legal+philosopher

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), English legal scholar and philosopher, founder of utilitarianism

κοινωνία, ας, ἡ (s. prec. entry; Pind.+; ins, pap, LXX; JosAs 7:6 cod. A; Philo [Mos. 1, 158 of communion w. God]; Joseph.; loanw. in rabb.; Just.; Tat. 18, 2; Ath.; Iren. 4, 18, 5 [Harv. II 205, 4] w. ἕνωσις).

① close association involving mutual interests and sharing, association, communion, fellowship, close relationship (hence a favorite expr. for the marital relationship as the most intimate betw. human beings Isocr. 3, 40; BGU 1051, 9 [I A.D.]; 1052, 7; POxy 1473, 33; 3 Macc 4:6; Jos., Ant. 1, 304; Did., Gen 235, 18. But s. also Diod S 10, 8, 2 ἡ τοῦ βίου κ.=the common type or bond of life that unites the Pythagoreans) τινός with or to someone (Amphis Com. [IV B.C.] 20, 3; Herodian 1, 10, 1; τοῦ θεοῦ Orig., C. Cels. 3, 56, 6); hence there is linguistic warrant to transl.: κ. τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ fellowship with God’s Son 1 Cor 1:9 (s. 4 below) and κ. τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος fellowship w. the Holy Spirit 2 Cor 13:13 (so JSickenberger comm. [Bonnerbibel 1919; 4th ed. ’32] ad loc. in the Trinitarian sense but s. WKümmel, appendix to HLtzm. comm. [Hdb]). Others take the latter gen. as a subjective gen. or gen. of quality fellowship brought about by the Holy Spirit (APlummer, w. reservations, comm. 2 Cor [ICC] et al.; TSchmidt, D. Leib Christi 1919, 135; s. 4 below). Corresp. κ. πνεύματος fellowship w. the Spirit Phil 2:1 (Synes., Prov. 1, 15 p. 108c κ. γνώμης=community of will and s. 2 below).—κοινωνία(ν ἔχειν) μετά τινος ( have) fellowship w. someone (cp. Job 34:8) w. God 1J 1:3b, 6 (cp. Epict. 2, 19, 27 περὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Δία κοινωνίας βουλευόμενον; Jos., Bell. 7, 264, C. Ap. 1, 35 [both πρός w. acc.]); w. fellow Christians vss. 3a, 7. εἴς τι (POxf 5f) ἡ κ. εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον close relationship w. the gospel Phil 1:5. ηὐδόκησαν κ. τινὰ ποιήσασθαι εἰς τοὺς πτωχούς they have undertaken to establish a rather close relation w. the poor Ro 15:26 (sim. GPeterman, Make a Contribution or Establish Fellowship: NTS 40, ’94, 457–63; but some prefer 3 below).—κ. πρός w. acc. connection with, relation to (Pla., Symp. 188c; Galen, Protr. 9 p. 28, 7 J.; SIG 646, 54 [170 B.C.]; Philo, Leg. ad Gai. 110 τίς οὖν κοινωνία πρὸς Ἀπόλλωνα τῷ μηδὲν οἰκεῖον ἐπιτετηδευκότι; cp. Jos., C. Ap. 2, 208; τοῦ πατρὸς πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν κ. Ath. 12, 2; πρὸς τὸ θειότερον κ. Orig., C. Cels. 3, 28, 47) τίς κ. φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος; what does darkness have in common with light? 2 Cor 6:14 (cp. Sir 13:2, 17f; Aristoph., Thes. 140 τίς κατόπτρου καὶ ξίφους κοινωνία;).—Abs. fellowship, (harmonious) unity (Hippol., Ref. 9, 12, 26) Ac 2:42 (s. JFitzmyer, PSchubert Festschr. ’66, 242–44 [Acts-Qumran] suggests that ‘community of goods’ [יחד] may be meant here, as 1QS 1, 11–13; 6, 17. On the problem of this term s. HBraun, Qumran u. d. NT, I, ’66; 143–50; s. also ACarr, The Fellowship of Ac 2:42 and Cognate Words: Exp. 8th ser., 5, 1913, 458ff). δεξιὰς κοινωνίας διδόναι τινί give someone the right hand of fellowship Gal 2:9 (JSampley, Pauline Partnership in Christ ’80, argues for a legal notion of ‘consensual societas’ but s. New Docs 3, 19).—κ. also has the concrete mng. society, brotherhood as a closely knit majority, naturally belonging together: Maximus Tyr. 15, 4b τί ἐστὶν τὸ τῆς κοινωνίας συμβόλαιον; what is the contribution (i.e., of the philosopher) to the community or (human) society? 16, 2m δημώδεις κοινωνίαι=meetings of the common people.—On ancient clubs and associations s. Poland; also JWaltzing, Étude historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les Romaine, 4 vols. 1895–1900; EZiebarth, Das griechische Vereinswesen 1896.

② attitude of good will that manifests an interest in a close relationship, generosity, fellow-feeling, altruism (Epict. in Stob. 43 Sch. χρηστότητι κοινωνίας; Arrian, Anab. 7, 11, 9 κ. beside ὁμόνοια; Herm. Wr. 13, 9 [opp. πλεονεξία]) ἁπλότης τῆς κ. εἴς τινα 2 Cor 9:13. W. εὐποιί̈α Hb 13:16. The context permits this mng. also Phil 2:1 (s. 1 above). The transition to the next mng. is easy.

③ abstr. for concr. sign of fellowship, proof of brotherly unity, even gift, contribution (Lev 5:21; ins of Asia Minor: κ.=‘subsidy’ [Rdm.² 10]) Ro 15:26 (s. 1 above). Under this head we may perh. classify κοινωνία τ. αἵματος (σώματος) τοῦ Χριστοῦ a means for attaining a close relationship with the blood (body) of Christ 1 Cor 10:16ab (s. 4 below).

④ participation, sharing τινός in someth. (Appian, Bell. Civ. 1, 67 §306 κ. τῶν παρόντων=in the present undertakings; 5, 71 §299 κ. τῆς ἀρχῆς in the rule; Polyaenus 6, 7, 2 κ. τοῦ μιάσματος in the foul deed; Maximus Tyr. 19, 3b τῆς ἀρετῆς; Synes., Kgdm. 13 p. 12c. κ. τῶν ἔργων=in the deeds of others; Wsd 8:18; Jos., Ant. 2, 62) ὅπως ἡ κ. τῆς πίστεώς σου ἐνεργὴς γένηται that your participation in the faith may be made known through your deeds Phlm 6. γνῶναι κοινωνίαν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ become aware of sharing his sufferings Phil 3:10. ἡ κ. τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους taking part in the relief of God’s people 2 Cor 8:4. Perh. this is the place for 1 Cor 1:9 (s. 1 above); 2 Cor 13:13 ( participation in the Holy Spirit: Ltzm., Kümmel in appendix to Ltzm. comm., Windisch, Seesemann [s. below] 70; Goodsp., Probs. 169f; s. 1 above.—Cp. τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος κ. of ecstasy Did., Gen. 230, 16); 1 Cor 10:16 (participation in the blood [body] of Christ. So ASchlatter, Pls der Bote Jesu ’34, 295f et al.; s. 3 above. But perh. here κοινωνία w. gen. means the common possession or enjoyment of someth. [Diod S 8, 5, 1 ἀγελῶν κ.= of the flocks; Maximus Tyr. 19, 3b ἐπὶ κοινωνίᾳ τῆς ἀρετῆς=for the common possession of excellence; Diog. L. 7, 124; Synes., Kgdm. 20 p. 24b; Hierocles 6, 428: we are to choose the best man as friend and unite ourselves with him πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν κοινωνίαν=for the common possession or enjoyment of virtues; 7, 429 τῶν καλῶν τὴν κ.]. Then 1 Cor 10:16 would be: Do not the cup and the bread mean the common partaking of the body and blood of Christ? After all, we all partake of one and the same bread). Eph 3:9 v.l. (for οἰκονομία)—JCampbell, Κοινωνία and Its Cognates in the NT: JBL 51, ’32, 352–80; EGroenewald, Κοινωνία (gemeenskap) bij Pls, diss. Amst. ’32; HSeesemann, D. Begriff Κοινωνία im NT ’33; PEndenburg, Koinoonia … bij de Grieken in den klass. tijd ’37; HFord, The NT Conception of Fellowship: Shane Quarterly 6, ’45, 188–215; GJourdan, Κοινωνία in 1 Cor 10:16: JBL 67, ’48, 111–24; KNickle, The Collection, A Study in Paul’s Strategy, ’66.—EDNT additional bibl. S. also RAC IX 1100–1145.—DELG s.v. κοινός. M-M. TW. Sv.