LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 267

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THEOLOGY OF FELLOWSHIP 267

31:31),1 He established in the sending of His Son Jesus
Christ into the world. The purpose of God in the In-
carnation was not only to redeem man but also to bring
man into fellowship with Himself (Gal. 4:4,5; 1 Cor.
1:9).2 The Word, the Eternal Son of God, was made
flesh, and thus God Himself tented among us (John
1:14).3

In the words of institution of the Lord’s Supper,
Christ interprets His whole mission as the establish-
ment of the promised covenant (Matt. 26:28; 1 Cor. 11:
25).4 By His sacrificial atoning death and victorious
resurrection Christ consummated and fulfilled the old
covenant, making good that which the perpetual failure
of man had destroyed (Jer. 31:32).5 Our Lord has thus
designated His life, death, and resurrection as that great
reconciling act of God which Paul describes in his
Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 5:19).6

1 Jer. 31:31. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel, and with the house of Judah.”

2 Gal. 4:4,5. “But when the fullness of the time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the Law, to redeem them that were under the
Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
1 Cor.1:9. “God is faithful, by whom ye were called
unto to the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, our
Lord.” ;

3 John 1:14. “And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the Only-Begotten of the Father), full of grace
and truth.”

4 Matt. 26:28. “For this is My blood of the new tes-
tament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.” 1 Cor. 11:25. “This cup is the new testament in
My blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remem-
brance of Me.”

5 Jer. 31:32. “Not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day that I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
which My covenant they brake, although I was an
husband unto them, saith the Lord.”

6 2 Cor.5:19. “God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto Himself, not imputing their prespasses unto
them; and hath committed unto us the Word of recon-
ciliation.”

II. God in Creating Faith Bestows
the Blessing of Fellowship
A. FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IN CHRIST

When Christ had completed His work upon the cross
and had reconciled all mankind to God, He committed
to His church the Word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19),*
with the command that they should preach it to all the
world (Acts 1:8; Luke 24:46-48; ep. Acts 2:4-12).?
Through this Word men are summoned to faith, and
faith is created in them (1 Peter 1:23-25; Rom. 10:17;
Rom. 1:16, 17; James 1:18)3

The call to faith is simultaneously the call into fel-
lowship (1 Cor.1:9).4 In the Gospel God effectively
calls man into fellowship; in Baptism God initiates man
into fellowship (Gal. 3:26-29)?; in the Lord’s Supper
God strengthens and confirms man in the fellowship
into which He Himself has called and placed him
(1 Cor. 10:16,17).6 This fellowship, created and sus-
tained by the Holy Spirit, makes the Christian a par-
taker in Christ, a child of God, and therefore also an
heir of God in time and in eternity (Rom. 8:16, 17; Gal.
3:26-29; Rom. 10:9-13).?

12 Cor.5:19. “God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them; and hath committed unto us the Word of
reconciliation.”

2 Acts 1:8. “But ye shall receive power, after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be wit-
nesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth.” Luke 24:46-48. “And said unto them, Thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to
rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in His name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye
are witnesses of these things.” Cp. Acts 2:4-12.

3 1 Peter 1:23-25. “Being born again, not of cor-
ruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away. But the Word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached
unto you.” Rom. 10:17. “So then faith cometh by hear-
ing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Rom. 1:16, 17.
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by
faith.” James 1:18. “Of His own will begat He us with
the Word of truth that we should bea kind of first
fruits of His creatures.”

41 Cor.1:9. “God is faithful, by whom ye were
called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ,
our Lord.”

5 Gal. 3:26-29. “For ye are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor
free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye
Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

6 1 Cor. 10:16, 17. “The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of
the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread
and one body, for we are all partakers of that one
bread.”

7 Rom. 8:16,17. “The Spirit itself beareth witness