A Concern for Fellowship (Phil. 6a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2017 10:05 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  A Concern For Fellowship

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 6a

            Message of the verse:  “and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective”

            If you have real faith and love the result will be a concern for fellowship.  In the body of Christ there is no room for individualism as that would cause people not to care for one another.  Paul is telling this to Philemon because his runaway slave Onesimus is now a believer so Philemon needs to forgive Onesimus and also rejoice that he has become a believer in order to maintain harmony, peace, and unity in the Colossian church.

            Koinonia writes John MacArthur “is difficult to render precisely in English.  It is usually translated ‘fellowship,’ but it means much more than merely enjoying each other’s company.  It refers to a mutual sharing of all life, and could be translated ‘belonging.’  Believers belong to each other in a mutual partnership, produced by their faith in Christ.  By forgiving him, Philemon would acknowledge that he belonged to Onesimus as a brother in Christ. ‘Effective’ translates energes, which literally means ‘powerful.’  Such an act of forgiveness would send a powerful message to the church (cf. Gal. 3:28).  Forgiving a fellow believer, no matter what their offense, makes a strong statement of concern for fellowship.”

            A couple of things and that is that I have mentioned that there will be a series of short Spiritual Diaries as we work our way through verses 5-7.  The other thing I want to mention is that from the first time that I read this letter I have always wondered if Philemon had forgiven Onesimus for his offence of running away.  Now as I study this letter more carefully I think that it leaves little doubt that Philemon did.

7/2/2017 10:22 PM