FELLOWSHIP
J. Taylor
1 Corinthians 1: 9; 10: 15–22; 2 Corinthians 13: 14
The word translated ‘communion’ in these verses is ‘fellowship’, that is, joint participation in something involving mutual responsibility; not only responsibility to the Lord, but to those who are in the fellowship. There are fellowships in the world, such as Freemasonry, but ours is the fellowship of God’s Son. That gives it its dignity. On the other hand it is the fellowship of His death. We are all bound up in that, and obligated to each other in regard of it. Then in the last verse it is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
First, as to the dignity of what we are brought into. It says, “God is faithful”. The apostle reckoned on the faithfulness of God that the fellowship would be maintained in spite of conditions in Corinth. We need God and His faithfulness in view of the difficulties concerning the fellowship. The word ‘faithfulness’ is another key to the epistle—God’s faithfulness. In chapter 1 He is faithful in regard to the fellowship; in chapter 10, faithful in regard of any temptations that may befall us; in 2 Corinthians 1, He is faithful in regard of the promises. Who could stand without the faithfulness of God?
The fellowship has been brought down all the centuries, and come through Rome, being darkened there, but now it has been recovered. It is the faithfulness of God that has done it.
God will reach His end; He will have His people, however few, to go on this principle which takes us out of
all other fellowships, automatically shuts out all other fellowships, whatever they be. It is intolerant of all else; the fellowship of God’s Son cannot admit of what is of this world, or what is contrary to His death, or contrary to the Holy Spirit. God is great enough, and has power enough to uphold His rights in it, so as to shut out all else that is contrary to it.
The thought of fellowship is one of the most important subjects in the two epistles. It is not local in itself; fellowship is general, but it works out locally. The economy of the assembly involves different local assemblies, but really there is only one fellowship. It involves the general thought, for He has called us—“by whom ye have been called into the fellowship”
and “for we all partake of that one loaf”. They had been called, but what they had been called into was the same as Paul was in; they all partook of the one loaf. “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ? Because we, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf”, 1 Corinthians 10: 16, 17. The persons who would receive the ministry would have their part consciously in what is universal, but it would have a certain local expression.
The economy of the assembly in its provisional side down here will cease when we enter on our heavenly position. She comes down from God out of heaven—one great thought—but at the present time the fellowship works out in localities, whether in this town, London, or New York. Here we are in heathen surroundings. In London we are in nominally Christian surroundings, but the position is the same in each place, for what is characteristic of the place is usually what Satan takes up in opposition. However great the difficulties, the faithfulness of God enables us to overcome them.
This fellowship is one of the means that God employs to maintain things through the whole of this dispensation. “Who shall also confirm you to the end, unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”, implying that this is the means employed to keep us to the end.
God is the dominating thought—Paul is apostle by God’s will; the letter is to the assembly of God at Corinth, and he thanks God in respect of the grace of God. It seems as if God has undertaken the matter; He had invaded Corinth in a most striking way. Paul is under great pressure. God had invaded the city through Paul and asserted His rights through him. The Lord said, Do not be afraid, I have much people in this city. He would see him through. It was a most difficult place, but the Lord would see him through, and so this epistle has the same thought—God would be with them now that Paul is away.
Fellowship is a real bond—“Jesus Christ our Lord”, He is for us all, but then we are also for one another. There are many who readily admit that they are responsible to the Lord for everything they do, but they would perhaps hesitate to say that they are responsible to the brethren for everything. That the Lord should look into their affairs would be admitted, but if the brethren do, they complain; it is not their business. That is independency, because we are obligated to one another in the fellowship—it is a protective obligation. If a person is worldly and wants worldly things, his worldliness involves the brethren; he is dragging the brethren into it—in this sense, what one does, all do. That is a serious side that many do not recognise.
This matter of obligation to one another is a thing that ought to be observed. There are those who say, You are interfering in what is my business, and the Lord knows my heart.
That is an indication of a state of soul incompatible with the fellowship.
Paul immediately uses condemnatory language of conditions at Corinth in verse 10; he says, There are divisions among you. “I am of Paul”, and so on. That is what Christendom publicly has become. Paul is getting at the root of the evil, for sectarianism is just party spirit. The fellowship ought to convey that it is of God’s Son, but it is fellowship with one another too.
“If we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another”, 1 John 1: 7. The disciples in the beginning persevered in the apostles’ teaching, then in their fellowship, then in the breaking of bread and prayers. Authoritative teaching is the thing, not simply the Lord’s authority; our teaching must be right. What do you believe? What is your doctrine? They persevered in the apostles’ doctrine, whatever it was.
The apostles were authoritative. When Peter was preaching, the people said to Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do?” And Peter says, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”, Acts 2: 37, 38. They recognised the authority of Christ in these men, for they were representative of Christ, so that they would want to know what Peter said in his last address, or what John said, or what Bartholomew said, or what Matthew said. I want to know what the apostles say. If we say, ‘Well, I do not agree with that, I want to make baptism a leading point’, we divide immediately. It should be a question of what the apostles say, what the apostles think. Their teaching would upset much that is taught at the present day.
Chapter 10 indicates the public boundaries,
that is, the death of Christ, and we must not go outside these limits. The point is, What are we doing? The early Christians persevered in such and such things. The apostle says, “the cup of blessing which we bless”; that is what we are doing. What we are doing means the fellowship of the blood of Christ. He begins by saying, “flee from idolatry”. Down there in that street, so to speak, at No. 10, is the heathen temple; No. 20 the Jewish synagogue; No. 40 the Christian assembly. What does a man see when he goes into the Christian assembly? Is he at liberty to go to the Jewish synagogue and the heathen temple, too? He is to judge Judaism; it is grown old, about to pass away. The new covenant displaces the old. Heathendom is idolatrous. If a man goes into these three places and says, I enjoy them all, that man is not a Christian. If I enjoy all fellowships, it shows I have no part in true fellowship at all. Are we spiritually intelligent? “I speak as to intelligent persons” (1 Corinthians 10: 15), that is persons who ought to be able to say what is what; that is idolatry, that is Judaism, that is of God.
We are going on with one thing, the death of Christ, and we cannot go on with anything else.
This enters into our business and social relations, too. In the earlier part of the tenth chapter the allusion is to Exodus 32. It is what is going on in Christendom in the absence of Christ—
“as for this Moses ... we wot not what is become of him”, and they ask Aaron to make them a god, and he did. They were worshipping Jehovah, but they were also worshipping that calf.
Christendom has become a mongrel thing where people assume that one thing is as good as another, putting things together that are positively opposed to one another. Think of the golden calf and Jehovah—the priest of Jehovah administering that!
The word now is, “Who is on the Lord’s side? … Put every man his sword by his side ... slay every man his brother”, that is, natural relationship of the closest kind, then his companion and his neighbour—the social side. The slaying figuratively is separation, as in 2 Timothy 2: 19—“The Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”—a true Levite. You have the thought of persons, vessels to honour and to dishonour. Vessels to honour are such as you value. You not only have the Lord before you, but you have the vessels to honour. These have to be considered, and hence, “pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those ...”—that brings in the persons, so that, although we are in remnant times, we come back to the persons.
1 Corinthians and 2 Timothy together furnish us with the fellowship as it is now. It is very small publicly, and it has been imitated, and the imitation has decoyed many. That requires that I must take up the historical matter, the history of those who name themselves as if they were in fellowship, but in truth they are not. If I am following righteousness, I must look into history. Scripture is full of history, especially the books of Chronicles. The writer begins with Adam and takes us right down to remnant times, and Luke takes up the thread and takes us to Paul (Acts 28), in his own house ready to receive all those who came to him. The Jews came and left him—arguing. That indicates the position; we must have history, we must come right down. Righteousness requires that I must look into all these things, if I am to arrive at the truth. The history will lead you through the generations of God on moral lines to “those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. It is the most wonderful position conceivable. You are not settling down to old things, past ministry, but the thought of glory
and increased glory. It is the presence of God that gives us glory, and we want to get to that.
Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are changed (2 Corinthians 3: 18). It speaks of Moses—
Jehovah spoke to him face to face, and he saw His glory. You can understand his face shining.
The Lord takes up the hardest places, Corinth itself, one of the worst cities at that time. Here in India and Ceylon the conditions are hard, and we should be very sympathetic with our brethren, but a young man in this island has an opportunity that the angel Gabriel would be glad to have, to stand here for the Lord and gather up whatever there is for the Lord. The Lord is with any man that undertakes it, and if one takes up things and makes a vow, as it were, the Lord will be with him. An old sister may be an overcomer, but what is needed is young, fresh energy—renewal of the mind, renewal in knowledge, renewal of the Holy Spirit.
It is the renewal that God relies on for continuance of the testimony in any town.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is a community thought; the Spirit of God graciously comes down to a community thought, and we are in that. Think of the Holy Spirit in that—what richness there is! In many places, such as India, there is great isolation; but where God has taken up one or two, it is God’s territory and He would have us maintain it. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” comes first, and then “the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” the Trinity, as we say, according to the general principle with God, coming in to establish the Corinthians. God is with His people in all circumstances.
Address at Colombo, Ceylon
2 September 1939
(N.S. Vol. 52, p.409)