enrichment.¹⁶

The Basic Problem

But this is not easy for us to grasp particularly in our country today because of the negative impact society has had on traditional American culture and the church. Believers are supposed to be a people who avoid conformity to the world by the habitual renewal of their minds in the Word. But society always influences believers to some degree as we see so clearly in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. And to the degree this happens, we obscure the teachings of the Word or eclipse the light of the Word of God on our lives.

The church is allowing our culture to eclipse the light of Scripture. We are being affected by a number of the forces of this world’s darkness which, as a part of the New-age Movement and Satan’s strategies for the last days, are moving us into a kind of neo-paganism. Three of these forces have definite negative affects on fellowship.

The first force is relativism. Relativism maintains there are no absolutes of truth, of good and evil, or of values and priorities. It is just as Isaiah warned Israel:

Isaiah 5:20-21: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever in their own sight!

Peterson writes, in a recent copy of Discipleship Journal, “It is not in style to say, ‘This is truth,’ ‘That is sin,’ or ‘It is wrong.’”¹⁷ It all simply becomes a matter of one person’s opinion over another’s.

The second force is privatization. Describing this force, Peterson says:

The second force, privatization, accommodates relativism. It says, ‘What I believe and do is my private business. Since it doesn’t really matter if you believe in God and I believe in Mother earth (pantheism, another influence), let’s agree to keep our beliefs to ourselves.’ The church is no longer able to function as a public conscience; its role has been reduced to serving the private spheres of its members. (emphasis mine)

But the problem is further aggravated by the fact that this influence has even influenced the private life of the church and its fellowship as outlined in the New Testament. Believers too often don’t want to be involved in the lives of others and they especially don’t want anyone getting too close to them.

The third force is individualism.

When the third force, individualism—which is at the very core of American culture—is mixed with relativism and privatization, the cocktail becomes deadly. A way of life emerges in which self is at the center. The all-consuming pursuit of self-fulfillment that characterizes this brand of individualism inevitably leaves wreckage in its wake.¹⁸ (emphasis mine)

As Christians, we may realize the Word is our authority, at least intellectually, but many do not live with it as their authority. Tradition, personal aspirations, expedience, personal preference, and other forces too often eclipse the authority of Scripture. We allow the viewpoint of our culture to invade and take control of our lives and actions. This is not to suggest there is no place for privacy and individualism in the Christian life. We are each believer priests with the privilege of going directly into God’s presence in prayer and we are warned against being busy bodies (1 Thess. 4:9-11; 2 Thess. 3:11; 1 Tim. 5:13).

The Bible does not stamp out all aspects of individualism. It teaches we are each individual people with gifts and talents given to us by God for His glory, but these gifts are for the blessing, encouragement, help, and edification of the body of Christ. We are members of the body who need each other and who have specific responsibilities to each other. It is the Bible that guides us in the how and what of these responsibilities.

The Word does provide for privacy and warns against becoming busybodies, but this does not eliminate the need for intimacy in the body of Christ, dependence on the body, and the ‘one another’ commands of Scripture. It does not in any way eliminate our need to be responsible to and for the body of Christ. The problem is, because of culture and nature, we are prone to be so caught up in our own individual pursuits and concerns, that we have no time or concern for others—especially the body of Christ.

Because of these cultural influences and our natural tendencies to take the spirit of individualism and privatization to the extreme, let’s consider the scriptural foundation for the horizontal aspect of fellowship to further stress its importance.

Scriptural Foundations for
Fellowship on the Horizontal Plane

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

This passage shows how man, through his natural limitations, needs the help of others. Bridges writes:

Solomon intended more than simply a literal application of these truths to physical situations. In his rather picturesque way, he was emphasizing the importance of fellowship. Two are better than one, first because of the synergistic effect; Two together can produce more than each of them working alone … two people together can help each other up when they fall or even when they are in danger of falling. One of the many advantages of fellowship is the mutual admonishing or encouraging of one another in the face of a temptation or an attack of Satan.¹⁹

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

This passage shows us how our relationship and contacts with one another stimulate and sharpen us in our walk with God and life in general. We are able to grow and be sharpened and aided by the insights, gifts, and God’s workings in the lives of others.

1 Corinthians 12:12-18 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

These verses emphasize the fact we are members of the body of Christ and, as these verses show, this necessitates our fellowship.

Ephesians 4:11-16 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

This passage stresses the importance of every believer working and serving in the fellowship of the body.

Romans 1:12 … that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

This verse shows how our mutual faith, through God’s working in each of our lives, becomes an important ingredient to our mutual encouragement.

I Thessalonians 5:11-12 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,

Here we see how the deceitfulness of sin and temptations of life necessitates our fellowship together, not only in the worship service but in more intimate ways. Compare also Hebrews 3:13 and 10:22-25 for this same emphasis.

Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

“Those who feared the Lord” were those who had not been wrongly influenced by their society and who had not given way to doubts and the cynicism of the rest of the nation. Various translations of this text are, “spoke to one another” (NASB), “talked with each other” (NIV), “talked often one to another” (Amplified), “spoke often one to another” (KJV). The Hebrew has the imperfect tense of continual action or frequent action.

In the face of the widespread complaining against God and the apostasy of the day, a remnant sought encouragement and strength in frequent fellowship. It is obvious that this fellowship is what promoted their faithfulness against the widespread complaining. This fellowship then, along with their faithfulness, was so important to God that a scroll of remembrance of their response was written and is kept in heaven.

Stewardship:
The Overflow of Fellowship

Persecution of the believers in Jerusalem, which had led to extreme conditions of poverty, caused the Apostle Paul to encourage the church, especially Gentile assemblies, to give to their need. This would not only demonstrate the oneness of Jew and Gentile in Christ, but gave the body of Christ to share with others in the body as partners Christ’s enterprise on earth. In writing to the Corinthian church to be a part of this ministry, the Apostle Paul used the Macedonian believers as an example. Regarding their giving Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 8:1-12. And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 3 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. (Italics mine)

It is important for us note how Paul described their desire to give. He not only spoke of their giving in terms of their rich generosity, but he described it as a sharing (koinwnia). In other words, their giving was as an aspect of koinwnia. Giving, the steward of our material blessings, is also a part of our fellowship, our sharing in the work of the Savior as we experience His life, His values and priorities in our own lives through our fellowship with Him. As pointed out previously, one of the prominent uses of the koinwnia group of words is its use in connection with sharing material blessings—giving money to meet financial needs. For instance, even a casual look at the context shows that giving is meant in the following passages: koinwneo (Rom. 12:13; 15:27; Gal. 6:6; Phil. 4:15); koinwnia (Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:13; Heb. 13:16); koinwnikos (1 Tim. 6:18). Even the metcos group of words is brought into the picture in 1 Corinthians 9:10 which uses metecw in a context of giving to aid in the ministry of the gospel.

As believers in partnership with the Savior, we are not owners, but stewards of the things God has given us which includes not only our talents (spiritual gifts), our temple (our body), our time, and God’s truth, but also the treasures, the material blessings God gives us.

Since it is outside of the scope of this study to cover the area of biblical giving, see the study called, Financial Faithfulness, on our web site under the section, “Spiritual Life.”

Conclusion

Fellowship in the body of Christ is certainly no side issue. It was one of the four things the early church devoted itself to, and from this brief study, we can see why. It is a means of support and encouragement to others and of ministry in the Savior’s enterprise on earth.

We have seen four words (relationship, partnership, companionship, and stewardship)²⁰ that describe the general emphasis of this New Testament concept, but how does this carry over into specifics? How do we have the kind of fellowship that encourages, edifies (builds) and serves one another? How do we find the strength, the wisdom, and the courage to have true fellowship?

At least part of the answer comes through obedience to the many ‘one another’ commands of the New Testament. Over and over again, we are exhorted in various ways to be involved with and caring for one another. For instance, we are told to admonish one another (Rom. 15:14), to comfort and encourage one another (1 Thess. 4:18; 5:11; Heb. 3:13), to worship with one another (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Heb. 10:25), to bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), to always seek the good of one another (1 Thess. 5:15), to be honest with one another (Col. 3:9), to show hospitality to one another (1 Pet. 4:9), and to be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50). There are many others, some fifteen categories in all, but this illustrates the point.

The expression ‘one another’ is a translation of a reciprocal pronoun in the Greek New Testament. Reciprocal means mutual, shared, shown or felt alike by both sides, united in feelings, actions, responsibilities, and attitudes. Synonyms include: common, mutual, fellowship, and shared—ideas that are at the heart of the doctrine of fellowship. In usage, this pronoun is used in statements and injunctions to believers regarding shared and mutual responsibilities. In emphasis, it focuses us on our need of the ministry and aid of others, of our duty to care for others as partners in the body of Christ, and of how we can experience true fellowship. Therefore, a study of the ‘one another’ commands of Scripture would be tremendously helpful in the matter of New Testament fellowship. For a detailed study of the doctrine, see the study on the “One Another” Commands of Scripture..

The Psalmist wrote: “Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul” (Ps. 142:4).

A poet has written:

Loneliness is like a piano without keys,
Like a violin without strings.
Like a sanctuary without a congregation
Or a choir where no one sings.

Loneliness is like a blade of grass
Growing through a crack of cement.
Loneliness is like a camp ground
Without a single tent.

Loneliness is like a mocking bird
That cannot sing a song.
Loneliness is a feeling
That one does not belong.

Like a pansy in a corn field
Hidden where no one can see.
I know all there is to know about loneliness
Because it lives inside of me.²¹

1 Bible Illustrations, Parsons Technology, 1990-94, electronic media.

2 Jerry Bridges, True Fellowship, Navpress, Colorado Springs, 1985, p. 18.

3 Ibid.

4 Parsons Technology, electronic media.

5 Bridges, p. 22.

6 Ibid.

7 Fritz Rienecker, Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, Vol. II, edited by Cleon L. Rogers, Jr., Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1980, p. 800.

8 Bridges, p. 26.

9 The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, general editor, Vol. 11, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1981, p. 406.

10 Bridges, pp. 36-37.

11 The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume, Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, editors, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1985, electronic media.

12 Merrill C. Tenney, John, The Gospel of Belief, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1948, p. 228.

13 The Scofield Reference Bible, Oxford University Press, London, 1967, p. 1148.

14 Zane Hodges, Absolutely Free, Academie Books, Grand Rapids, 1989, p. 137.

15 Hodges, p. 131.

16 Bridges, pp. 76-77, quoting J. I. Packer, God's Words, p. 193.

17 Jim Peterson, Disciple Journal, issue fifty-five, 1990, p. 12.

18 Peterson, p. 12.

19 Bridges, p. 77.

20 For an overview of the concept of financial stewardship see the study Financial Faithfulness on the Biblical Studies Foundation web site.

21 Parsons electronic media.

Introduction

Joshua chapter 5 describes the consecration of the people of Israel in preparation for the great task that lay before them. As such, it stands as a bridge between the crossing of the Jordan and the beginning of the military campaigns to subjugate the inhabitants of the Land. For many, however, especially to those trained in military tactics, this chapter may seem like an enigma, at least from man’s point of view. And of course, that’s precisely the issue here. God’s ways are infinitely higher than our ways. From all appearances now was the time to attack the enemy. The people of Israel were filled with the excitement and motivation of having miraculously crossed the Jordan on dry ground. Further, they apparently knew the enemy was in disarray from the standpoint of their morale (5:1); surely, it was time to strike. Many of the military leaders under Joshua’s command may have been thinking or even saying, “For goodness sake, let’s not wait. Let’s go! Now is the logical time and the enemy is ripe for the taking!”

But in God’s economy and plan there are spiritual values, priorities, and principles that are far more vital and fundamental to victory or our capacity to attack and demolish the fortresses that the world has raised up against the knowledge and plan of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Looking at conditions from our perspective of deadlines, feeling the pressure to perform and accomplish things to please people and sometimes our own egos, we are too often in a hurry to get the show on the road. But to be victorious or successful from God’s standpoint, certain things are essential if we are going to attack the various fortresses of life in His strength and according to His principles. Perhaps, a letter written by an Englishman during World War II may illustrate the point:

As one man, the whole nation has handed over all its resources to the Government. We have invested the Cabinet with the right to conscript any of us for any task, to take our goods, our money, our all. Never have rich men set such little store by their wealth; never have we been so ready to lay down life itself, if only our cause may triumph.¹

Before Israel was ready to face the enemy, they too needed a similar preparation of heart and willingness to submit to God’s directions that they might also experience His power. To ensure that, God took them through several events to instruct and prepare them for battle. Chapter 5 falls into five instructive sections with each one being fundamental to victory. These include:

(1) A statement regarding the morale of the inhabitants of the land (5:1). Essential to spiritual victory is our understanding that in Christ, all the enemies we face are in essence defeated foes (cf. Rom. 6; Col. 2:1-15; Heb. 2:14).

(2) The renewal of the rite of circumcision (5:2-9). As a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, circumcision stood for Israel’s faith in God’s promises which included the possession of the land as their inheritance. It was an act of faith and spiritual preparation.

(3) The observance of the Passover (5:10). By partaking of the Passover, Israel was to relive their deliverance out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb, but as with circumcision, this too was related to the land. As observing the Passover in Egypt protected them from the destroying angel, it also assured them of two more things: (a) that just as crossing the Red Sea would be followed by the destruction of the Egyptians, (b) so likewise the crossing of the Jordan would be followed by the defeat of the Canaanites. Remembering the past became an excellent preparation of faith for the tests of the future.

(4) Eating of the produce of the land with the ceasing of the manna (5:11-12). Observing the Passover stood for God’s deliverance out of Egypt and from judgment of the destroying angel, but for God’s covenant people, deliverance from Egypt included the promise they would inherit the land, a land of abundance, a land of wheat, barley, fig trees, olive oil and honey (cf. Deut. 8:8-9). It spoke of their new beginning, of their new life as the people of God delivered from judgment and rock solid in the place of blessing. May I repeat the principle: the Passover not only looked back, but it looked forward to their new life in the land enjoying its abundant blessings by the power of God, and so eating of the produce was an act of confirmation of God’s abundant blessing.

(5) Joshua’s encounter with the Captain of the hosts of the Lord (5:13-15). This becomes the last key event of preparation. But why this encounter?

With everything apparently now prepared for the conquest of the land, the next scene opens with Joshua, God’s appointed commander of Israel, not in the camp of Israel at Gilgal, but by the city of Jericho. What do you suppose Joshua was doing there? He was surely about the Lord’s work and gathering information about the city and its fortifications in preparation to launch his attack. He was naturally concerned about several things. First of all, he needed a plan of action. Just how would they go about attacking Jericho, probably the best fortified city of Canaan? Besieging a city like Jericho was something for which they had little or no experience. Further, they undoubtedly lacked equipment like battering rams, catapults, scaling ladders or moving towers. All they had were swords, arrows, slings, and spears which naturally would seem totally inadequate for the task before them. So how would Joshua prepare his army and how should they go about taking the city? He must have felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on his shoulders.

Can we fault Joshua for being at Jericho and surveying the situation? Absolutely not. In fact, another great leader, Nehemiah, did the same when faced with the fallen condition of the walls of Jerusalem. But nevertheless, Joshua needed an encounter with the God he served that he might grasp afresh an important truth, one that was equally vital as part of his preparation for victory by the power of God. As all of God’s saints tend to get their eyes on the enormous tasks facing them at times, something was missing in Joshua’s perspective or mindset as he looked over the city of Jericho. Perhaps he simply needed to be reminded of some very important truth for both clarification and encouragement.

Suddenly, while surveying the situation, Joshua was confronted with a man standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand.

Joshua 5:13a. Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, . . .

The Man’s Position

With Joshua’s mind engrossed in his concerns about the task before him and feeling the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders, he looks up and there stands a man with sword drawn. What kind of picture does this bring to mind and what does it mean? Standing with any weapon drawn is a military position of one who either stands guard or who stands ready to go against a foe defensively or offensively. Standing with sword drawn suggested he was there to fight either against, or with, or for Israel.

The Man’s Identity

Verse 14 will tell us that this man came as the “captain of the hosts of the Lord,” the commander of the Lord’s army. Joshua’s response in verse 14b and the statement of the captain in verse 15 show this was a theophany, or better, based on the truth of John 1:1-18, it was a Christophany. A Christophany is a manifestation of the preincarnate Christ, who, as the Logos, is the one who reveals God. If only a man or an angel, he would certainly have repelled Joshua’s worshipful response (vs. 14). Compare the response of Paul in Acts 14:8-20 to those who wanted to make them into gods and the response of the angel to John in Revelation 19:10.

Here then, the preincarnate Christ appears to Joshua to teach, guard, and reinforce certain vital truths for God’s people and especially for those in positions of leadership, which really includes all believers to some degree.

Joshua’s Question
(vs. 13b)

. . . and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?”

This was a natural response to a man with his sword drawn and it expressed Joshua’s concern as well as his courage. No one from the army of Israel should have been there for evidently no orders had been given for anyone to leave the camp. So who was this stranger who suddenly appeared out of nowhere? Surely, Joshua thought, “Since he is not one of ours, could he be the enemy, or perhaps someone who has come to help us?”

But in view of the answer given to Joshua, Joshua’s question reveals a typical mindset that poses a threat and a hindrance to our effectiveness in the service of the Savior. What then is that mindset? We tend to see the battles we face as our battles and the forces we face as forces marshaled against us and our individual causes, concerns, agendas, and even our theological beliefs or positions on doctrine. And in a sense, that is true, if we are truly standing in the cause of Christ. But there is another sense in which that is simply not true, and that is the issue here.

The Answer Given to Joshua
(vs. 14a)

And he said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.”

The answer comes in two parts. The first part of the answer is seen in a flat negation of either one of Joshua’s options. The first answer is simply a flat “neither.” Why didn’t he say, “I am here for you and for Israel”? But in essence, the man with the drawn sword said, “Neither; I am not here to take sides, yours or that of anyone else.”

The second part of the answer gives the reason. In other words, “I am here, not to take sides, but to take over and take charge as Commander of the Lord’s army.”

This is so important and lays down two principles that are foundational for all of life and our warfare against the forces of the world and Satan. Now, there is no question that the Lord was there with the armies of heaven to secure Jericho and this so God’s people could possess their God-given inheritance, the Land, yet a certain perspective was vital for true success.

The first principle: It was not for Joshua to claim God’s allegiance for his cause no matter how right and holy it might be. Rather, the need was for Joshua to acknowledge God’s claim over Joshua for God’s purposes. We tend to approach our battles and causes backwards; we turn things all around and try to marshal God to support us rather than to submit and follow Him. Certainly, the battle was a joint venture, God and the people of Israel under Joshua’s leadership as appointed by the Lord (1:1-9). But Joshua, as with all of us in the army of the King, must be following the Lord, submitting to His authority, taking our orders from Him, and resting the battle in His hands because we realize it is really His battle as the Supreme Commander. There seems to be no question that Joshua understood this as evidenced by his question, “What has my Lord to say to his servant?” Here he was asking the Lord for orders and it was surely then that he received the directions for taking Jericho.

The second principle: As the one who had come to take charge, the Lord was also reminding Joshua (and us) of both God’s personal presence and His powerful provision, the provision of His vast hosts. The promise of God’s personal presence always carries with it the assurance of God’s personal care. Likewise, the promise of His powerful provision always carries with it the promise of His infinite supply and power no matter how impossible the problem may appear to us. So there was more, infinitely more, than Joshua’s army. There was Joshua and his army, but there was also the myriads of God’s angelic forces who always stand ready to do God’s bidding and to serve the saints. Three other passages can serve as helpful examples that we might grasp the issue here and its significance to our daily walk.

(1) First, compare 2 Kings 6:8-17. When Elisha was at Dothan with his young servant, he found himself surrounded by the army of Ben-Hadad, who, during the night had marched out and surrounded the city of Dothan. The next morning, when Elisha’s servant went out to draw water, he saw the vast army surrounding the city. Being fearful and greatly distressed, he cried out to Elisha, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” Elisha responded, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha then prayed a very interesting prayer. He said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” We then read that “the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” They were not alone. With them to fight for them was a host of God’s angelic forces who soon struck the armies of the king of Syria with blindness.

(2) A second example is found for us in Matthew 26:52-53. With the disciples still reluctant and perplexed over the fact Christ must go to the cross, Peter drew his sword and struck the high priest’s slave cutting off his ear. Jesus replied, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

(3) A final example of God’s angelic armies and their ministry to God’s people is seen in Hebrews 1:14, which reads, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

In this, we see the second reason for the Commander’s description of himself as “the Captain of the Lord’s hosts.” He was assuring Joshua of God’s provision through His mighty angelic armies or His heavenly legions.

Joshua’s Response
(vs. 14b)

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”

How we each need this response—the response of worship and submission. Joshua quickly got the picture. He had been thinking of a conflict between the Israelites and the Cannanite armies. Perhaps he had been thinking of this as his war. Certainly he felt the load of responsibility on his shoulders. But after being confronted by the divine Commander, he was reminded of a truth he had heard Moses declare many years earlier when they stood on the banks of the Red Sea. There he had heard Moses say, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Ex. 14:13b). Joshua learned afresh the truth that David too had learned and would later declare when facing Goliath, “the battle is the Lord’s” (cf. 1 Sam. 17:47).

But that’s not all. As an outworking of his worship and submission, we also see Joshua’s inquiry, the inquiry of a servant looking to his Commander for direction with his words, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”

Do you remember Paul’s response on the Damascus road, when he came to realize it was the glorified Lord who was speaking to him? He quickly answered, “What shall I do Lord?” (Acts. 28:10).

What a comfort and how encouraging to know that we never have to bear our burdens alone or face our enemies alone. Joshua was to know that the battles ahead and the entire conquest of Canaan was really God’s conflict. What is our part? We are soldiers in His army, His servants for whom He abundantly supplies the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

While Dr. C.I. Scofield was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Dallas, there came a time when the burdens of the ministry seemed heavier than he could bear. All but crushed by the weight of the frustrations and problems of the work, he knelt one day in his office. In deep agony of spirit, he opened the Scriptures, looking for some message of comfort and strength. Led by the Spirit to the closing verses of Joshua 5, he saw at once that he was trying to carry the responsibilities alone. That day he turned his ministry over to the Lord, assured that it was His work and that He could accomplish it. In accepting God’s leadership, Dr. Scofield allied himself with God’s power.²

Surely, these verses drive home the truth of Christ’s preeminence and lordship. He is the head of the church, indeed, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The passage also reminds us that God is not present to fight our battles or help in our causes or jump to our rescue when we get in trouble as though He were a genie in a bottle. Instead, it reminds us that the battle is His and that our role is that of soldier/servant. We are here to serve Him, to do His will, to follow Him and depend on Him completely.

The Commander’s Final Revelation
(vs. 15)

And the captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

In these last words of the Captain, there is a command, “Remove your sandals,” and an explanation, “for the place where you are standing is holy.”

Removing the sandals was a sign of servanthood and a sign of respect and submission. And the declaration of this place of encounter and revelation as holy ground calls attention to the special import of what Joshua had just learned and experienced.

God is not only the Holy One in our redemption through the provision of the suffering Savior, but He is the Holy One in our warfare through the Victorious Savior. We can only enter into the battle so that we experience God’s deliverance when we remove our sandals and submit to His authority and His presence and power.

Here we see that the warfare of the Christian is a holy calling, but also a divine undertaking accomplished in those who humble themselves under the mighty hand of God.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

Conclusion

In this passage, Joshua had an encounter with the living Logos, the very revelation of God. It was an encounter that lifted a great burden from his shoulders. The experience mentioned previously of Dr. Scofield illustrates the same truth through this very passage. May we all see how this illustrates how much we each need to be in the Word with a listening ear so God can teach us the things we need to hear.

Joshua, standing and perhaps also walking about the city of Jericho studying what lay before him and weighed down with the burden of his responsibility, is so very much like us today! We see the things we believe God has called us to do, but we are so prone to activity and running ahead more than we are to worship and inquiry from the Lord. Is our lifestyle such that it sends us out into battle mindful of the Lord and who He is to our every move, mindful of those principles of His Word that must guide our every thought and step and fortify us with the comfort of God?

May we, as we look over the battles or tasks that lie before us, look up and see the Commander of the Lord of hosts and remove our sandals.

1 Donald K. Campbell, Joshua, Leader Under Fire, Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1981, p. 39.

2 Campbell, p. 47.

I. TITLE:

A. Hebrew: In Hebrew the book is titled hynpx meaning “Yahweh hides” perhaps reflecting the terror of the days of Manasseh when Zephaniah was born, or meaning “Watchman for the Lord,” or even “Zaphon [a Canaanite deity] is Yahweh”¹
This was a common name in the Hebrew Scriptures (cf. a Levite, 1 Chron 6:36-38; a second priest under the high priest 2 Ki 25:18-21; cf. Jer 52:24--27; the father of Josiah--a returning exile, Zech 6:10, 14)

B. Greek: In Greek the book is titled SOFONIAS, a transliteration of the prophet’s name in Hebrew

II. AUTHOR:

A. The author, Zephaniah, traces his ancestry back four generations; this is unique among the prophets:² 1:1

1. Son of Cushi

2. Son of Gedaliah

3. Son of Amariah

4. Son of Hezekiah, (possibly the famous Judean king [c. 716-687 B.C.])

B. The author places himself during the reign of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah (c. 641-609 B.C.)

III. DATE: between 641 and 612 B.C. (possibly 641 and 621 B.C.)

A. The superscription places the prophet during the time of king Josiah of Judah (c. 641-609 B.C.) 1:1

B. The prophecy anticipated, but preceded the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. (Zeph 2:13-15)

C. Many would date the book prior to Josiah’s reforms (622-621 B.C.) which dealt with much of the nation’s idolatry (cf. 2 Ki 22--23) since there are implications of idolatry in Zephaniah’s Judah (cf. 1:4-6, 11-12; 3:1-4)³

D. Conclusion: The book was written some time between 641 and 612 B.C. and possibly between 641 and 622 B.C.

There may have been some overlap with Jeremiah since he began to prophecy in 627 B.C. Zephaniah would have been the first prophet to Judah in the 60 years since Isaiah (Nahum was about Assyria)

IV. AUDIENCE: To the people of Judah and the nations around her

V. HISTORICAL SETTING:⁴

A. Manasseh’s and Amon’s reigns were dark times in Judah’s history:

1. Manasseh rebuilt the high places that his father, Hezekiah, tore down

2. Manasseh was eclectic making altars to Ashtoreth (Canaanite), Chemosh (Moabite), Milcom (Ammonite), and Baal (Canaanite)

3. Manasseh restored child sacrifice (2 Ki 21) even sacrificing two of his own sons in the Valley of Hinnom

4. Worship of the heavens (stars, sun, moon, astral bodies) was common

5. Amon was named after an Egyptian god unlike most kings who were named after Yahweh

B. Manasseh paid tribute to Esarhaddon to keep Assyria from invading Judah

C. Josiah brought about the final spiritual revival for Judah when during the eighteenth year of his rule in 622 B.C. (2 Ki 22-23)

D. The Assyrian Empire Fell

1. The Assyrian power rose with Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 B.C.) and Shalmaneser II (859-824 B.C.)

2. Tiglath-pileser III (Pul in the Scriptures) began a group of conquerors who took Syria and Palestine including Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C. who began the deportation of Samaria), Sargon II (722-705 B.C. who completed the deportation of Samaria), Sennacherib (704-581 B.C. who attacked king of Judah, Hezekiah [Josiah’s father]), and Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C. who led campaigns against Egypt)

3. Esarhaddon’s son, Ashurbanipal (669-631) ruled much of the upper Egyptian city of Thebes, but his decline and that of Assyria’s soon followed

4. Nineveh, the capital, was destroyed in 612 B.C.

VI. MAJOR THEME--THE DAY OF THE LORD:

The Day of the Lord is a major theme in Zephaniah occurring 23 times in this short book (as well as in Obadiah, Joel, and Ezekiel). It describes a time when Yahweh will come to His people and necessarily destroy evil as a means to delivering them. While Zephaniah and Joel obviously had “local” aspects in view of this coming Day of Yahweh’s presence among them (with the judgment of Assyria and Babylon), those judgments/deliverances only mirrored, or foreshadowed, the ultimate deliverance (and thus necessary judgment) which would come in the eschaton.

VII. PURPOSE:

A. To proclaim judgment on the entire world

B. To proclaim the Day of the Lord as a time when Yahweh will come to judge the wicked (including the wicked of Judah) and deliver His own⁵

C. To proclaim judgment on the nations which surrounded Judah (Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Assyria, Ethiopians/Egyptians

D. To proclaim hope for the remnant of Judah

E. To expose the unfaithfulness of Judah’s rulers

F. To encourage Judah to accept correction by hearing of the judgment on her neighbors

G. To expose Judah’s unwillingness to accept correction from Yahweh

H. To describe the ultimate changes which Yahweh will bring about as the nations become worshippers of Him and He becomes Judah’s King/Defender

¹ For a more developed explanation see Ralph L. Smith, Micah-Malachi, Word Biblical Commentary, XXXII:120; Larry Lee Walker, Zephaniah, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, VII:537.

² Chisholm comments, When genealogical information is provided, usually only the prophet's father is identified (cf. Isa. 1:1; Jer. 1:1; Ezek. 1:3; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1), although in the case of Zechariah (Zech 1:1), two generations are included. Some have identified Zephaniah's great-great-grandfather Hezekiah with the famous king who ruled over Judah from 715 to 686 B.C. This connection would provide a reasonable explanation for the expanded heading, its purpose being to demonstrate Zephaniah's royal descent (Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 201).

³ If Zephaniah preached after Josiah's reforms, it is extremely evident that the reforms were not all that successful (cf. 1:4-5, 8-9; 3:1, 3, 7).

⁴ Some of what follows was developed from John A Martin, An Outline of Zephaniah, unpublished class notes in 304 preexilic and exilic prophets, (Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall 1983), 1.

⁵ Chisholm writes, The 'Day of the Lord is the focal point of Zephaniah's prophecy. On this day, the nearness and severity of which are emphasized, the Lord would come as a mighty and just warrior-judge to punish the whole world, including Judah. Though this purifying judgment the nations would become genuine worshippers of the one true God. The judgment of the Lord's Day would also purge God's covenant people and their capital city, Jerusalem. A faithful remnant, the nucleus of the purified city and rejoice in the Lord's deliverance and protections (Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 215).

I. TITLE OF THE BOOK:

A. Hebrew: In Hebrew the book is titled hyrkz meaning “Yahweh remembers”

B. Greek: In Greek the book is titled ZACARIAS, a transliteration from the Hebrew name

II. AUTHOR: Zechariah the prophet

A. About the Prophet Zechariah:¹

1. Zechariah was a Levite who was born in Babylon (Neh 12:1, 16)

2. He was the son of Berekiah and the grandson of Iddo the priest (Zech 1:1; cf. 12:4, 16; Ezra 5:1; 6:14), therefore, although the name was a common one, it is possible that he was a priest²

3. Zechariah was a prophet (Zech 1:1)

4. A contemporary of Haggai the prophet, Zerubbabel, and Joshua, the high priest (cf. Ezra 5:1-2; Zech 3:1; 4:6; 6:11)

5. Unlike Haggai, Zechariah was probably a young man when he prophesied (cf. Zech 2:4)

B. Controversy over Authorship and Unity of the Book:

1. Many critical scholars have decided that chapters 9--14 were not authored by Zechariah, and the reasons have been based upon internal evidence:³

a. Unlike chapters 1--8 where Zechariah’s name was mentioned three times (1:1; 1:7; 7:1) it is not mentioned in the last six chapters

b. The last six chapters do not mention dates

c. The last six chapters do not make clear references to known historical events like the completion of the temple

d. The book of Zechariah lacks unity in its contents, style, and vocabulary⁴

Chisholm writes, “Arguments of this type are often subjective. Others have presented lists of stylistic and thematic similarities between the two sections.”⁵

2. It seems that these differences may be best explained in view of the apocalyptic genre of the material rather than through differences in authorship. Chisholm writes, “Any actual differences may be due to changes in subject matter and literary genre”⁶

III. DATE: 520 B.C. until later in Zechariah’s ministry (end of the sixth century B.C.)

A. The dates for the three messages in chapters 1--8 identify his ministry there in concurrence with Haggai’s ministry with a one month overlap for the first message

B. The biblical dates from Haggai & Zechariah, and Julian calendar dates are provided below in the following chart:⁷

C. No dates are provided in the text for the two “oracles” in chapters 9--14; this has led to debate about their chronology:

1. Preexilic Date (and thus not by Zechariah)

a. Matthew 27:9-10 refers to Zechariah 11:12-13 but is attributed in Matthew to Jeremiah⁸
However, as Chisholm writes, “Matthew’s quotation is probably a composite of Zechariah 11:12-13 and passages from Jeremiah (cf. 18:1-2; 32:6-9), perhaps being based on an early Christian testimonial collection. Like Mark 1:2-3, which attributes a composite quotation (from Isa. 40:3 and Mal 3:1) to Isaiah, the more prominent of the prophetic authors involved, so the quotation in Matthew 27:9-10 is ascribed to the well-known prophet Jeremiah, even though its wording is more dependent on Zechariah”⁹

b. The references to Ephraim and Judah, Assyria and Egypt were considered to be preexilic descriptions
However, the prophet could have been drawing on earlier prophetic passages for his terminology¹⁰

2. Post-Zecharian Date:

a. A military conflict between Israel and Greece is an allusion to the Maccabean-Seleucid struggles of the second century B.C.
However, “Greece” may be used here to symbolize the distant nations (cf. Isa 66:19) who will resist the extension of the Lord’s kingdom in the eschaton. Even if the Maccabean wars are in view, one should not necessarily presuppose the existence of a Greek empire in the author’s day. Even though Persia, not Greece, was the major power in Zechariah’s time, a keen observer might have been able to foresee Greece’s eventual rise to prominence. If so, then certainly a divinely aided prophet could have looked beyond contemporary political realities and have foreseen future developments”¹¹

3. Later In Zechariah’s Ministry

a. Some would affirm that the book comes from a time later in Zechariah’s ministry, but not by Zechariah. They would affirm that it was written by a disciple of Zechariah. This is primarily due to the unity which the book has been demonstrated to have¹²

b. If the book could have been written during the life of Zechariah, there is no reason to believe that it could not have been written by Zechariah himself; it is not necessary to assume that the same author can write in different genres
In addition the canonical history of the book of Zechariah has always included all fourteen chapters in the book. Baldwin writes, “Even the tiny fragment of the Greek manuscript found at Qumran, which includes the end of chapter 8 and the beginning of chapter 9, shows no gap or spacing whatsoever to suggest a break between the two parts. Again, as P. R. Ackroyd comments, ‘The very fact that this linking of 9--14 with 1--8 took place argues for some recognition of common ideas or interests’“¹³

IV. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

A. First Return: The first return from Babylonian exile was under Zerubbabel in 538 B.C. when Cyrus was King (539-530) (Ezra 1--6)

1. Return of Haggai and Zechariah: This was probably when Haggai and Zechariah returned to Jerusalem¹⁴

2. Temple Rebuilt: Haggai and Zechariah prophesied and the Temple was completed under Darius I (521-486)

a. Levitical sacrifices were reinstituted on an altar built for burnt offerings (Ezra 3:1-6)

b. The foundation for the temple was laid in the second year of the return (536 B.C.; cf. Ezra 3:8-13; 5:16)

c. Samaritan and Persian resistance ended the rebuilding of the temple for 16 years (until 520 B.C.; cf. Ezra 4:4-5)

d. Haggai and Zechariah prophesy from 520-518 B.C. encouraging the nation to rebuild the temple

e. The Temple was completed in 516 B.C. (Ezra 5--6)

B. Second Return: The second return from Babylonian exile was under Ezra in 458/57 B.C. while Artaxexes I Longimanus was King (Ezra 7--10)

1. Ezra 7:1 affirms that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem during the reign of Artaxerxes the king of Persia

2. Ezra 7:8 affirms that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king (Artaxerxes)

a. The is some question as to whether this was in the reign of Artaxerxes I Longimanus (464-423 B.C.) or Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-359 B.C.)¹⁵

b. The evidence seems to be that this was during the reign of Artaxerxes I Longimanus; therefore, the seventh year of his reign would have been 458/457 B.C.

1) Nehemiah 8:2 identifies Ezra as Nehemiah’s contemporary

2) The Elephantine Papyri¹⁶ [c. 400 B.C.] mentions Johanan (the grandson of Eliashib [Neh 3:1, 20])¹⁷

C. Third Return: The third return from Babylonian exile was under Nehemiah in 445/444 B.C. also while Artaxerxes I Longimanus was king (Neh 1--13).

1. Nehemiah I: Nehemiah’s first arrival in Jerusalem was probably in 445/444 B.C.

a. Nehemiah 1:2 and 2:1 affirm that the events of Nehemiah occurred in the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes

b. Nehemiah arrived the first time in Jerusalem twelve-thirteen years after Ezra arrived

2. Nehemiah II: Nehemiah’s second arrival in Jerusalem was probably in 433/432-420 B.C.

a. Nehemiah 13:6-7 reads, “But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king, and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil ....”

b. Nehemiah left Jerusalem in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes

c. Nehemiah may also have returned to Jerusalem in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes (this is not certain since the text reads, “After some time, ...”

V. LITERARY GENRE:

A. This book is apocalyptic genre like parts of Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation

B. It is characterized by symbolic visions, animal symbolism, symbolic numbers (two, four, seven), and a blending of history and imagery¹⁸

C. Apocalyptic literature was meant to offer hope to a down cast people through describing the ultimate defeat of evil and victory of God for His people

D. In some ways apocalyptic literature is like parables in that it is meant to reveal and hide truth. Ezekiel calls his apocalyptic material parables

E. It seems that the visions of Zechariah are more developed than those of Amos and Jeremiah and yet less developed than those of Daniel and later Jewish apocalyptic literature like the book of Enoch. Revelation is fully developed apocalyptic literature¹⁹

F. The literary content of Zechariah is as follows:

1. An Opening Exhortation: 1:2-6

2. Eight prophetic dream visions: 1:7--6:8

3. Historical Messages: 7--8

4. Two Prophetic Oracles: 9--14

VI. PURPOSES FOR THE BOOK:

A. To introduce glimpses of reality for the postexilic community from a heavenly standpoint, namely, that “The transcendent God is working out His eternal purpose for Judah and Jerusalem, equipping His covenant people to fulfil [sic] the spiritual role for which He chose them (Zc. 1:7--6:15)”²⁰

B. To describe the quality of life which the postexilic community is to display (Zech 7:1--8:32)²¹

C. To demonstrate that the Lord will establish His kingdom, not through a gradual evolutionary process, but through struggle and tension²²

D. To urge Israel to return to Yahweh so that He would return to them and continue to fulfill His word²³

E. To promise that in spite of the nation’s lowly position and its spiritual insensitivity, a Deliverer will bring a time of ultimate blessing

¹ F. Duanne Lindsey, Zechariah, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty: Old Testament, 1454.

² See Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 60-61.

³ Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 62-63. She writes, The fact that these chapters are included under the name of Zechariah in our Bibles could mean no more than that they were anonymous writings, known to be authentic prophetic words but, because of their fragmentary nature, in danger of being lost and needing to be included on the scroll allocated to another prophet to save them from extinction. The Jewish Rabbis have written of cases in the prophets where they believed this principle to have operated (Ibid., 62).

⁴ Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 62-63.

⁵ Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 233. See also Charles L. Feinberg, God Remembers: A Study of Zechariah, 8-9.

⁶ Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 233; Kenneth L. Barker, Zechariah, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, VII:596-97.

⁷ This chart comes from Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 29.

⁸ This was first raised as an issue by Joseph Mede (1586-1638); see Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 63.

⁹ Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 232. Feinberg writes, the Talmud specifically states (Baba Bathra) that Jeremiah was arranged by the Jews in their canon as the first of the prophets. In this was Jeremiah lent his name to all the prophetic books, and Matthew so treats it (Charles L. Feinberg, God Remembers: A Study of Zechariah, 8).

¹⁰ Chisholm writes, Long after the exile of the northern kingdom in 722 B.C., both Jeremiah (30:3-4; 31:6, 27, 31; 33:14) and Ezekiel (37:16), like Zechariah, envisioned the reconciliation of Israel/Ephraim and Judah. In speaking of a return from Egypt and Assyria, Zechariah may have been alluding to the promises of Isaiah (11:11-16) and Hosea (11:11) (Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 232).

¹¹ Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 233.

¹² Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 68-70; Ralph L. Smith, Micah-Malachi, Word Biblical Commentary, XXXII:170.

¹³ Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 69-70.

¹⁴ Robert L. Alden, Haggai, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, VII:572; cf. Ezra 2.

¹⁵ See Albright's early discussions. He seems to have changed his mind about this matter.

¹⁶ LaSor et al write, These business documents and letters were found on the island of Elephantine, north of the first cataract of the Nile and opposite Aswan. They belonged to a Jewish military colony established at least as early as the fall of Jerusalem in 586. The texts throw brilliant light on the affairs of the Jewish colony in Upper Egypt, especially for the period 425-400. In 410 these Jews wrote a letter to Johanan, high priest at Jerusalem (Neh. 12:22), regarding the rebuilding of their temple. In 407 they sent a long appeal in the same regard to Bagoas, governor of Judah, in which they mentioned a similar letter to 'Delaiah and Shelemiah, the sons of Sanballat the governor of Samaria. Assuming this is the same Sanballat who was the inveterate enemy of Nehemiah (2:19; 4:1 [MT 3:33]), the Artaxerxes referred to in 2:1 must be Artaxerxes I (LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush, Old Testament Survey, 560, n. 33; See also ANET, pp. 491ff).

¹⁷ Archer writes, This Johanan was a grandson of the Eliashib mentioned in Nehemiah 3:1 and 20 and Nehemiah was a contemporary of Eliashib. It therefore follows that when the biblical record speaks of Nehemiah going to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (Neh 1:1) and again in his thirty-second year (Neh. 13:6), the reference must be to Artaxerxes I (yielding the date 445 and 433 respectively) rather than the reign of Artaxerxes II (which would result in the dates 384 and 372 respectively--far too late for the high priesthood of Johanan) (Gleason L. Archer, Jr. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 419-20).

¹⁸ For a fuller discussion see Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 70-74.

¹⁹ Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 233-34; Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 71.

²⁰ Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 59.

²¹ Ibid.

²² Baldwin writes, The book prepares God's people for the worst calamity they can ever face, the triumph of evil over good. Even God's representative dies at the hand of evil men. There is no room in Zechariah's thinking for glib optimism, but when evil has done its worst the Lord remains King, and will be seen to be King by all the nations (Ibid., 60).

²³ Kenneth L. Barker, Zechariah, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, VII:599.