{"id":829,"date":"2009-07-23T04:01:49","date_gmt":"2009-07-23T04:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2009\/07\/intimate-fellowship-with-god-and-gods-people.html"},"modified":"2009-07-23T04:01:49","modified_gmt":"2009-07-23T04:01:49","slug":"intimate-fellowship-with-god-and-gods-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/07\/intimate-fellowship-with-god-and-gods-people.html","title":{"rendered":"Intimate Fellowship with God and God\u2019s People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 6 of series: What is the Christian Life?
\n<\/em>Permalink for this post<\/a> \/ Permalink for this series<\/a>
\nIn my last post I proposed that the Christian life is koinonia<\/em>, which should be understood as intimate fellowship<\/em>. This koinonia<\/em> is with God through Jesus Christ, but not only with God. I\u2019ll explain what I mean in today\u2019s and tomorrow\u2019s posts.
\nLet’s return 1 John for a moment. John declares the message of life to his spiritual children \u201cso that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ\u201d (1 John 1:3). John’s order may surprise us. Rather than first mentioning fellowship with God, John gives prior emphasis to the intimate fellowship he wishes to share with those who receive his letter. We might expect things to be the other way around, with the accent placed on fellowship with God rather than fellowship with people. But John accentuates the human dimension because it is essential to full fellowship with God.
\nThe inseparability of divine and human fellowship appears again in verses 6-7:<\/p>\n

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the light of God\u2019s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once we see in verse 6 that “living in spiritual darkness” precludes fellowship with God, we would expect verse 7 to read: “but if we are living in the light of God’s presence, then we have fellowship with God<\/em>.” Instead, John mentions “fellowship with one another<\/em>” as if it were almost identical to fellowship with God.
\nLater in his letter John makes a analogous point about loving God:<\/p>\n

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God\u2014for God is love. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. . . . No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. If someone says, \u201cI love God,\u201d but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don\u2019t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen? And God himself has commanded that we must love not only him but our Christian brothers and sisters, too (1 John 4:7-8, 11-12, 20-21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this passage, love for God and love for God’s people are so closely connected that we cannot love God without loving God’s children, our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we love each other, God lives in us. If we don’t love each other, we don’t know God. The interweaving of relationship with God and relationship with God’s people is so complex in this chapter that we might easily become confused. Without a doubt, however, relationship with God is inseparable from relationship with the people of God. We cannot have one without the other. We cannot love God without loving our spiritual siblings, even as we cannot have intimate fellowship with God apart from intimate fellowship with these siblings.
\nThe virtual equation of fellowship with God and with God’s people might seem surprising. Isn’t the Christian life really about relationship with God? Isn’t fellowship with people plainly secondary in significance? I suppose that if we had to choose between relationship with God and relationship with people, we’d rightly join up with God. But by making this sort of distinction we miss the indivisibility of divine and human fellowship as taught in the Bible. We echo the bias of our culture rather than the revealed word of God.
\nMany popular versions of the Christian life separate that which the Bible holds together so consistently. American individualism has penetrated deeply within our conceptions of Christianity. What really matters, we are told, is our personal relationship with God. That’s true as far as it goes. But, in biblical perspective, that personal relationship always has corporate implications. We tend to equate personal with private, whereas the Bible links personal and corporate. God’s personal relationship with me draws me into personal relationships with others. (Photo: Hey, even the Lone Ranger wasn\u2019t really alone. He had his best friend and partner, Tonto, not to mention Silver!)
\nIn my next post I\u2019ll show how the inseparability of relationship with God and relationship with people is revealed throughout the Bible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 6 of series: What is the Christian Life? Permalink for this post \/ Permalink for this series In my last post I proposed that the Christian life is koinonia, which should be understood as intimate fellowship. This koinonia is with God through Jesus Christ, but not only with God. I\u2019ll explain what I mean…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-life"],"yoast_head":"\nIntimate Fellowship with God and God\u2019s People - Mark D. 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Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}