Why Spiritual Theology Has Been Weak in the Area of Koinonia
“Koinonia” is the Greek word for fellowship. The basic meaning of koinonia is participation. Believers are to be participating with one another. Paul makes this clear every time he talks about believers gathering together. See Romans 12:1-16, I Corinthians 14:23-40, Ephesians 5:15-21, Colossians 3:9-17, Hebrews 10:24-25. Every believer has gifts and is supposed to exercise them to edify others. And every believer is supposed to be open to being edified. I believe Paul emphasizes this practice more than any other essential practice, including preaching, worship, prayer and studying scripture. This mutuality is supposed to be essential to spiritual growth. We can refer to this conception as “biblical koinonia”. The heart of biblical koinonia is mutual openness and edification for which I use the acronym “MOE”. We were never supposed to spend the majority of weekly gathering times just listening to a sermon and singing songs while neglecting mutual edification. We Continue Reading →