In the previous chapters we saw the sense of life-the consciousness or inner feeling of life-and the law of life. In this chapter we will see another detail concerning life, the fellowship of life. In order to know life, we must know the fellowship of life. The fellowship of life has much to do with the consciousness of life and the law of life.
The first Epistle of John is a continuation of the Gospel of John. In his Gospel, John tells us that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came to impart Himself as life to us. When we receive Him, we have the eternal life, which is the Lord Himself as life. In his first Epistle the apostle John reveals something further of life, which is the fellowship of life. The Gospel of John is a gospel of life, and this short yet very important Epistle is an epistle of fellowship. After we have received life in a basic way, we must pay full attention to and practice to maintain the real fellowship of life.
Verse 1 of chapter one says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.” The Word of life is not doctrine, teachings, or gospel truths but a living person, the Son of God, the Lord Christ. Verse 2 says, “And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” The person of the Lord Jesus Himself is life, the life was manifested, and the apostles have seen and testified concerning the Lord Himself as the eternal life. Verse 3 continues, “That which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” The apostles declare Christ as life to us, and the issue is that we have fellowship. Fellowship comes out of life, it is a matter of life, and this very eternal life is Christ Himself, the eternal Son of God. Moreover, we have fellowship with the apostles and with the Father and the Son. The believers, the apostles, and the Father and the Son-man and God, and God and man-have the same fellowship and are in the same fellowship.
Fellowship is a current, a flow. Therefore, the fellowship of life is life itself flowing. We may illustrate fellowship with a current of electricity. The flow, the current, of electricity is simply the electricity itself flowing. Electric lights and appliances depend on the flow of electricity. Once the flow stops, the electricity is gone. We may also illustrate it with the current of blood in our body. The current of blood is the blood itself flowing. For the current of blood within us to stop indicates a serious problem, which brings death. The fellowship of the divine life is life itself constantly flowing as a living current. It flows within you, within me, and within every Christian. It flows in the apostles, and it flows in God and Christ.
We are all one in this flow, in this current. A room may have several lamps, but there is only one current of electricity. All the lamps are one in the electricity. Without the electricity they are separated, but in the current of the electricity they are one. Not only so, there may be thousands of lights in other rooms and buildings which are also one in the same current of electricity. If a lamp does not have the current of electricity, it is not one with the other lamps, but if it does have the current of electricity, it is one with thousands of lamps. We have Christ as life within us, and this life is a current flowing all the time. You are in the current, I am in the current, the apostle Paul is in the current, and even God and Christ Himself are in the current. This is the current of the divine life.
This is not merely a doctrine. We have the reality that there is a real, divine, spiritual, heavenly, and living current always flowing within us. As long as we are regenerated persons, we have this flow. We can prove this not merely by doctrine but by our up-to-date experience. When we are healthy in the spiritual life, the flow within us is pure, fresh, living, positive, and active.
Why do we pray? It is because there is a current flowing within us that urges us to pray. Why do we do certain things for the Lord? It is because the Lord urges us through the flow, the current, within us. The fellowship of life is constantly living and flowing within us. Then when we come together, if you are in this flow, and I am in this flow, there is no need to say anything in particular. Something living and flowing within us simply echoes one another. This is the fellowship of life.
The flow, the current, the fellowship, of life is simply the living Spirit of God as life to us. Moreover, Christ is in this Spirit, and God the Father is also in this Spirit. Therefore, this flow is the Triune God flowing, working, living, and acting within us. This is the fellowship of life. The fellowship of life is nothing other than the Triune God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is tremendous, wonderful, and mysterious.
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