Dr. Leonard Greenway, pastor of the Riverside Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is in charge of Our Question Box. Although this department is for everyone and questions from all ages are welcome, Dr. Greenway reports that he now has all hand all the questions he will be able to answer until further notice.

From a reader in Holland, Michigan:

Question: In my reading I have been coming across the word “koinonia.” What is the meaning of the word?

Answer: The word occurs 18 times in the New Testament. It means “partnership,” “communion,” “fellowship.” The verb form in the Greek literally means “share.” From that comes the idea of “partnership,” or “one who goes shares with you.” In Luke 5:10 James and John are called “partners” (“koinonoi”) with Peter.

In New Testament usage the word came to express “fellowship” with God, or Christ, or the Holy Spirit. In I John 1:3 we read “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Second Corinthians 13:14 speaks of the “fellowship” or “communion” of the Holy Spirit. Also note, “we have fellowship one with another” (I John 1:7).

From a reader in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

Question: What do you think of the statement, “God wants to save you . . . . He waits to save you.”

Answer: I cannot endorse that statement. It puts God in the position of a suppliant before the will of the sinner. Some years ago evangelist Hyman Appel* man, in a sermon entitled, “Lost, Sought, Saved,” said something like that. In fact he went so far as to say that God’s hands are tied as God waits for the sinner to make his choice. However, the sermon ended on a Reformed, Biblical level—this is the amazing contradiction one often hears in typical evangelistic sermons today—as evangelist Appelman concluded with the prayer, “May God in his infinite mercy lead you into the way of the cross and salvation. In Jesus name. Amen.”