Flawed Fellowship

"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:5-7).

The word fellowship in the Bible denotes a spiritual partnership or relationship. According to this text, those who are walking in the light, according to the commandments of God, have a relationship with God. John goes on to say in verse 7 that if one has fellowship with God, they also have fellowship with all others who have fellowship with God. So Christians are necessarily bound together in fellowship - saints are partners together in the kingdom of God.

However, while our fellowship with one another is automatic based upon each saint's fellowship with God, we have to make judgments regarding fellowship in this life. In fact, the book of 1 John was partly written to assist the saints in knowing who did have and who didn't have fellowship with God; they were expected to apply these principles; if someone was truly walking in the light, they were to acknowledge fellowship, but if someone was not walking in the light, they were to refuse fellowship. A simple reading of the book will prove that this was indeed one of the primary purposes of 1 John.

Of course, we ought not extend fellowship to those in the world. That is a given. We cannot embrace as spiritual kinsmen those who are of the world and carnal (2 Cor. 6:14-18). However, even among those who profess to be Christians, we must make determinations regarding fellowship even though our judgments may be flawed.

In Acts 9:26, Paul tried to join the Jerusalem church, but the church was "afraid of him," for they knew that he had just recently been making efforts to persecute the church. I would suggest to you that their hesitation and doubt was justified. They could not flippantly extend fellowship to someone whose sincerity and claims they doubted. Thankfully, Barnabas was there to vouch for Paul; based on Barnabas' testimony, they did finally embrace Paul as a member of the church. Their initial perception was obviously flawed, but they were right in being hesitant until Paul's claims could be proven.

While the church in Jerusalem was exercising caution in refusing Paul at first, there is an example where sound brethren were refused on more sinister grounds. In 3 John 9-10, we read of a man named Diotrephes who refused to accept sound brethren, even "putting them out of the church." Diotrephes was not merely being cautious. One cannot argue that this man, despite his flawed judgment, was at least sincere. As the context bears out, Diotrephes was a malicious, prideful, arrogant man who only wanted to control the church.

The opposite is also true...

Just as we can refuse fellowship to those whom we ought to fellowship, so also can we extend felowship to those whom we ought to reject. We see this in 1 Corinthians 5. There was a man in the church who was living in sin, and yet the church had not removed this man from among them (vs. 1-2). In response, Paul told them to "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh" (vs. 5). In other words, they were to make it known that this man no longer was part of their fellowship, but instead, was living in fellowship with Satan. We see a similar situation in 2 Thessalonians 3, and in Revelation 2:20, we learn that the church in Thyatira had tolerated a woman among them whom they should have rejected!

So there are dangers both ways. It is possible to extend fellowship to those we ought to reject, and it is possible to reject those with whom we ought to have fellowship. Again, based on 1 John 1, all of us who are walking in the light necessarily have fellowship with one another on the basis that we each have fellowship with God. Yet here on this earth, we must make determinations regarding fellowship, and sometimes our fellowship is flawed; that is, our judgments and decisions regarding fellowship maysometimes be incorrect.

So what are we to do?

Dear reader, we can only do the best we can based on the evidence before us and how the actions of the individual match up with the teachings of the word of God. Sometimes, this is very easy. Sometimes, it is not. Therefore, we must constantly be studying God's word, praying for wisdom, for clarity, and yes, for God's mercy and forgiveness if and when our judgments are misguided or mistaken.