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The Philadelphia Confession, 1742
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;1 and being united to one another in love, they have communion in
each others gifts and graces,2 and are obliged to the
performance of such duties, public and private, in an orderly way, as to conduce to their
mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.3
Saints, by profession, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services, as tend to their mutual edification;4 as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities and necessities;5 which communion, according to the rule of the gospel, though especially to be exercised by them, in the relations wherein they stand, whether in families,6 or churches,7 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, doth not take away, or infringe the title or property which each man hath in his goods and possessions.8
Footnotes:
1. 1Jn 1:3; Jn 1:16; Php 3:10; Ro 6:5-6.
2. Eph 4:15-16; 1Co 12:7; 3:21-23.
3. 1Th 5:11,14; Ro 1:12; 1Jn 3:17-18; Gal 6:10.
4. Heb 10:24-25; 3:12-13.
5. Ac 11:29-30.
6. Eph 6:4.
7. 1Co 12:14-27.
8. Ac 5:4; Eph 4:28.
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