The Apostle’s Creed: The Communion of Saints

The Apostle’s Creed - the communion of saints

This phrase deals with the local church.

It teaches three (3) things:

1) The 1st Century Christian believed there was a shared life: communion, i.e. common union among all of the Christians in their local church.

2) They believed they were saints, not just because the Holy Spirit had saved them, and lived in them, but because they were now called saints: “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Rom 1:7; they were called saints because the Holy Spirit lived in them and was working in them to wean them off of sinning,

3) And by implication, it is a clear statement that Christians in a given locality should gather together. Heb 10:25, “Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.”

The person being baptized was making a public statement about these things, even though to proclaim oneself a Christian and associate with other Christians in the 1st century Roman world, was again putting a bull’s-eye on one’s back, and endangering the entire group!

As a general statement, these things are true for the Universal Church, the Body of Christ in its totality; but they are also true of each local church. Each local church is to be an expression of the Universal Church; the same, but “smaller”; like similar triangles: the same, but different in size. In 1Co 12:27 Paul calls the local church at Corinth “a body of Christ”, “Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.”

Firstly then, this is a clear statement that there is a common life that Christians share as members of a local church.

With regard to the church as a body, the Holy Spirit is the common life force that flows through all Christians; using the image of the church as a building/house, he is the mortar that holds us all together.

Secondly, again note the word “saints”; local churches are to be made up of saints, Christians. This does not mean non-believers should not come to church; not at all! But as applied to the church in its truest meaning, a gathering of Christians, it means the local church is not a club, it is a body, a living organism, made up of saints, born-again people, indwelt by the holy spirit, alive in Christ. Non-believes should come to hear the gospel preached, but they are not part of the body, so in that sense, they are not part of the church.

Thirdly, the bible teaches that a true Christian will gather with God’s people, they will be part of a local church, they will seek to share in the common life of the group. They will do this not because they have to do it, but because they want to do it. The Holy Spirit living within them will motivate them to do it; he will cause the other Christians to be more important to him than his own natural family.

The word communion. In Greek the word for communion is the same word as for fellowship koinōnia. It teaches us that we are to mutually support, encourage, and strengthen each other, just like all the parts of a body work together to keep the body strong and healthy. To do this, you must gather with God’s people. The Bible knows nothing of the lone Christian who does not gather with other Christians. The 1st century Christian who was being baptized was stating that they believed it was right for them to gather with God’s people. In fact, even with all of the persecution that they were experiencing, and in spite of all that persecution, they loved to gather with God’s people.

Do you love to gather with God’s people? This is a mark of a true Christian. Yes, this can be trying if there are people you don’t like, or don’t get along with, or who speak a different language than you, or are ethically different, of higher or lower social status, or who hold doctrinal beliefs and/or practices different than you; BUT that is exactly the point, in spite of that, we are to gather with them. Churches that are ethnic or language based, are not the best. They show the world we are not really one. How far we carry that into the area of doctrine and practice can be hard, but at one point it is wrong to not gather with people we believe are truly Christians, simply because they believe some things we do not, or conduct church differently than we would. This is not talking about non-Christians! But if we believe we will see certain people in heaven, we should try (yes, try, work at it, humble ourselves to do it) to gather with them here on earth.