Living in the fellowship of life, like obeying the sense of life, is a very important and practical matter in the Christian life. All those who pursue growth in the spiritual life must pay attention to this matter.
1. “We...report to you the eternal life...that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:2-3).
Two things are particularly spoken of in this verse: eternal life and fellowship. The eternal life is the life of God. This life causes us to have fellowship. Therefore, the fellowship that we have comes out of the life of God. Since both the nature and content of this fellowship belong to God’s life, it is called the fellowship of life.
The fellowship of life involves the life of God entering into us and causing us to have a life-flow with God, the Lord, and all those who have the life of God. In it we can share our innermost feelings and are mingled into one with God, the Lord, and all those who have the life of God.
Every kind of life has fellowship and requires fellowship. The higher a life is, the greater is its capacity to fellowship and the deeper is its need for fellowship. The life of God is the highest life, so it has the greatest capacity to fellowship and the deepest need for fellowship. This life is in us, enabling us to have the highest fellowship and giving us a very deep need for this highest fellowship.
1. “We...report to you the eternal life...that you also may have fellowship with us” (1 John 1:2-3).
The fellowship of life that comes into us has two aspects: one is fellowship with those who have the life of God and the other is fellowship with God and the Lord. The apostle John says that they report the eternal life so that we may have fellowship with them. We refers to the apostles. The apostles represent the church (1 Cor. 12:28). The church is composed of all who have God’s life. Therefore, the life of God causes us to have fellowship with the apostles, which is the same as causing us to have fellowship with the church, all who have the life of God.
When the life of God comes into us, it spontaneously causes us to have fellowship with those who have the life of God. We become one with them in life because this fellowship is in the one life of God. Although many have this life, the life is one. We have received the one life of God, so the life that we have is the same one life. In this one life we can be one and have fellowship with one another in oneness. This is similar to a light in a room and thousands of lights in a city being one in the one flow of electricity. When we meet a brother or sister in the Lord, there is an inward response and fellowship if there are no barriers in us. It is as if there is a flow of electricity between us. This kind of fellowship is very precious. It gives us the watering and the supply of life.
The life of God not only causes us to fellowship with the children of God but also requires us to do so. If we have fellowship in God’s life with the children of God, we feel inwardly satisfied, comfortable, proper, and natural. If we do not have this fellowship, we feel depressed, miserable, and unfulfilled. This proves that the life of God requires us to fellowship with the children of God. If we respond to the requirement of God’s life in us, we will live in God’s life; that is, we will live in the fellowship of God’s life.
2. “Those then who received his word were baptized...They continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles” (Acts 2:41-42).
At the time of Pentecost everyone who heard and believed continued in the fellowship of the apostles after being baptized. This means that they continuously had fellowship in God’s life with all the believers. This fellowship is called the fellowship of the apostles because the Lord’s life is imparted to people through the reporting of the apostles, which makes them the church, the Lord’s Body. The apostles also represent the church produced by the Lord’s life. Thus, the fellowship of the apostles is the fellowship of the church. If a person has fellowship with the apostles, as in 1 John 1, he has fellowship with the church. This fellowship in the believers is from the Lord’s life. They share a common fellowship in the one life of the Lord and should continue to have fellowship in the unchanging life of the Lord. When we fellowship with the believers in this way, we continue in the fellowship of the apostles.