Someone has been arguing with me about fellowship and they say it is okay to have meals together in the building because eating together is an expression of fellowship. He says, “If eating together and having fun together is not an expression of fellowship, then what is it?” He says we do these things together because\u00a0we are in\u00a0fellowship.<\/p>\n
How do I answer him?<\/p>\n\t
Your friend does a little bit better than most by avoiding calling meals fellowship. Instead, he is arguing that if something expresses fellowship, then it is authorized.<\/p>\n
To illustrate the flaw in the argument, let’s talk about worship. If something can be classified as an expression of worship, does that make it authorized? Those who use instrumental music would like to argue in this way. After all the Israelites used instrumental music in their worship (Psalm 150). But why stop there? People used self-mutilation in their worship of Baal (I Kings 18:28). Does the fact that something can be called an expression of worship make it authorized? I hope you see that the answer is clearly “No!”<\/p>\n
Your friend made several mental leaps in his argument. He argued that eating together is an expression of fellowship. That is true. “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart<\/em>” (Acts 2:46). People who are in fellowship often share meals together. That is why when a person is withdrawn from, sitting down to eat with them is forbidden (I Corinthians 5:11). But where is the authority for the church to provide meals or facilities to those in fellowship? The only meal that is commanded of the church to share is that of the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 10:16-17). Thus your friend took individual acts done voluntarily and made them into a required church activity without proving that God authorized it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Someone has been arguing with me about fellowship and they say it is okay to have meals together in the building because eating together is an expression of fellowship. He says, “If eating together and having fun together is not an expression of fellowship, then what is it?” He says we do these things…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[151,253],"class_list":["post-19369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-eating-in-the-building","tag-fellowship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61320,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-buildings-assembly-halls-and-fellowship-halls\/","url_meta":{"origin":19369,"position":0},"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":[]},{"id":19698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-shouldnt-write-against-having-kitchens-and-fellowship-halls-since-these-arent-important-to-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":19369,"position":1},"title":"You shouldn’t write against having kitchens and fellowship halls since these aren’t important to salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I stumbled across your web site and found some very valuable information that may help me in the future. I disagree, however, with one of your beliefs. Having a kitchen or a potluck at the church building is not wrong. The church building is just that -- a building.\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":5718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-corinthian-1133-allow-fellowship-meals-at-the-church-building\/","url_meta":{"origin":19369,"position":2},"title":"Does I Corinthian 11:33 allow fellowship meals at the church building?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother in Christ, \u00a0 I read your answer to Why is eating in the building an issue?\u00a0concerning eating in the building and have a few questions. \u00a0 First, you quote I Corinthians 11:17-22 where Paul is remonstrating the Corinthians for leaving some hungry and for some getting drunk\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":46511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship-halls-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":19369,"position":3},"title":"Fellowship Halls (Longhenry)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry It has become popular among many religious organizations and denominational churches to build and maintain a facility as part of their property which is used to facilitate the sharing of meals. Sometimes such facilities are considered a \"multipurpose area\" that might be used for meals, meetings,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1999,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-can-have-fellowship-with-people-who-differ-in-one-area-why-cant-you-have-fellowship-with-those-who-have-kitchens-and-fellowship-halls\/","url_meta":{"origin":19369,"position":4},"title":"If you can have fellowship with people who differ in one area, why can’t you have fellowship with those who have kitchens and fellowship halls?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you believe that weddings and\/or funerals may take place in the church auditorium? Do you think that you can maintain fellowship with those who differ with you on this question? Do you think that you can maintain fellowship with those who differ with you about having a kitchen\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":54920,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-church-uses-a-website-and-a-facebook-page-so-why-can-another-church-have-a-fellowship-hall\/","url_meta":{"origin":19369,"position":5},"title":"Your church uses a website and a Facebook page, so why can another church have a fellowship hall?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm not even saying I want to have or like having a fellowship hall, but given\u00a0your stance that the Bible does not specifically provide for it, why do you have a website and email for your church? Also, why do you have a Facebook page?\u00a0 Is not a Facebook\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19369","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=19369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}