10 Key Bible Verses on Fellowship

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Acts 2:42

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Read More

The early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching, which would have included Jesus’ earthly teaching plus what he taught the apostles in his 40 days of resurrection appearances. Fellowship (Gk. koinōnia, “participation, sharing”) included the sharing of material goods (Acts 2:44), the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42, 46), which likely covers both the Lord’s Supper and a larger fellowship meal, and prayers in house meetings and likely also in the temple (Acts 2:42, 46).

2. 1 John 1:6–7

If we say we have fellowship with him while we 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 his Son cleanses us from all sin. Read More

If we say. John may be paraphrasing what some were falsely claiming. If God is light (1 John 1:5), then those who walk in darkness are not walking with God, no matter what they say.

Walk in the light means to reflect God’s perfection (1 John 1:5) in the human sphere and includes both correct doctrine (truth) and moral purity (holiness). The symbolism of light as knowledge (see note on 1 John 1:5–10) also implies that when Christians “walk in the light” their lives will be known, and will not contain hidden sins, falsehoods, or deception. Such walking “in the light” results in deep divine and human fellowship (1 John 1:3) and progressive cleansing from all sin.

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3. 2 Corinthians 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Read More

The only Trinitarian benediction in Paul’s letters, stressing that grace, love, and fellowship with one another come from God in Christ through the Spirit. Paul’s final reference to the Spirit recalls that he is writing and praying as a minister of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 3:3–18; 2 Corinthians 4:13–18; 2 Corinthians 5:5). you all. A final stress on the unity of the reconciled church, brought about by God himself, the furthering of which was one of the main goals of Paul’s letter (2 Corinthians 2 Corinthians 1:7; 2:5–11; 2 Corinthians 5:18–6:2; 2 Corinthians 6:11–13; 2 Corinthians 7:2–4; 2 Corinthians 9:13–14; 2 Corinthians 12:19; 2 Corinthians 13:5–10).

4. Hebrews 10:24–25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Read More

let us consider. The third and final exhortation in Heb. 10:22–25 calls for serious thinking about other Christians with a purpose to stir up (or “provoke”) them in their love and service (good works). Christian perseverance is thus also a community endeavor. meet together. Community encouragement toward perseverance requires being together. That some were neglecting this duty may have been among the motives for the author’s warnings throughout this book. encouraging. Voicing exhortation with the goal of strengthening another’s faith (see Heb. 3:13; cf. Heb. 13:22). the Day drawing near. The coming day of Christ’s return and judgment (Heb. 9:28; Heb. 10:37).

5. John 17:11

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. Read More

keep them. Jesus asks that those who have been specially given to him will be kept to the end (i.e., preserved from denying Christ). And since it is Jesus who intercedes for his disciples, his petition will most certainly be answered. The word “holy” in Holy Father echoes the assertion of God’s awesome purity as described in Lev. 11:44 (cf. Ps. 71:22; 111:9; Isa. 6:3); this is the only time in the NT that this form of address is used with reference to the first person of the Godhead. that they may be one, even as we are one. Jesus shows the kind of profound unity that should be the norm among genuine believers. As the following verses indicate (through John 17:26), this is to be a reflection of the unity that has existed eternally between the Father and the Son (John 17:11), namely, the unity of a common mind and purpose, an unqualified mutual love, and a sustained comprehensive togetherness in mission, as revealed in the Father-Son relationship characterized by Jesus’ own ministry.

Such unity is the result of Jesus’ active work of “keeping” (John 17:12, 15) and “guarding” (John 17:12); it results in believers being filled with joy (v. 13; see also 3:29; 15:11; 16:24; 1 John 1:4); it is rooted in the truth of God’s word (John 17:14, 17, 20); it involves “sanctification,” that is, in the sense of consecration to serve (John 17:17, 19); it becomes a witness to the world so that “the world may believe” (John 17:21); it is for the revelation of God’s glory (John 17:24); and it results in the experience of the indwelling love of God and the presence of Christ (John 17:26). The kind of unity that is central to Jesus’ high priestly prayer is not organizational but is an all-encompassing relational reality that binds believers together with each other and with their Lord—a unity that can be achieved only through the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although individual Christians, and the church in general, tend to fall short of the fullness of unity that the Lord intends, whenever such unity is even partially realized (never at the expense of truth or holiness; John 17:17) the result will always be deep joy (John 17:13), a persuasive witness to the world (John 17:21, 23), and a display of God’s glory (John 17:22).

6. Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another. Read More

Another is, as the ESV footnote reads, “the face of another.” Since the word “face” (Hb. panim) can refer to the edge of an axe or sword (Eccles. 10:10; possibly Ezek. 21:16), the image is that interaction with a good man (both as he encourages and corrects) hones one’s skill in handling challenges. Man translates Hebrew ’ish, a word that specifically refers to a male human being. But such concrete examples in Proverbs invite broader application.

7. 1 Corinthians 5:11

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. Read More

not to associate. See 2 Thess. 3:6, 14. One purpose here, as in 2 Thessalonians, is redemptive with respect to the person committing the sin (1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Thess. 3:14–15). But another purpose is to avoid giving the appearance of approving sinful conduct, lest reproach be brought on the church and the gospel.

8. Romans 1:11–12

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. Read More

mutually encouraged. Paul desires as an apostle to encourage the Christians in Rome, but it is also noteworthy that their faith serves to inspire and strengthen him as well.

9. Galatians 6:2

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Read More

To bear one another’s burdens is the supreme imitation of Jesus, the ultimate burden-bearer (see Rom. 15:1–3). He has even gone to the length of taking mankind’s sins (Gal. 1:4) and the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13) upon himself. and so fulfill the law of Christ. Though Paul insists that the Galatians are free from obeying Jewish ceremonial laws, this does not mean they are free from all of God’s moral requirements. The “law of Christ” in a broad sense means the entire body of ethical teaching that Jesus gave and endorsed (see note on 1 Cor. 9:21), but in a specific sense here it probably refers to the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:39; John 13:34), which, if followed fully, will result in obeying the rest of God’s moral law (Rom. 13:8–10).

10. 1 Corinthians 12:12–13

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Read More

Paul assumes the Corinthians know that the church is Christ’s body (see also 1 Cor. 12:27; 1 Cor. 6:15; 1 Cor. 10:16; Rom. 12:4–8; Eph. 1:22–23; 4:4, 12–16; 5:23; Col. 1:18, 24).

Since the Spirit is one, he unites peoples across lines of ethnicity and social class that would otherwise divide them. (See Rom. 10:12; Gal. 3:27–28; Col. 3:11.) in one Spirit we were all baptized. The same Greek construction (the verb baptizō plus en [“in”] plus the dative of pneuma, “Spirit”) is used here as in the other six “baptism in the Holy Spirit” passages in the NT (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16), and here it seems clearly to refer to the cleansing and empowering work that the Holy Spirit does in a new convert at the point of conversion. Baptism is used metaphorically here to refer to the Spirit’s work within the believer to unite him or her to the body of Christ, which is also the corporate body of believers. Water baptism is an outward symbol of this reality (cf. Rom. 6:4; Gal. 3:27). made to drink. Probably not a reference to the cup of the Lord’s Supper but to the outpouring of God’s Spirit on his people (cf. John 7:37–39; Rom. 5:5).