← Communicatio IdiomatumCompassion →
Communion
/kəˈmjuː.ni.ən/
noun
From Latin communio — sharing in common, participation; from communis (common, shared). Greek: koinōnia (G2842) — fellowship, sharing, participation. The root idea is union — being held in common with another.

📖 Biblical Definition

Communion is the intimate participation of believers with God and with one another through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It finds its highest expression in the Lord's Supper (the Eucharist), wherein the church proclaims Christ's death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). Communion is not merely ritual — it is a participation in the body and blood of Christ, a covenant meal that declares union with Him and with His body the church. True communion requires self-examination, genuine faith, and a right relationship within the covenant community.

📜 Webster 1828 Definition

COMMUNION, n. Fellowship; intercourse between two persons or more; interchange of transactions, or offices; a state of giving and receiving; agreement; concord. In a religious sense, fellowship or a state of fellowship with God and His people. The celebration of the Lord's Supper; the act of partaking of the sacrament of the eucharist; as, to receive the communion.

⚠️ Modern Corruption

Modern usage has diluted "communion" into a vague feeling of oneness — with nature, with humanity, with one's inner self. The word is detached from its covenantal and ecclesiastical roots, becoming a synonym for any spiritual "connection." Within the church, debates have reduced communion to either an empty memorial with no real presence or a mechanical sacrament disconnected from faith and repentance. Scripture demands a corporate, deliberate, examined participation — not a casual ritual or a mystical emotion.

📖 Key Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:16 — "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?"

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 — "Do this in remembrance of me...you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

Acts 2:42 — "They devoted themselves...to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

1 John 1:3 — "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

John 6:53–56 — "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."

🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots

G2842koinōnia — fellowship, sharing, participation; active partnership in a common cause or life

G2840koinoō — to make common; to share in

G3350metochē — partnership, partaking together

✍️ Usage

• "The Lord's Table is not merely a memorial — it is the communion of the body of Christ with its Head."

• "Unconfessed sin breaks communion with God; repentance restores it."

• "Genuine communion requires more than physical proximity — it demands shared faith, shared life, shared mission."

Related Words