By Chef Niku
Very often you hear of the term “biblical fellowship” being tossed around in church or from the pastor or even a sermon. Perhaps images of gathering in a small group studying the Bible come to mind or maybe talking with your friends from church after service is more relatable to you. Many of us have heard this term before but do know how it is defined according to the Bible?
I have come to find out that the Greek word “koinonia” is found in the text of Acts 2:42-47. What this word means, according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, is “fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation and contact”. Throughout this passage, the believers are said to have been “together and had everything in common” and “they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (NIV 2011). As you can see, there was a strong sense of community among them all. Community is a highly valued aspect of the Middle Eastern culture as well as East Asian cultures too (Japan included).
A community where everyone who follows Jesus shared a meal together, praising God for His goodness and enjoying each others’ company as well. No matter a person’s social, economic or martial status, everyone accepted each other and worshipped God together and did life together. A place of true Biblical community and a taste of what Heaven will be like too. Doesn’t this sound like a wonderful thing to have with God and with each other?
In verse 42 it says, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (NIV 2011). The believers were together listening to important teachings from Scripture and having communion and praying together. Today, it should not be so different. As followers of Jesus, we should not stop meeting together and neglect hearing teachings from Scripture and praying for and with each other to God.
Later on in verses 44-45, “all the believers were together and also had everything in common…they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” (NIV 2011). A universal cross-cultural principle we can grasp from this is the idea of caring for one another’s needs. In my Japanese small group, I remember when a mutual friend of everyone needed to move to a different place. I saw that all of the members of the group got together and looked around for a good place for this friend to live. One of the members of the group donated blankets and other kinds of bedding material for this person to have since she did not own much. Others brought appliances for her to use while she was saving to buy her own. The Lord showed me what Biblical Fellowship looks like in a very real way in the Japanese context.
The early believers “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and the enjoying the favor of all the people” (NIV 2011). From the example that I shared above, we can most certainly have fellowship with other believers by providing for other’s needs and giving to others what God has given to us in resources. The Japanese people as a whole highly value being together in community and taking care of each other’s needs too. This is what the early church in Acts did frequently and in modern times we should do the same. God has used the Japanese Christians in my life to teach more concretely what it means to be in Biblical Fellowship and I hope that you come to understand what that term really means now.