The Communion of Saints |
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The meaning of this clause of the Apostles' Creed is far from obvious at first sight. What do we mean by "communion" and who are the "saints"? Is this strange expression something to do with communication with long dead Christians? In order to gain some insight into the meaning of this clause we must examine these two words, first separately and then together. CommunionThe Greek of the original text uses the word koinwnia (koinonia) . The most obvious translation of this word is Fellowship, although there are a whole range of other possible interpretations. Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship , and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. In each of these quotations the word(s) in italics are translated from the Greek koinwnia. So the word which we have in the Creed as Communion is the same word as is translated in the above (and other) ways. It is fellowship, contributory help, sharing, partnership. Although it is not used as such in the New testament, the Greeks also used this word to describe marriage. They also used it to describe community. The Saints.This is yet another problem word. The problem is derived from a tradition in which we have used the word, Saint, as a title for certain particularly holy people. We have thought of St. Mary and St. Peter and St. Paul along with St. Cuthbert and St. Aloysius. We have made statues and plaster images of them. (And more recently plastic ones that glow in the dark!) We have designated particular days, nations, activities for them to be patrons of. So we have St. Andrew, St George, St. David and St. Patrick as patron saints of various countries, St. Christopher as patron saint of travellers. We even have a patron saint of lost causes! Paul did not use the word "saint" in this way. He referred to the Christians at Corinth as saints. 1 Cor 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (AV) In this verse Paul seems to be suggesting that not only are the Church of God at Corinth saints but that "all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord" are saints too. And that is the correct interpretation of the word. Interestingly the word for saint is `agioV (hagios) - exactly the same word as the one used for "holy" in the previous clause - the Holy Catholic Church.
`AgioV, translated either as holy or as saint,
means "set apart for God (or by God)". Souter's Pocket Lexicon to the New
Testament Greek says that "`oi
`agioi
(hoi hagioi) is used of the Christians as the new people of God".
Thus, the saints are simply the "called out, separated people of God."
The Christians, the Church.
The Communion of SaintsNow at last we can deal with the whole phrase which, in Greek, is `agiwn koinwnian (hagion koinonian). Literally it means the fellowship or partnership of all those who are called to be the people of God. What do we mean by this phrase? It can take several meanings. The most obvious, from the English words is that it has to do with "Holy Communion", the Eucharist, Breaking of Bread, Lord's Supper - call it what you wish. It can certainly be argued that Jesus instituted that sacrament to be the ultimate expression of koinwnia. It would be true to say that this sacrament which is so often the one which divides Christian from Christian was intended to be a symbol of our oneness in Christ. If we look at the original Greek it could be taken to mean a sharing in holy things or even a participation in holiness. Both of these things are true of Christians for when we break bread, when we worship, when we bless we are certainly sharing in holy things and when we are baptised, when we are filled with the Spirit we participate in holiness. But by far the greatest significance of the phrase is that we share in fellowship with the whole Church, with all Christians of all ages, with "angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven", with those that have gone before and those yet to come. The Church militant and the Church triumphant. As it says in the great and ancient hymn the Te Deum Laudamus - "The glorious company of the apostles praise thee This is the company we keep in the Fellowship of the Holy Ones - The Communion of Saints. (All full biblical quotations in this article are taken from the New International Version and have been inserted into the text using "QuickVerse for Windows" from Parsons Technology .)
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