the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Bible Dictionaries
Communion
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
or "a having in common (koinos), partnership, fellowship" (see COMMUNICATE), denotes (a) the share which one has in anything, a participation, fellowship recognized and enjoyed; thus it is used of the common experiences and interests of Christian men, Acts 2:42; Galatians 2:9; of participation in the knowledge of the Son of God, 1 Corinthians 1:9; of sharing the realization of the effects of the Blood (i.e., the Death) of Christ and the Body of Christ, as set forth by the emblems in the Lord's Supper, 1 Corinthians 10:16; of participation in what is derived from the Holy Spirit, 2 Corinthians 13:14 (RV, "communion"); Philippians 2:1; of participation in the sufferings of Christ, Philippians 3:10; of sharing in the resurrection life possessed in Christ, and so of fellowship with the Father and the Son, 1 John 1:3,6,7; negatively, of the impossibility of "communion" between light and darkness, 2 Corinthians 6:14; (b) fellowship manifested in acts, the practical effects of fellowship with God, wrought by the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers as the outcome of faith, Philemon 1:6 , and finding expression in joint ministration to the needy, Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 8:4; 9:13; Hebrews 13:16 , and in the furtherance of the Gospel by gifts, Philippians 1:5 . See COMMUNICATION , CONTRIBUTION , DISTRIBUTION , FELLOWSHIP.
"having in common," is rendered "have communion with (the altar)," --the altar standing by metonymy for that which is associated with it -- in 1 Corinthians 10:18 , RV (for AV, "are partakers of"), and in 1 Corinthians 10:20 , for AV, "have fellowship with (demons)." See COMPANION.
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Communion'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved/c/communion.html. 1940.
