Fellowship with Christ is a central theme in Christian theology, emphasizing the intimate and personal relationship believers are called to have with Jesus Christ. This fellowship is not merely a superficial association but a profound union that affects every aspect of a believer's life. It is rooted in the New Testament teachings and is essential for spiritual growth, sanctification, and the experience of eternal life.

Biblical Foundation

The concept of fellowship with Christ is deeply embedded in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 1:9, the Apostle Paul writes, "God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." This verse underscores that fellowship with Christ is initiated by God’s calling and is a divine invitation to participate in the life and mission of Jesus.

In John 15:4-5, Jesus Himself speaks of this intimate relationship using the metaphor of the vine and branches: "Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing." This passage highlights the necessity of abiding in Christ for spiritual vitality and fruitfulness.

Nature of Fellowship

Fellowship with Christ involves several key aspects:

1. Union with Christ: Believers are united with Christ in His death and resurrection. Romans 6:5 states, "For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection." This union signifies that believers share in the life, death, and resurrection power of Jesus.

2. Communion with Christ: This fellowship is characterized by ongoing communion with Jesus through prayer, worship, and the study of Scripture. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus extends an invitation for personal fellowship: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me."

3. Participation in Christ’s Sufferings: Fellowship with Christ also involves sharing in His sufferings. Philippians 3:10 expresses this desire: "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death." This participation is not only a sharing in His sufferings but also a path to deeper intimacy and understanding of His love and sacrifice.

4. Obedience and Imitation: True fellowship with Christ leads to obedience and a life that imitates His character. 1 John 2:6 states, "Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked." This implies a life of holiness, love, and service, reflecting the nature of Christ.

Implications for Believers

Fellowship with Christ transforms the believer’s life, providing assurance of salvation, peace, and joy. It empowers believers to live victoriously over sin and to fulfill the Great Commission. This fellowship is both a present reality and a future hope, as believers anticipate the fullness of communion with Christ in eternity.

The Apostle Paul encapsulates the essence of this fellowship in Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." This verse highlights the transformative power of fellowship with Christ, where the believer’s identity and purpose are found in Him.Psalm 45:9-16
Kings' daughters were among your honorable women: on your right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
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Matthew 12:48-50
But he answered and said to him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brothers?
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Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle of them.
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Mark 9:37
Whoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receives me: and whoever shall receive me, receives not me, but him that sent me.
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Luke 8:21
And he answered and said to them, My mother and my brothers are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
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Luke 24:32
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
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John 6:51-57
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
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John 14:20-23
At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
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John 15:1-8
I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
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John 17:21-23,26
That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
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Romans 7:4
Why, my brothers, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God.
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Romans 8:1,10,17
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
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Romans 11:17
And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
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Romans 12:5
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
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1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, by whom you were called to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
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1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
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1 Corinthians 10:16
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
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1 Corinthians 12:12,27
For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
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2 Corinthians 11:2
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
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2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?
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Ephesians 5:30,32
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
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Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
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Colossians 3:3
For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
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1 Thessalonians 5:9,10
For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
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Hebrews 2:11
For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
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1 John 2:6,24,28
He that said he stays in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
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1 John 3:6,24
Whoever stays in him sins not: whoever sins has not seen him, neither known him.
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1 John 4:13
Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
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1 John 5:12,20
He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.
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2 John 1:9
Whoever transgresses, and stays not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that stays in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son.
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Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
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The Fellowship of Prayer
... earnest prayer. We enjoy an unbroken fellowship with Christ when we make
our requests known unto Him in daily prayer. He imparts ...
/.../anderson/prayer availeth much/chapter 1 the fellowship of.htm

1 John iii. 24
... Here, then, are conjoined two characteristic marks of fellowship with Christ which
cannot be dissevered from each other; the one inward, perceptible to the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/neander/the first epistle of john/1 john iii 24.htm

1 John iii. 4-7
... In all that is here said, there is presupposed that righteousness which has its
root in fellowship with Christ, the new life proceeding from him and formed ...
//christianbookshelf.org/neander/the first epistle of john/1 john iii 7-apr.htm

Argument. The Two Former Books Treated of God the Creator and ...
... As all do not indiscriminately embrace the fellowship of Christ offered in the Gospel,
but those only whom the Lord favors with the effectual and special grace ...
/.../the institutes of the christian religion/argument the two former books.htm

1 John iii. 19-22
... So far from this, he assumes the filial relation to God grounded in fellowship with
Christ as already existing, and as being the source of that joyful ...
//christianbookshelf.org/neander/the first epistle of john/1 john iii 19-22.htm

Symbolism of the Church Building
... choir. It is the place where the congregation is gathered, in the fellowship
of Christ's religion, for the purpose of worship. It ...
/.../regester/the worship of the church/symbolism of the church building.htm

Argument. In the Former Books an Exposition Has Been Given of the ...
... in this last Book, of the Church and the Communion of Saints, or of the external
means or helps by which God invites us to fellowship with Christ, and keeps us ...
/.../the institutes of the christian religion/argument in the former books.htm

"And Truly Our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son ...
... Ye have one to teach you all things that are needful for you, one to subdue your
sins under you, and, by virtue of fellowship with Jesus Christ in these ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/sermon vii and truly our.htm

Dead with Christ.
... Undoubtedly. By the Holy Spirit a man can now begin to live and grow,
deeper and deeper, into the fellowship of Christ's death. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/murray/the masters indwelling/ix dead with christ.htm

Sanctification in Fellowship with Immanuel
... Sanctification in Fellowship with Immanuel. ... The third reason why our sanctification
is in Christ is: that He has obtained it, that it flows from Him, and that ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/viii sanctification in fellowship with.htm

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