Koinonia

The Greek word koinonia comes from koinos, meaning "common" or "shared," but its New Testament usage carries revolutionary weight. When Luke describes the early church as "devoted to...the koinonia" (Acts 2:42), he's not describing casual social gatherings. He immediately unpacks it: "all who believed were together and had all things in common (koina), and they were selling their possessions and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need" (Acts 2:44-45). Koinonia meant radical economic sharing that scandalized Roman society.

Paul uses koinonia to describe mystical participation in Christ. "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation (koinonia) in the blood of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). This isn't symbolic remembrance but actual sharing-in, a union so real that Paul can say "we, though many, are one body" (1 Corinthians 10:17). The Lord's Supper creates koinonia—common participation in Christ's life, death, and resurrection that binds believers into organic unity.

The word also describes partnership in mission. Paul thanks the Philippians "for your partnership (koinonia) in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:5). This wasn't merely financial support (though it included that); it was shared ownership of the mission itself. When Paul writes "I hold you in my heart...you are all partakers (synkoinonous) with me of grace" (Philippians 1:7), he's describing a spiritual and practical alliance where their prayers, money, and risks made them co-participants in everything he suffered and accomplished.

Even suffering has koinonia. Paul desires "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings (koinonia of his sufferings)" (Philippians 3:10). Peter similarly tells persecuted believers to "rejoice insofar as you share (koinoneo) Christ's sufferings" (1 Peter 4:13). This isn't masochism but recognition that real participation in Christ includes the hardship—you can't have koinonia in his glory without koinonia in his cross.

Here's what we've lost: in business Greek, koinonia meant a legally binding partnership where partners shared both profits and liabilities. When modern churches reduce "fellowship" to coffee and donuts after service, we've domesticated something far more costly. The early church's koinonia meant your money was my money, your suffering was my suffering, your mission was my mission. We've traded shared life for shared space—participation for mere proximity.