Communion

Communion in biblical usage designates the intimate fellowship between God and humanity and among believers themselves. The Hebrew and Greek terms — yakhad, koinōnia — convey sharing, participation, and common life. From the beginning God sought communion with humanity, walking with Adam in the garden (Genesis 3:8) and speaking to Moses face to face in the tent of meeting (Numbers 12:7–8). Sin disrupted this fellowship, and the whole redemptive narrative moves toward its restoration through Christ.

In the New Testament, koinōnia encompasses participation in the divine nature through the Spirit (2 Peter 1:4), the shared life of the believing community (1 John 1:3), and specifically the Lord's Supper. Paul asks: the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16). The Lord's Supper — also called the Eucharist or the Lord's Table — is the covenant meal in which believers participate in Christ's body and blood, proclaiming his death until he comes. The terms of the Upper Room discourse in John 14–17, with its language of mutual indwelling, represent the fullest NT articulation of the communion between Christ and his people.