Training · The 1689 Baptist Confession
The communion of saints
What believers share with Christ and with each other, and where the sharing stops.
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Card 1 of 4
What do believers share with Christ, and what do they not?
They have fellowship in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection and glory - and they are not thereby made one person with him.
The qualifier is doing careful work. Union with Christ is real and it is not absorption. The believer remains a distinct person, which is the difference between Christian union and losing yourself in the divine.
We're sharing what we've seen and heard with you, so you can share in this connection with us. And our connection is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:3Confession 27.1
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What do believers owe each other?
Holy fellowship in worship and in the services that build each other up, and relief of each other's material needs according to ability and necessity.
Both are listed as obligations rather than as generosity. The confession runs the duty outward in circles: first the family and the local church, then, as opportunity comes, all who call on the name of the Lord anywhere.
Let's think about how we can encourage each other to love and do good.
And let's not stop meeting together, like some people do. Instead, let's encourage each other, especially now as you see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25Confession 27.2
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Does the communion of saints abolish private property?
No. It does not take away or infringe anyone's title to their own goods and possessions.
The clause is there because the question was live: the congregation in Acts 2 held everything in common, and radical groups in the seventeenth century read that as a rule. The confession reads it as voluntary, and cites Peter telling Ananias the property had been his to keep.
The land was yours before you sold it, and after you sold it, the money was still yours to do with as you wanted. So why did you decide to do this? You haven't lied to people, but to God.'
Acts 5:4Confession 27.2
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How far beyond the local church does the communion of saints reach?
Beyond it. Communion is to be extended, as God gives opportunity, to everyone in the household of faith who calls on the Lord Jesus.
It is the same instinct as the duty to pray for and help other churches. A congregation is where these duties are ordinarily carried out, and it is not the boundary of who they are owed to.
Confession 27.2