“Fellowship with God, then, is the source from which fellowship among Christians springs:”
“Where there is no fellowship with God, there can be no biblically defined fellowship with men. There can be friendship, collegiality, healthy human relationships, but no Christian fellowship.”
“For Christian fellowship is something much more transformative. Christian fellowship is two-dimensional; it is first vertical and then horizontal. The horizontal plane of fellowship…..presupposes the vertical for its very existence. The vertical dimension of fellowship was described by John when he wrote: ‘our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ’
“The Puritans used to ask God for one ‘bosom friend’, with whom they could share absolutely everything and maintain a full-scale prayer-partner relationship; and with that they craved, and regularly set up, group conversations about divine things.”
Excerpt From
18 Words
J. I. Packer
Comments