The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

The Trinity is the virtue and the model of the fellowship of Christ's Body.

Gino Iafrancesco

God's desire is that man corporately participates in the fellowship of the Trinity. That's why God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion" (Gen. 1:26a). In the unique essence of the Divinity three people subsist: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three divine people live in a perfect fellowship. It was the Father's pleasure that in His Son dwell all the fullness (Colossians 1:19). And all that belongs to the Father belongs to the Son, and all that belongs to the Son belongs to the Father (Jn. 17:10). Between the Father and the Son such a perfect, full and divine fellowship exists that the outcome of the Divine Love thus shared is the Holy Spirit who comes from the Father and the Son.

Jesus Christ established the fellowship of the Trinity as a virtue and a model for the fellowship of the Church, which is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In his priesthood prayer He prayed thus: "Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me" (Jn. 17:20-21). When Jesus said: "even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee", it was with this that He established the pattern. And when He said: "that they also may be in us", He established the only virtue upon which that unity and fellowship are possible.

It is not just about any type of unity, nor any type of fellowship, but the fellowship of the Trinity, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit who is the divine fullness coming from the Father and the Son toward us, to incorporate us into the unity and into the 'koinonia ' or fellowship that God has established that we live on the earth.

What God has established is that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be lived by the Church out on this earth before the world's eyes, so that it may believe. People will be liberated from the world and incorporated into this fellowship by the testimony of the Church.

The fellowship of the Trinity begins to be lived as the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In fact that was the apostle Paul's burden regarding the Church. He wrote to the Corinthians: "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all" (2 Co. 13:14). He mentions the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ first, since it is the first thing that we receive in order to become participants of God's love. The love of God was manifest through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; and it is the experience of the grace in Christ that demonstrates that love to us. The love of God should be received through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The effect of having received that grace and that love is that we are introduced into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit which is mentioned third.

In the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the Triune God has been given to the Church, in the universal and in each locality - in the case of this epistle, Corinth.

That the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with the church in each locality is the burden of the apostolic heart. The first burden is that in the locality the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be received, because it is that which brings us into contact with the love of God; but once that is already in place, the burden is that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be corporately with each of the members of the church of the locality and with Christ's body in general, because then the churches of the localities will also have fellowship with one another that is due of Christ's Body.

Apostles are administrators of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2), and that's why the burden of the apostolic heart is that as a result of this grace which is administered, as those sent by Jesus Christ Himself for this purpose, as ministers of reconciliation, that the practical experience of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may take place among all those that, by the grace of Christ, have received the love of God. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit manifested in the church of each locality is here, in the verse mentioned, the burden of the apostolic heart. God wants this type of fellowship to be that which is in each locality on the earth, by means of the Church.

The fellowship of the Holy Spirit

If we speak of types of fellowship, it is because there are several classes of companionships and several classes of unity which exist between men. Therefore, it is necessary to be very specific when we refer to the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, because it is not necessarily the same as other types of unity or companionship. Here we speak of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This means, on the one hand that this fellowship is exclusively restricted to people who have Christ's Spirit. St. Paul teaches by the Spirit that "...but if any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him" (Rom. 8:9b). That is to say that only those who have Christ's Spirit participate in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit implies embracing all those that have Christ's Spirit. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit reaches wherever Christ's Spirit has reached. Participation with Christ's Spirit is the limit of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Christ's Spirit is, therefore, the element that makes this fellowship possible. Everything that is estranged from Christ's Spirit is not part of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Thus any type of ecumenism which seeks to incorporate something different to what is characteristic of Christ's own Spirit, is not the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, but rather a different type of fellowship or companionship whose virtue is not Christ, and therefore, is exposed to be used by the antichrist's spirit to facilitate the hegemonic purposes of Satan.

Some seek to mix biblical Christianity with Judaism, and even with Islam, suggesting that we all have the same God as Abraham. But Jesus Christ and the apostles are very clear in declaring that whoever does not have the Son, does not have the Father; whoever does not receive the Son, does not receive the Father either; and whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father (2 Jn. 9; 1 Jn. 2:23; Jn. 5:23; 15:23).

So some may appear to be "apostles" of ecumenism, but that doesn't mean that they are apostles of Christ. On the contrary; Jesus said that whoever does not receive him, will receive another (Jn. 5:43). That's why other sought-out companionships which are not exclusively based around Jesus Christ's name, and that are truly in His Spirit, are so dangerous. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is restricted to the limits of participation with Christ's Spirit.

But sometimes, when one doesn't sin in excess, one sins by defect. On the one hand, some, openly or subtly, seek to direct the people of God to a fellowship type beyond the allowed limits. This is related to other interests behind its diplomacy because Christ is not the basis. On the other hand, some seek to narrow the limits of fellowship in a sectarian fashion, impeding legitimate brothers and sisters in Christ from having full fellowship with one another. This is because neither their basis for fellowship nor their centre is Christ, but some organization that is inferior to Christ's own Body, or some exclusivist tendency.

Thus some incorporate strange elements into Christ, mixing the Church with the world. And others divide the Church into tendencies and organizations that constitute divisions, because their principle of fellowship is not the common participation with Christ's Spirit, but some narrow type of sectarianism. This is not fellowship of the Holy Spirit either. That is one of the problems of denominationalism: That not all that are present are necessarily of Christ's Spirit, and that indeed, many who are of Christ's Spirit are not present.

The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is that, as a principle, all those who are present are of Christ, on the one hand. And on the other hand, it is open, as a principle, to the full fellowship with all those that belong to Christ, by virtue of Him. This full fellowship implies the disarmament of sectarianism, and in its place, to have the practice, in principle, of the fellowship of a single family, that of God, in full fellowship as a single church in each population in the given locality, and as a single Body in the universal.

On the other hand, there is a hybrid phenomenon of those who, in their ecumenical diplomacy, manufacture a "fellowship" whose basis is not Christ, whilst at the same time, in their exclusivity, place limits on the legitimate fellowship of the Holy Spirit among the brothers and sisters. This is due to the fact that their source is not the Holy Spirit, and that's why they can reject those of Christ and incorporate those who reject Him.

In the religious world these phenomena occur; and that's why the Church should discern what the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit is. Only the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the legitimate fellowship of Christ's Body. It is not a fellowship of organizational leaders, but of the full fellowship of all the brothers and sisters in Christ, by virtue of Christ, and as a single church in each locality and a single Body universally. The same family. Their model and their sustenance is the fellowship of the Father and of the Son.

The apostolic fellowship

This is also the legitimate apostolic fellowship. The New Testament speaks to us of the fellowship of the apostles and of the fellowship with the apostles. The apostle John writes in his first epistle: "that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn. 1:3).

So the apostolic testimony arises from the revelation and commission of Jesus Christ to the apostles; that which was seen and heard by them, and which is constituted in the doctrine of the apostles. The doctrine of the apostles produces the apostolic fellowship, the fellowship of the apostles and with the apostles. That doctrine of the apostles is found in all the New Testament.

The fellowship of the Trinity, of the Father and of the Son in the Holy Spirit, produces the fellowship of the apostles. The fellowship of the apostles is truly with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, a virtue and model of their fellowship. When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, believing in the Son of God according to the doctrine of the apostles just as it is in the New Testament, then thanks to this, by the Spirit we enter into fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, by which we also participate in the apostolic fellowship which is the same. This is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The fellowship established by God on the earth, and to which we all owe as believers in Jesus Christ, is the fellowship with the Father thanks to Jesus Christ, and is also the fellowship with Jesus Christ resurrected by means of the Holy Spirit.

To have this fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, we need to fully receive the fundamental doctrine of the apostles, just as it is in the New Testament. Then we have the apostolic fellowship. Then we participate in the fellowship that the apostles had with one another in the Father and in the Son. Then we have fellowship with the apostles in God and Christ. Then we have the fellowship of the apostles belonging to Christ's Body and by that cause and that virtue we have fellowship with one another, the fellowship of the saints, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And if we participate with the apostles in the work of the ministry, we also participate in the grace and fellowship of the gospel (Phil. 1).

It is the doctrine of the apostles according to the New Testament that produces fellowship with one another in Christ, the fellowship of the saints, the fellowship of Christ's Body. Why? Because the doctrine of the apostles is the announcement of the fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. When we believe in such an announcement and we receive God through Jesus Christ, by faith, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which introduces us into the fellowship. It is the common participation with Christ's Spirit which makes us a participant of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

From the fellowship of the Trinity comes the fellowship of the apostles, which is the fellowship with the Father and with the Son in the Holy Spirit; and, therefore, as a result, the fellowship of the apostles, the fellowship with the apostles, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This fellowship of the Holy Spirit extends to the church in each locality by means of the fellowship with the apostles. That is to say, being in one spirit with them, according to their doctrine, in accordance with the New Testament. So the fellowship of the Holy Spirit extended to the Church produces the fellowship of the saints with one another, thanks to the Trinity, which is the true fellowship of Christ's Body. The fundamental element that sustains the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ is the Spirit of Christ Himself, testified to by the apostles as in the New Testament.

If somebody has fellowship with the Father, thanks to Jesus Christ, according to the announcement of the apostles, according to the New Testament, then that person has Christ's Spirit, and therefore belongs to Christ's Body. All the members of Christ's Body draw near to God and to one another as one, by means of Jesus Christ's blood and His Spirit. Therefore, the blessing of the cup that we bless is the fellowship of Christ's blood. And the bread that we break is the fellowship of Christ's body (1 Co. 10:16-17).

Such a body is one, and, therefore, should not be divided, because Christ is not divided and we all participate of the same bread being one in Christ. So one must not be allowed to seek to break the full fellowship of Christ's members, if we are in the same Spirit of Christ.

Sectarianism

Sectarianism consists in impeding the full fellowship of all the brothers and sisters in Christ as a singularly manifest body in each locality as a candlestick, the church of the respective locality, where the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, in complete unity of spirit, doctrine and administration must be manifest.

When other types of fellowship and companionship are established, different to the full fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the church of the locality, and among the local churches universally, and instead of this, establishing divided organizations smaller than the Body and the church of the locality, then the sin of division and sectarianism is being committed. That type of fellowship is not of the Holy Spirit, because it separates the brothers and sisters in Christ in diverse parties, like those of denominational type. Therefore, brothers have no other option than, walking in Christ's Spirit, according to the doctrine of the apostles in the New Testament, to practice the full fellowship of the Holy Spirit with all our brothers and sisters in Christ, in our respective localities, and in the whole world as a single Church, universally and locally.

Whilst it depends on us, we are open to the full fellowship in Christ with all our brothers and sisters. In Christ, obviously. We don't have any other fellowship than that of the Holy Spirit, that of the apostles according to the New Testament, that of the blood and of the body of Christ. We are nothing other than The Church, universally speaking, and the church in our respective locality, including all our brothers and sisters, although some of them refuse to obey the Word and to give testimony of unity. The Church is universally one, and it is one in each locality, and has the doctrine of the apostles, Christ's Spirit, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and also its own discipline in the moral and doctrinal. The local churches are several, but only one per locality, according to population, municipality or city. Each one represents the universal Church in their locality.

Any "fellowship" whose limits are different to those of the Holy Spirit's, is not the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, because it is based on something else, and is under a control different to that of the Head by the Spirit of the Word. Any control that substitutes that of the Head, Jesus Christ, in the Spirit of the Word, and that separates those who belong to Christ, or that mixes that which is of Christ with that of the world is not under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Whoever doesn't practice the fellowship of the Holy Spirit within the only Body of Christ, according to the doctrine of the apostles in accordance with the New Testament, are not under the government of Christ, but are under the control or influence of another spirit.

A legitimate son of God can fall into the error of disobeying the Spirit of the Word of God and undergo the influence of other spirits, and thus harming himself. But he can be corrected by the truth in a spirit of meekness. Sectarian companionships hinder the full fellowship of the Holy Spirit, because their limitations are not Christ's Spirit, and by not being subject to the Word of God, they are under the control of another. The "fellowship" of Babel, where divisive structures are linked around a center different to the Christ of the Scriptures, is not the fellowship that God wants, but rather the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, in which all the saints in Christ, bought by His blood and regenerated by His Spirit, are one, and they meet as a single church in their respective polis, be it in one or several places, but together and in one accord in the locality, and in fellowship in Christ with the other churches of other populations.

The Trinity is the virtue and the model of fellowship

We are all called to walk to the height of the supreme calling in Christ Jesus, and we cannot be satisfied with the state of division or of mixture practiced by many among the people of God. The Trinity is the virtue and the model of the fellowship of Christ's Body, in order that it be lived out in the world in this time, so that the world may believe and see that God sent Jesus Christ and that He has loved us as He loved His Son.

To keep the unity of the Spirit in one Body requires application and diligence, since all the children of God have been made to drink of the same Spirit. We are only asked to keep the unity of the Spirit which is already a divine fact. All those who have Christ's Spirit participate in the unity of the Spirit and of the Body. The Spirit is one from eternity. If we allow the Lord to express Himself in us, then the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will manifest itself.

God did not create the earth in vain, nor did He give it over to the devil forever, but to manifest His divine economy in it. The Bible speaks to us of a single Body of Christ; therefore, we must have fellowship with all those who the Lord has received as children, because they are our brothers and sisters; it doesn't matter who preached to them or what mission has evangelized them. If those who led them to Christ were really servants of God and not of themselves, they would allow the Body, and nothing less, to take care of leading them toward the direction of the Head according to the Scriptures. Although the Lord will also distribute the work in the Body according to how He wants.

On the other hand, we cannot have spiritual fellowship with one with whom the Lord doesn't have fellowship. Our fellowship should be neither bigger nor smaller than that of what God wants. We should not guide ourselves by our merely natural likenesses, but according to the disposition of the Spirit of God according to the Holy Scriptures. All that comes from Adam must go through the cross, so that on the other side of it, reconciled in Christ, we can be a single Body.

The Gospel is preached precisely to introduce people into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit under Christ's authority, and not so that they may become proselytes of something smaller than Christ's Body and under a different direction than that of the Lord according to His Word. It is the doctrine of the apostles that produces the apostolic fellowship. If something other than this were sowed, something else will be produced. Secret societies also have rituals and covenants with which to bind people, as one makes in the sectarian practice, but they do not produce the fellowship of the Holy Spirit on the earth, nor the edification of Christ's Body.

When the apostles founded the churches, one per locality according to the New Testament, they didn't divide them into ministerial sects, a portion for each one in each locality, but rather all worked in the functioning of the entire Body. In Corinth they could not allow a "church" of Paul, and another of Apollos, and another of Cephas, but only the church in Corinth with all the saints in Christ in fellowship as a single Body, the candlestick of the city. In Jerusalem we do not see the "church" of Peter, nor of Andrew, nor of Thomas, etc., but simply the church in Jerusalem, all together and in one accord. The same thing was true in Antioch and in the rest of the New Testament. That is the fellowship of the apostles, of Christ's Body, of the Holy Spirit, of the Trinity, incorporating all the legitimate children of God in Christ into one.

To really co-work in the Father's business as Jesus Christ did, implies dying to ourselves and to live by the Spirit of Christ according to the doctrine and fellowship of the apostles. We must not be deceived by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment and spiritually discern the things of the Spirit of God, such as the true fellowship of Christ's Body.