[The Epistle of Philemon] Risks of Faith and LoveSýnishorn

The Koinonia of Faith

Paul commended Philemon for his love and faith in Christ and all the believers. Now, he will flip those words and talk about faith first. He says: "That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."

The word for sharing is the word koinonia. It also means communion, fellowship, or participation in. The word for effective can be translated as put to good work, put in good working order, put into action, or made active. So, Paul is not calling Philemon to be an evangelist. He is talking about the faith that he shares with others and that it could become active.

This ought to make us mind James, who says faith without works is dead and that the way you activate faith is by doing works. Paul prays that as Philemon shares his faith, it will become effective – an active, working faith. How does this happen? By acknowledging every good thing which is in him in Christ Jesus.

The word acknowledgment is the word epignosis, which means not only head knowledge, but experiential knowledge. What Paul is praying for is that Philemon would not only recognize but experience every good thing that is in him in Christ Jesus.

What are those good things which are in you in Christ Jesus? They are the fruit of the Spirit that we can experience. Effective faith that gets put into action is the result of knowing Christ deeply.

If we had hundreds of candy bars in our hands, what would we do with them? We would want to start passing them out to people. We are amazed by the abundant blessings we have been given, and the only thing to do with those is to give them away. When you share the good things of Jesus Christ with others, you grow and experience them more deeply from Christ himself.

We share a common bond in Jesus Christ. That commonality of faith drives us and brings us together as the body of Christ.

Lord, thank you that You want us to have the richest, fullest life we could have. Please let us have experiential knowledge of the good things we already know we have in Jesus Christ so that we may share them with other believers.