Millions of Christians gather every Sunday and recite the Apostles’ Creed, declaring, “I believe in… the communion of saints.” But what exactly does that mean? For many, the phrase conjures up vague ideas about believers who have died and gone to heaven.
However, the Reformed understanding of this doctrine is far more grounded, practical, and demanding. In Chapter 26, the Westminster Confession unpacks this glorious reality, demonstrating that our salvation is not merely a private transaction between an individual and God. When we are united to Jesus Christ, we are instantly and irrevocably united to everyone else who belongs to Him.
The Confession teaches that because believers are united to Christ by His Spirit, they share in His graces and sufferings; that this union binds them to one another in love, requiring them to share their spiritual gifts and material resources; but that this communion does not make believers equal with God, nor does it abolish private property.
The Foundation: Union with Christ (WCF 26.1a)
The entire doctrine of the communion of saints rests upon one foundational reality: Union with Christ.
The Confession states that all saints are “united to Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith.” Salvation is not just God handing us a ticket to heaven; it is the Holy Spirit grafting us into the living vine of the Son of God. Because we are united to Him, we have “fellowship with Him in His grace, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory.”
Whatever belongs to Christ becomes ours. His perfect righteousness covers us, His resurrection guarantees our eternal life, and His Spirit empowers us. Conversely, because we are united to Him, we also share in His sufferings. When the world hates the Head, it will naturally strike at the Body (John 15:18-19).
The Outflow: Union with One Another (WCF 26.1b–26.2)
If a hundred different branches are all grafted into the exact same vine, those branches are necessarily connected to each other. Because believers are united to Christ, “being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other’s gifts and graces.”
This destroys the modern, hyper-individualized notion of Christianity. You cannot have God for your Father and refuse to live with His children. The Confession outlines the practical duties of this communion in three specific areas:
- Spiritual Edification: We are obliged to perform duties “as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.” God does not give you spiritual gifts for your own private enjoyment; He gives them to you so you can build up your brothers and sisters.
- Corporate Worship: Saints are bound to maintain “an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God.” You cannot live out the communion of saints from your couch on a Sunday morning. We are commanded to gather, sing, pray, and hear the Word together (Heb. 10:24-25).
- Material Relief: True communion is not just spiritual; it is deeply physical. We are commanded to relieve one another “in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities.” If you see a brother in need and close your heart against him, the love of God is not in you (1 John 3:17).
Furthermore, paragraph 2 makes it clear that this duty is not limited to our local congregation. While it starts in the local church, our charity and love are to be extended to “all those who, in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Two Vital Guardrails (WCF 26.3)
Throughout church history, radical groups have taken the idea of “communion” to unbiblical extremes. The Westminster divines close the chapter by establishing two vital guardrails—one theological and one economic.
Guarding the Creator-Creature Distinction
First, some mystics have taught that “union with Christ” means we actually melt into the divine essence, becoming “little gods” or part of the Godhead (a concept sometimes called theosis or deification).
The Confession forcefully rejects this: “This communion… doth not make them, in any wise partakers of the substance of His Godhead; or to be equal with Christ in any respect: either of which to affirm is impious and blasphemous.” We are united to Christ relationally and covenantally, but we remain finite creatures. He is God, and we are not.
Guarding Private Property
Second, some radical sects during the Reformation (such as certain Anabaptist groups) and later socialist movements argued that true Christian communion requires the abolition of private property, forcing all believers to hold all their wealth and land in common.
The Confession denies this: “Nor doth their communion one with another, as saints, take away, or infringe the title or propriety which each man hath in his goods and possessions.”
The biblical command to give to the poor does not abolish the Eighth Commandment (“Thou shalt not steal”). As the Apostle Peter told Ananias regarding his property, “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” (Acts 5:4). The beauty of Christian charity is precisely that it is voluntary. You cannot generously give away what you do not lawfully own. God preserves private property (“propriety”) so that His people can exercise willing, joyful, and sacrificial generosity.
Conclusion
The communion of saints is a beautiful, demanding reality. It means that when you suffer, you do not suffer alone, for the Body suffers with you. It means that when you lack, the Body provides for you. And it means that your time, your spiritual gifts, and your bank account are no longer exclusively your own—they are tools given by the Head to be deployed for the joy and survival of the Body.
Key Terms
- Union with Christ: The core reality of salvation wherein the Holy Spirit binds a believer to Jesus Christ by faith, resulting in a shared life where the believer partakes of Christ’s benefits and sufferings.
- Communion of Saints: The spiritual and practical fellowship that all believers share with Christ and with one another, resulting in the mutual sharing of spiritual gifts, physical resources, and corporate worship.
- Propriety (Private Property): The biblical principle that individuals have lawful ownership over their own goods and possessions. The Confession affirms this to protect against forced communism and to ensure that Christian charity remains a voluntary act of love.
- Creator-Creature Distinction: The unbridgeable ontological gap between God and humanity. Union with Christ never erases this line; believers never become part of the divine essence.