In the wake of Paul’s travels throughout the Mediterranean, Christian communities sprang up, consolidated and began to multiply. This was the outcome of a deliberate policy on his part. He not only proclaimed the message of Christ and brought people into an intimate relationship with God, but drew the consequences of that message for the life of his converts and led them into a personal relationship with one another… For Paul the gospel bound men and women to one another as well as to God.
Acceptance by Christ necessitated acceptance of those who He had already welcomed (Romans 15:7); reconciliation with God entailed reconciliation with others that exhibited the character of the gospel preaching (Philippians 4:2-3); union in the Spirit involved union with one another, for the Spirit was primarily a shared, not individual experience (2 Corinthians 13:14; Philippians 2:1; Ephesians 4:3). The gospel is not a purely personal matter. It has a social dimension. It is a communal affair.
-- Robert Banks in “Paul’s Idea of Community: Early House Churches in their Historical Settings”
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