I am still studying all about fellowship. It is a very interesting study.<\/p>\n
Now I think I understand what you have been saying that fellowship (koinonia<\/em>) is a noun and it helps to think of it like we do the word “friendship.” So if two people are friends, they are friends based on their shared beliefs and interests. It is because they are friends that they do things together but those things are not the friendship … they do them because they are friends. The same is true when we talk about fellowship (koinonia<\/em>). Am I right about that?<\/p>\n If I am right about that, then I am having trouble understanding Philippians 3:10. Paul said he wanted to “know the fellowship (kiononia<\/em>) of His suffering”. It seems like Paul is saying he wanted share in Christ sufferings or he wanted to suffer for Christ. Well, that doesn’t seem to fit what you say\u00a0koinonia<\/em> means because\u00a0koinonia<\/em>\u00a0is a state of being, not what you do.<\/p>\n Well, maybe you can help me understand how what Paul is saying fits in with the definition of koinonia<\/em>.<\/p>\n\t “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death<\/em>” (Philippians 3:10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You’re not being fair with the grammar in this verse. The action is “know.” How do you do “power?” You can’t. But Paul wanted to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection. How do you do “fellowship?” You can’t. But Paul wanted to know the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings.<\/p>\n Paul stated that he wanted to understand Jesus better. He wanted to understand and experience the power found in Jesus’ resurrection. He wanted to understand and experience the fellowship found in Jesus’ sufferings. In other words, he wanted to know Jesus thoroughly both in the great things and the difficult things that Jesus faced.<\/p>\n Yes, Paul wished to have a common experience of suffering so that he could experience a bond with his Lord. “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy<\/em>” (I Peter 4:12-13). Our own sufferings give us a connection with our Savior, helps us to understand him, and forges a fellowship between us and him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am still studying all about fellowship. It is a very interesting study. Now I think I understand what you have been saying that fellowship (koinonia) is a noun and it helps to think of it like we do the word “friendship.” So if two people are friends, they are friends based on their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[253,926],"class_list":["post-19118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fellowship","tag-philippians"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24655,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship-a-word-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":19118,"position":0},"title":"Fellowship: A Word Study","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Becky Rene It is essential at this point that we understand how our spiritual fellowship is expressed. So we will take the time to examine the noun \u201cfellowship\u201d (koinonia) in all the contexts in which it appears. Some of the verses are difficult to understand because the translators have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/fellowship.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18230,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-mean-by-saying-fellowship-is-a-state-of-being\/","url_meta":{"origin":19118,"position":1},"title":"What do you mean by saying fellowship is “a state of being?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read\u00a0your sermon outline on fellowship\u00a0- it is very good. I have a question: you said that fellowship is a \"state of being\" and I do not understand what you mean. So can you explain\u00a0it to me, please? People talk about \"having fellowship\" when they eat together, is\u00a0it right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18232,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":19118,"position":2},"title":"Fellowship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As hard as we try to keep terms pure and free from the influence of denominations, we still sometimes find things creeping into our language. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People wanting to call the minister, \u201cpastor\u201d even though it properly belongs to those who oversee the congregation - the elders. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Similarly, the desire to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19167,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-hebrews-1316-in-terms-of-fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":19118,"position":3},"title":"Can you explain Hebrews 13:16 in terms of fellowship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: So now I am having trouble with Hebrews 13:16. He says, \"But to do good and to communicate forget not\". The words \"to communicate\" are the word Koinonia (fellowship). So he is saying \"But to do good and to fellowship forget not\". So what does he mean by telling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-contribution-mentioned-in-romans-1526-isnt-that-making-fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":19118,"position":4},"title":"What about the contribution mentioned in Romans 15:26? Isn’t that making fellowship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What\u00a0you have said\u00a0has been\u00a0very\u00a0helpful and I am growing in my understanding now. This is what you said: \u201cFellowship is\u00a0a description of who they were. They were a people of one heart and one soul. Thus fellowship is\u00a0a description of their state or attitude toward each other. When people turn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61320,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-buildings-assembly-halls-and-fellowship-halls\/","url_meta":{"origin":19118,"position":5},"title":"Notes on Buildings, Assembly Halls, and Fellowship Halls","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Assemblies The church is commanded to come together for the purpose of worship and encouragement - I Corinthians 11:18, 20, 33; Hebrews 10:25 The purpose of coming together as a church is specifically separated from eating meals - I Corinthians 11:22, 34 Fellowship Fellowship is a state of being. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n