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If you want a detailed breakdown regarding communication, it’s critical you read these three articles in the order that they are linked here.
Imaging God Through Community – You cannot understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Adam could not “walk a mile in the Lord’s shoes” because he had no person like him to walk in similar paths. Without Eve, Adam’s life would have a dead-end street feel to it.
Your life would be the same if you were not communing within a community. God, the original community, made Adam in His image. For Adam to image the Lord, he needed someone like him. He needed a community.
First Communication Problems – In Genesis chapter three we are introduced to sin through a walking, talking, stalking serpent. You know the story. Adam and Eve chose to sin, and from that point forward every person born from them was selfish (Romans 5:12).
The love Adam was supposed to give to Eve turned onto himself. Eve reciprocated with a similar kind of self-centered love. Rather than seeing the other person as an opportunity to image God through others-centered loving, our first two parents became self-serving.
Reclaiming Community – The purest form of community is the Father, Son, and Spirit. They are perfect koinonia. There is nothing more refined, more exquisite, and more profound than the Father, Son, and Spirit.
If you want to enjoy the most perfect human relationship possible, the Trinity has to be part of that relationship. Any human relationship without God is less than what it could be or should be.
That is why non-Christians cannot have true koinonia. The Spirit will not inhabit the natural person (1 Corinthians 2:14). Paul hinted at this in Philippians 2:1 when he talked about participation (koinonia) in the Spirit.
Biblical fellowship Defined – Participation in the Spirit or community—means the sharing with another individual your deepest and richest relationship, which is your relationship with God. This sharing means both the positive and negative things about your life.
Breaking Down the Graphic
Human Koinonia – Being married and being a Christian does not automatically mean you will connect and relate to your spouse at the deepest part of your personal experience, which is your intimate knowledge of and experience with God.
You could go to church for years and never enjoy biblical fellowship with your spouse or any other person. Though you have to be a Christian to experience this kind of community, being a Christian does not automatically mean you have it.
Koinonia Hindrances – The most significant hindrance to koinonia is that individuals do not trust each other to handle the real truth about their lives. So, what do we do? We do not go there with them. I remember in the early part of our marriage how Lucia would share certain things with her friends—things she had not shared with me.
To fully release your vulnerable and intimate soul to another person, you must know the person is trustworthy and will lovingly steward all of your inner truth. This quality in a marriage is one of the most crucial leadership requirements for a husband to lead his wife well.
I had not created an environment of grace in our marriage. We were physically intimate. We loved each other. We continued to do a lot of fun things together, but there was a “no trespassing” sign on her heart, and I was the one who put it there.
Steps to Koinonia – If you want to bring change to communication problems, there are three essential things you must do.
Koinonia Questions – If you both have a change of heart, here are a few biblical fellowship ideas that will aid you in sharing your thoughts about yourself while drawing your spouse out to provide input.
More Questions – This second set of questions are the ones Lucia and I regularly ask each other. They always get the ball rolling conversationally as we transparently share our experience with God—the good and the bad of it–with each other.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).