After the book of Acts, the term koinonia is used almost exclusively by Paul. And to the church of Corinth are addressed by far the most messages of “participation” and “partnership”, a message they needed. As do we.

In his first letter to Corinth, (1:9) Paul brings out the most important of all fellowships, that which came from the call of God Himself: the partnership with His Son Jesus Christ. Union with Him. Partnering with him. Participating in His very life. In the next breath he exhorts the believers in Corinth to stop their fighting! There is a clear connection here between being connected to Christ and being one with each other. Seems we can’t have one without the other. Christ is in His body, and so to be a divider, a trouble-maker, in the body, is a serious offense. So true fellowship involves the absence of conflict.

It is that same sharing that is in view much later in the letter (chapter 10), when Paul discusses what we refer to today as “the communion service.” The context here is idolatry, and the unfaithfulness of Israel, though they had actually been given a participation in heavenly things as long ago as the days of Moses.

Paul contends that they actually participated with Christ, symbolically, when they ate the manna from heaven, and drank from the rock. Today, he says, we have a food and drink also. When we partake of bread and wine that was given to memorialize the death of Christ, we are actually sharing in Christ. It is a participation, a koinonia, in Jesus. Using Israel again, he says that when they ate food sacrificed to God, they were sharing in God, and when pagans eat food sacrificed to their idols, they share in demon spirits.

The point: Though we are dealing sometimes in physical visible materials, we have been put in touch with the realities of Heaven, and must recognize such when we partake. In that sense we don’t “take communion.” Communion is a sharing in Christ. When He is present, He takes us, fills us. We become one with Him. That is true fellowship. (And that is why some wanted to make Acts 2:42 a list of 3 instead of 4. We cannot keep the koinonia out of the Lord’s supper.)

In Paul’s second letter to this city, new meanings are attached to the koinonia. In a well-known verse in chapter 6 (14) he chides the Corinthian believers about their involvement with non-Christians. (See also Ephesians 5:4, where the church there is told not to have koinonia with darkness.)

We have always been quick to point out that when Paul questions what koinonia we have with unbelievers, he surely wasn’t talking about going to the work place. There are some Christian groups who would differ with that assessment. They have separated themselves totally from the world and associate with non-Christians only when it is absolutely necessary.

Each of us must decide what it means for us to be “bound” together with someone. But the context tells us that that “binding” is what koinonia is all about. Being bound to a wife puts us in close fellowship, unity, partnership, with her. What about being bound to a company? A school system? A business deal? A mortgage? Paul does not say we should not be bound to an evil unbeliever or concern. He does not tell us to stay away from partnership with unbelievers whose values differ from ours. His statement seems inclusive. Any unbeliever. The world. Don’t get so close to whatever, whoever, it is, that you could be considered bound. We’d love to interpret this passage to mean that what we happen to be into right now in our life is fine, but that sort of luke-warmness produces no Kingdom fruit. No change. No radical Christianity. Examine yourself. Are you bound to anyone or anything outside of Christ? Be free from it. The offspring of such a union will not be a blessing to God or man.