Toward a Definition for Biblical Community

Often I will interact with Christians and discuss their idea of biblical community. The topic of their local church comes up in conversation. The topic of who they do life with presents itself for discussion – Mostly the body of the banter includes an analysis of either why or why not the area they live in or church building they meet at meets the individual’s need regarding “biblical community”. “You know Matt, we just haven’t been able to find a community”. You see Matt we just miss our church family back home”. “Matt, we really love the environment of the mid-west; we really just love what our church offers our children.” In other words, when the topic of biblical community comes up two glaring elements emerge: 1. Biblical Community is ambiguous and defining it really depends on the person and what they experience and 2. The success of biblical community is solely dependent on the ENVIRONMENT and the EXPERIENCES that people have. What if this was not the true meaning of biblical community? What if the primary essentials of biblical community had little to do with Environment and Experiences and more to do with truths based on the UNITY that Christians are called to uphold with one-another – despite one’s environment or experiences?

The Epistle to Diognetus (c. A.D. 120-200) is a letter that responded to propaganda circulating in the Roman Empire. False rumors were spread about Christians. Allegations were fostered in the empire of dangerous lifestyles and a secret society that demonstrated bizarre behavior. The following excerpt from The Epistle points out that the context and environment in which the early Christians functioned was not what differentiated them from others—it was their ethic of “as God is, so shall their people be.”

The difference between Christians and the rest of mankind is not a matter of nationality, or language or customs. Christians do not live in separate cities of their own, speak any special dialect, nor practice any eccentric way of life. . . . Nevertheless, the organization of their community does exhibit some features that are remarkable and even surprising. For instance, though they are residents at home in their own countries, their behavior there is more like transients. . . . Though destiny has placed them here in the flesh, they do not live after the flesh. They obey the laws, but in their private lives they transcend the laws. They show love to all men—and all men persecute them. They are misunderstood and condemned; yet by suffering death they are quickened in to life. They are poor, yet making many rich; lacking all things, yet having all things in abundance.51

My wife Abby will often gently remind me that I too quickly allow my environment and my experiences to dictate how I react to things. I am quick to allow my situation, environment, circumstances, and experiences to control whether I am really experiencing true biblical community. Maybe biblical community and the essentials that make a community biblical have more to do with God and His truths than my environment and experiences? In fact I am sure that it is indeed my environment and experiences that hinder me from often experiencing true biblical community with God and others.

 Biblical community. Biblical community might be people with Christ in common that are participating in Spirit-filled ceremonies, rituals, and dialogue between God and man, and man and man.109 Biblical community might include community that moves past an experience with other people and begins with a truth that must be known first (God) and then experienced with people. The believer understands that the community encountered is not free from sin, but that the success of this community is not based on how one performs in the community, but rather that one knows the truth. The goal of biblical community is not the person living out the by-products of the gospel such as leadership, character, obedience, etc.; the goal, rather, is union with Jesus Christ and relationship rooted in the completed work of the gospel of Jesus. Biblical community takes place as part of one’s sanctification.