Right Hand of Fellowship

The Right Hand of Fellowship is a ritual intended to welcome a new member into the fellowship of a congregation or welcoming a new minister into the fellowship of ministers. It is based on Paul's letter to the Galatians, chapter 2 verse 9, where Paul says that three disciples of Jesus "gave me and Barnabas their right hands of fellowship" (Greek: δεξὰς ἔδωκαν ἐμοὶ καὶ Βαρναβᾷ κοινωνίας), bonding them together as members of the new Christian church. John Stott follows the New English Bible in suggesting that the phrase means the other apostles "accepted Barnabas and myself as partners, and shook hands upon it." Herman Ridderbos, however, believes that the "giving of right hands represents more than a reciprocal acknowledgment or testimony of friendship: it suggests rather a covenant." Interpreters reading Galatians 2:9 from a social-scientific perspective, thus considering the text in its 1st Century Mediterranean context, understand the gesture of James, Cephas, and John "extending the right hand of fellowship" to be a condescending gesture toward Paul and Barnabas. On this reading, the three Jerusalem apostles assert their superiority over Paul by offering a truce (end to hostilities) since, in that time and place, "extending the right hand" was not a gesture between equals. If this is correct, then the "right hand of fellowship" as it was iterated by Paul, reflects the disputatious character of early, emerging Christianity, and which came to a head (at least as far as Paul was concerned) as described in the "Incident at Antioch" (cf. Galatians 2:11-14). Predating New Testament usage, Plato uses the phrase in his dialogue The Republic, Book V [468], suggesting it as something to be offered to "the hero who has distinguished himself". The Right Hand of Christian Fellowship is a practice performed by many denominations of Christianity as an extension of brotherhood into the church. When celebrating the sacrament of Holy Communion, members of the Moravian Church give one another the Right Hand of Fellowship by shaking hands with other members of their congregation.

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Related concepts (4)

Moravian Church

The Moravian Church (Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the Unitas Fratrum (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the Unity of the Brethren (Jednota bratrská) founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia, sixty years before Luther's Reformation. The church's heritage can be traced to 1457 in Bohemian Crown territory, including its crown lands of Moravia and Silesia, which saw the emergence of the Hussite movement against several practices and doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Methodism

Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named Methodists for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith". Methodism originated as a revival movement within Anglicanism originating out of the Church of England in the 18th century and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death.