Grace Fellowship

Grace is how God relates to people. “By grace you have been saved.” Charis can mean a winsome character ... a kind attitude ... a gift ... or thankfulness for that gift. In the New Testament, grace is God’s kindness toward the undeserving—God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. It is “God’s redemptive love which is always active to save sinners and maintain them in proper relationship with him.” Similarly, the Old Testament word “loving-kindness” signifies “God’s continued faithfulness to his covenant-people, and his steadfast determination never wholly to let Israel go.”

Since believers have received grace from God, we in turn want to practice it toward others. We do that by being winsome, kind, generous, and forgiving. “Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” Grace needs to be not just our name, but our attitude and action.

In the first century, the Greek word for “fellowship” was often used for business partnerships and marriage. Both of these usages suggest a close, personal relationship between the partners. New Testament writers took this term and used it for:

• an abiding kind of friendship, Acts 2:42; 2 Cor 6:14 

• practical sharing with the poor, Rom 15:26; 2 Cor 8:4

• partnership in the work of Christ, Phil 1:5

• the fact that we share the Christian faith together, Jude 3

• a “fellowship” in the Spirit, 2 Cor 13:14; Phil 2:1

• a “fellowship” with Christ, 1 Cor 1:9; 10:16; Phil 3:10

• a “fellowship” with God, 1 John 1:3, 6

“Fellowship” is thus the bond that ties Christians to each other, to our Lord Jesus, and to God. This is the kind of life to which God calls us. It is built on Grace (not law or merit), and urges Fellowship (not isolation or competition). Let us love and live it!