27. Of The Communion Of The Saints

Paragraph 1: All saints that are united to Jesus Christ, their Head, by His Spirit, and faith, although they are not made thereby one person with Him, have fellowship in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory;⁴⁵¹ and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each others gifts and graces,⁴⁵² and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, in an orderly way, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.⁴⁵³

1. 451. 1 John 1:3; John 1:16; Philippians 3:10; Romans 6:5–6
2. 452. Ephesians 4:15–16; 1 Corinthians 12:7; 3:21–23
3. 453. 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 14; Romans 1:12; 1 John 3:17–18; Galatians 6:10

Paragraph 2: Saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification;⁴⁵⁴ as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities, and necessities;⁴⁵⁵ which communion, according to the rule of the gospel, though especially to be exercised by them, in the relation wherein they stand, whether in families,⁴⁵⁶ or churches,⁴⁵⁷ yet, as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended to all the household of faith, even all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus; nevertheless their communion one with another as saints, does not take away or infringe the title or propriety which each man has in his goods and possessions.⁴⁵⁸

1. 454. Hebrews 10:24–25; 3:12–13
2. 455. Acts 11:29–30
3. 456. Ephesians 6:4
4. 457. 1 Corinthians 12:14–27
5. 458. Acts 5:4; Ephesians 4:28