The Characteristics of Christian Communion: The Fellowship of the Saints (Boston)

Historic Christian theology affirms the reality of the communion (or fellowship) of the saints. In the historic Creed we say, "I believe...the communion of the saints." It's a confession that we believe in the biblical truth that there's a deep bond among and between followers of Jesus. The NT word is fellowship (κοινωνία - koinonia).…

A Multiethnic Church in Principle (Ryken)

While studying the biblical concept of the church family I found chapter 11 of The Communion of Saints to be quite helpful. The chapter is called "All in the Family". Here's one section of it that I highlighted. (Note: I added the Scripture references because Ryken had mentioned them before these paragraphs.) If Jews and…

On True Friendship (Roberts)

Want a brief and easy-to-read book on friendship that is also very helpful? Here's one suggestion: True Friendship by Vaughan Roberts. It's a nice little book that defines and discusses friendship from a Christian perspective. It's under 100 pages, but isn't simplistic or fluffy. Here are two parts of the book that I appreciated. There…

Behaviors, Addictions, and Helping One Another (Welch)

Scripture often calls God's people to help one another (1 Cor. 16:11, 2 Cor. 1:11, Phil. 4:16, 1 Thess. 5:14, etc.). One aspect of loving one another in a Christ-like way is giving others of our time, energy, and effort to help when and where help is needed. Speaking of this topic, here's how Ed…

Conformity to God and Communion with Him (Swinnock)

In the introductory pages to his 1672 publication, The Incomparableness of God, English puritan George Swinnock explained the relationship between the Christian's obedience to God and his fellowship with God. It's a short paragraph, but it's quite rich. It's a good Monday devotional thought. The holiness and happiness of the rational creature consists in these…