Koinonia': What the winning spelling bee word means
Koinonia is a transliterated form of the Greek word, which means fellowship, joint participation, the share which one has in anything, and a collection.The idealized state of fellowship and unity should exist within the Christian church.The term may have come from the early Epicureans.[3]
It is often confused with the term communion, which is derived from Latin.Holy communion is a less confusing term for this.
The English terms community, communion, joint participation, sharing and intimacy are included in the essential meaning of the koinonia.Koinonia can refer to a gift together.The word appears 19 times in the Greek New Testament.The New American Standard Bible has translations of "fellowship" twelve times, "sharing" three times and "participation" twice.[5]
The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, it is found as a word, a pronoun, or a verbal form.According to the context, the word is applied to sharing or fellowship, or people in such relation.
According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, the following meanings are especially significant.
The communion with one another in the one body of Christ is called the Eucharist.This was the full meaning of koinonia in the early Catholic Church.The communion of the Church is due to the fact that many are one in Christ.[8]
The term metonymy refers to a group of Christian churches that have a close relationship with each other.The Anglican communion is an example.
Full communion is when the relationship between the churches is complete and includes faith, sacraments and pastoral governance that allow the Faithful to receive the life of grace within the Church.The term "full communion" is often used to refer to a relationship between Christian churches that are not united, but have entered into an arrangement whereby members of each church have certain rights within the other.