Koinonia: What the Bible Means by "Fellowship"

Douglas Mangum

If you’ve been part of a church community, you may have noticed how some words acquire “churchy” meanings—like
“fellowship.” When is the last time you got together with your colleagues after work for “fellowship”? Never. But in church, we
have fellowship luncheons that are held in fellowship halls and we get together for fellowship in our fellowship groups. When
we overuse a word, it can lose its meaning. Our overuse of “fellowship” makes an important point in 1 John fall flat.

“That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.… If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:3, 6–7).

We can determine the meaning of fellowship in this passage by examining it within a New Testament context. To do that, we
have to find the Greek root word behind the English term. Using the esv English-Greek Reverse Interlinear, we find that the
Greek word underlying “fellowship” is koinonia (κοινωνία).

Same Greek Word, Different English Words

Koinonia is translated many different ways in English Bibles. The first appearance of koinonia in the New Testament
appears in Acts 2:42: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship(koinonia), to the breaking
of bread and the prayers.”

But koinonia is interpreted with another word in 2 Cor 9:13. “They will glorify God because of your submission flowing from
your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution (koinonia) for them and for all others.” Paul
writes to the believers in Philippi: “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share (koinonia) his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil 3:10).

Even translations that claim to use close word-for-word consistency, like the ESV, do not always renderkoinonia as
“fellowship.” There’s a reason: Koinonia can be used for a particular aspect of Christianity, or the dynamic whole of Christian
living.

Dynamic Relationship

These different translations reflect the nature of koinonia: it depicts an interactive relationship between God and believers
who are sharing new life through Christ.

The Greek word captures the entirety of this relationship. It involves active participation in Christian community: sharing in
spiritual blessings and giving material blessings. Gentile believers in Macedonia had nothing in common with the Jewish
believers in Jerusalem except Christ (Rom 15:26–27).

Having no equivalent in English that captures the whole spectrum of meaning, translators focused on a specific aspect
of koinonia in each context. Acts 2 focuses on the relationship among believers while 2 Cor 9 useskoinonia to express
generosity in community. Paul also uses koinonia to describe the way he identifies with Christ’s sufferings. John, in his first
letter, uses koinonia to describe what connects us to God and to each other through Christ.

What Fellowship Really Means

Fellowship is a word we may use too lightly in our churches. The variety of uses in the New Testament reveals
that koinonia involves a deeper level of fellowship than an informal social gathering. The essential element ofkoinonia is
participation—Christ is what connects us.

We should value all that we hold in common as followers of Christ regardless of cultural or denominational differences.
The focus is always on what believers have in common. This is the key to understanding koinonia in the New Testament. So
the next time you come across “fellowship” used in a churchy way, remember that fellowship should focus on what we all
have in common: new life in Jesus Christ.

All biblical references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)