And if the poor receive “too much”, they are to pass on the bounty to needier folks than themselves. Giving is the Christian way of life. It is how God provides for His people. Extra money is not mine. It is the property of someone else, and I need to be diligent in finding who that someone is, for they may live 6,000 miles from me.

Sell the boat if needed. Sell the extra house. The things sitting in the garage. Give the cash to the poor. It’s what Jesus said to the rich young ruler, and it is still what he says to the rich young and old American and Westerner. It’s how the early church lived and prospered. Our money is not our own. We are not our own. We must give it away.

When we do that, we will have experienced true “koinonia”, fellowship, participation, unity, with the Body. Giving money to the rich doesn’t cut it. Making your denomination or congregation fatter with all your offerings is an abomination to God. Some of God’s people are hurting. Find them. Give to them.

The world has its own system for doing this thing. They copied it from us, and it doesn’t work for them, since they lack the Spirit-filled love that motivates it all. Their system is eventually perverted, controlled, warped, and called Communism. To a lesser degree, Socialism. Even lesser, liberalism. It all starts with a good idea in an idealistic heart, but needs more and more enforcement to make it happen in the real world. We seem to be living in America’s flirtation with this noble but deadly idea as I write.

Philippians 1:5 likewise speaks of financial “fellowship” in the Gospel. Translated “participation” by some. But coming from that same koinonia which we have been tracing. To be an avid giver to the cause of Christ financially is to be an eternal participant in the outcomes of those gifts.

Travel with me to the end of 2 Corinthians now, where we see Paul referencing the ultimate in koinonia, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. There is Grace from Jesus. There is Love from God. But in the Holy Spirit it is all brought home to me personally. Fellowship with, oneness in, unity with, the Holy Spirit of God. Such is the allusion in Philippians 2:1, “fellowship in the Spirit.”

Galatians 2:9 shows how “the right hand” becomes a symbol of connectedness in the church. The koinonia of the early church, as every church thereafter, was threatened by a huge doctrinal divide. In Paul’s mind it was simply a matter of salvation by grace or by works. Life or death, Heaven or Hell. The whole church got his point (see Acts 15, the story of the Council at Jerusalem) , and the original leadership extended a hand of greeting and welcome to later-comer Paul and his new revelation. Thus it has ever been when praying men have reached an impasse. When there is prayer and seeking God wholeheartedly on both sides, the fellowship continues. When one side grows cold, the fellowship is broken and the living part continues on. We learn from all of this that there is only one Body of Christ. To be in line with its leaders and its teachings, to be filled with its Spirit, is to be in fellowship. Showing up at a church supper or even a misguided “church service” does not put one in fellowship with the true church. Each man must search his own heart as to whether the fellowship he is experiencing is of the flesh or of the Spirit.

Ephesians 3:9 introduces the “koinonia of the mystery.” True believers have a common knowledge of truths of God that have been hidden from God’s sages of old. The prophets knew nothing of what we refer to as the “Spirit-filled” life. Fruit of the Spirit. Special gifts from the Spirit. The details of His coming. The abolition of external observances. How the blood of Jesus would cleanse us from our sin. The age of grace, and power in the Spirit vs the sword life of ancient days. All mysteries. But mysteries revealed to us, its guardians. We have been initiated with this private knowledge, but collectively.