Gordon Fee
“[In the New Testament], salvation is seldom if ever thought of simply as a one-to-one relationship with God…“To be saved” …means to become part of the people of God, who by the Spirit are born into God’s family and therefore joined to one another as one body, whose gathering in the Spirit form them into God’s temple. God is not simply saving diverse individuals and preparing them for heaven; rather he is creating a people for his name, among whom God can dwell and who in their life together will reproduce God’s life and character in all its unity and diversity.”
–
Life with the Spirit beckons us toward life in community.
–
Romans 5v5
…because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
–
1 Corinthians 12v31-13v8
“And yet, I am going to show you a far better way. If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good. Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…”
–
1 Corinthians 13v4-8
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
–
Cultivate Relational Knowledge
To greet one another, welcome one another, show hospitality to one another, encourage one another, pray for one another.
–
Pursue Relational Repair
Forgive one another, confess our sins to one another, be kind and compassionate to one another, refuse to grumble, slander, or judge one another, and earnestly desire to restore one another gently.
–
Commit to Relational Longevity
Bear one another’s burdens, serve one another, spur one another on to love and good works, submit to one another, and be devoted to one another.
–
Joseph Hellerman, When the Church was a Family
“Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community….Long-term, interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian live. People who stay also grow. People who leave do not grow…It is a simple but profound biblical reality that we both grow and thrive together or we do not grow much at all.”
–
