Is "The Placing of Fellowship" Scriptural? Part 6

When Paul starts Ephesians, he again greets those to whom he is writing;
...to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus," v. 1

So again we see two things; there are certainly local congregations, and they are one with all who are faithful.

It is an interesting question what the nature of these local congregations is. We know, from what was shown back in Acts, that there were elders in every congregation Paul had visited. We know that the elders and apostles from Jerusalem traveled frequently to help other congregations and discuss what they taught. We know regular people such as Priscilla and Aquila, and sometimes companions such as John Mark, Timothy, Titus and so forth also were well known in a variety of conversations.

It also seems reasonable to assume that some people did not travel at all but simply attended the same congregation all the time. But...it is important to note that is an assumption. To this point we certainly have seen no clear example of that. We definitely need to differentiate between what we know and what we think we know. This is a fine example of what we think we know, though things such as knowing some Christians were slaves and probably incapable of travel lends a great deal of weight to that thought.

As Paul continues, he again clearly links the Christians in Ephesus with Christians not in Ephesus, pointing out we were chosen to be holy and blameless (v. 4) and were are adopted as children by Jesus (v. 5).

We are also told where our redemption comes from; the blood of Christ (v.7). It is certainly worth harmonizing this with the rest of Scripture. When, where, how and why do you come in contact with the blood of Christ? Put some time into that study.

Sometimes there are questions to which the answers are known, other times questions to which they are not. So here is a question for you; how did the Christians in Ephesus show their love 'to all the saints" as it states in vs. 15?

This is not an idle question but rather one designed to get the reader thinking. the theme of the chapter and following verses certainly provide some clues to the answer.

We also have yet another important verse that illustrates a basic Christian truth; all saints are part of THE church. When I emphasize the word "the" it is because all true believers are part of the same church. Read verses 22-23 very carefully. This is explicitly stated. The church is the body of Christ.

This is one of those places where the chapter and verse divisions is rather unfortunate. As you probably know, those divisions were established around 1227, although an alternate version popped up between 1244 and 1248. What we know is by the publication of the Wycliffe version in 1382 accepted the divisions generally attributed to Stephen Langton in 1227.

The point is the divisions are not inspired. Sometimes they break up a context as they do between the end of Chapter 1 and chapter 2. The entire second chapter belongs with the verse talking about the church being the body of Christ.

Paul spends the second chapter reinforcing this basic truth. Verse 5 discusses us being quickened together with Christ. We are compared to aliens from the nation of Israel but now bought by the blood of Christ (v. 13) and "made both one" (vs. 16).

We are to be reconciled to God "in one body by the cross" (vs. 16) which we know we participate in by crucifying our old man with Christ at the time of conversion (Romans 6:6). He comes to a thunderous conclusion, pointing out that we are "fellow-citizens" with the saints (vs. 19) and all built into one building which is the temple of God (vs. 20-22).

Thus for at least 28 verses he focuses on this theme, that the saints who believe and are saved are all built on the same foundation, that we have become one body, that we are one temple of God.

But he is not done with this theme. He continues to drive home the point that all saints are part of the same body. It is in the context of Jews and Gentiles, with those to whom he is writing being Gentiles, that in chapter three, verse 6 he states, "that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel;" .

Sometimes throughout his writings Paul refers to the "mystery of the Gospel" or similar phrases and it makes verse 9 make sense in telling us our fellowship is right there; in the mystery.

Clearly, he is not sure that his point has been made as he chooses to repeat it once again in chapter 4.

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (v. 4) One Lord, one faith, one baptism (v. 5), One God and Father of all..." (v. 6).

If the unity of believers is not established by this point then it never will be. It has been his theme from the very greeting where he groups those in Ephesus with the faithful in Christ Jesus. He then clarifies the point of why there is this unity;

We have already seen that apostles, evangelists, prophets and teachers travel between the churches as need or wish arises. In verses 11-16 he tells us what their purpose is; to bring us to the unity of the faith (vs. 13) and knowledge of the Son of God, forming the whole body (v. 16).

At this point verse 25 seems like overkill. He has already emphasized the unity of those who are believers.

We do see some exceptions to the unity, however. Chapter 5, verses 3 - 5 show us some exceptions. This is not the first such list in Scripture, nor is it the last, but it is in the context of showing who is and who is not unified in Christ.

We are not of these people. We who are Christians are children of light (v. 8).

Since the theme of Ephesians is unity, he draws it together once more. Chapter 5:19-32 show us clearly that the church is the figurative wife of Christ. All the church. All who believe. All Christians are to share with one another in a variety of ways (v. 19), to submit to one another (v.21), and as a church to be subject to Christ (v. 23).

The purpose is to present a holy and blameless church (v. 27), of which all Christians are members (v. 30). He compares the church to a marriage repeatedly throughout this passage, interweaving the two. The husband and wife become one flesh just as the church becomes one flesh.

The idea of placing fellowship in an individual congregation certainly seems contrary to this concept, as Christ would then be joined to several bodies rather than to one. It would seem that in a book which speaks so eloquently on how the body of Christ is unified he could take time out to point out that each individual body is unified if that were the case, but instead he eschews that in favor of emphasizing that all believers are part of one body.

It is interesting that in his concluding remarks, he points to Tychicus as first a brother (6:21) and then a minister. It seems to once more emphasize the unity of the saints, as does his last remarks in verse 24: he extends his blessing, written in this letter, to "all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 24).

I think this points to one of the flaws with how Christians study the Bible. I myself encountered a similar difficulty when I taught a class. Many Christians know so little about the history of the Bible and the difference between what is inspired and what is not that they for some time refused to accept the idea that not only the verse and chapter divisions were not inspired, they did not believe headings such as "concluding benediction", which is above verse 21 in my edition of the King James, were not inspired.

It also means when they see the title "The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians" they might mistakenly think it was written only to the Ephesians even though the most cursory glance at just the first and last words of the book clearly state that he was intending this to be to the entire body of the saints.

Little things like this are not little as they can lead us to false conclusions. This book is nothing short of a powerhouse tour de force of explanation that Christians are unified in one body and need to be working together.

There is but one Lord in whom we believe.

There is but one faith we can hold.

There is but one baptism we participate in.

There is but one body to which we belong.

To say otherwise is to contradict the introductory greeting, to contradict the theme of the book, to contradict verse after verse, thought after thought. It is to contradict the concluding blessing. But can it harmonize with other Scriptures? We will keep looking.

An example in action

This morning in the announcements, his words were, "and to our visitors we extend the right hand of fellowship".

Such a simple sentence, but such deep meaning. I talked to him for a few minutes after about what constitutes fellowship and what doesn't. Here is a guy who is not an evangelist, elder or deacon but understands the very basic tenement of Christianity; all who are faithful to God are already in fellowship.

If I have time I will go into a brief discussion of Brother Hollingsworth's Communion talk as well as it was one of the three or four I remember best, right up there with Dan nelson's "benchmarks". Very, very good stuff but at the moment, just thought I should write about Ron so I do not forget.