It is clear from the first verse of 1 John that this Epistle is a continuation of the Gospel of John. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” are the opening words of the Epistle, dealing, like John’s Gospel, with the Word which was from the beginning.
John is a long book, of twenty-one chapters, comprehensively covering the matter of life. Out of this life there is a mingling of divinity with humanity. Chapters fourteen and fifteen refer to this, where the Lord says, “In My Father’s house are many abodes” (14:2) and “If anyone loves Me... We will come to him and make an abode with him” (v. 23). “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit” (15:5). The abode means that we become God’s dwelling and that He becomes ours. This mutual dwelling place is the mingling of the Triune God with all the believers, so that they together form an all-inclusive, corporate entity.
In John 17 the Lord prayed for the oneness of all the believers in the Triune God. “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us...I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one” (vv. 21, 23). Such a oneness is what is typified by the tabernacle (Exo. 26:15-30). There were forty-eight boards all made one by being overlaid with gold. Upon the overlaid gold were golden rings, through which went the golden uniting bars to link all the boards together. Thus the boards became a single entity, the building. The wooden boards signified humanity and the gold overlay, divinity, not only in its nature but also in its glory. This oneness in the tabernacle portrays the mingling of divinity with humanity. The Gospel of John to some extent unfolds this mingling, but a careful reading is needed to see it.
First John further continues this very matter by telling us that the life from the beginning, which is the living One, has been declared to all believers “that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1:3). The words are simple, but the significance is profound. There is one fellowship here, not only between the Father and the Son but also with the apostles (“us”); all believers (“ye”) are to be in this same fellowship. This fellowship is not only vertical, between God and man, but also horizontal, among all believers. What is called fellowship here is a corporate mingling of divinity with humanity.
The meaning of the word fellowship has been spoiled. All too often it is applied to social visits, conversations, various charitable or missionary societies, or the supplying of someone’s financial needs. All these activities are quite commonplace, yet none of them is necessarily what the holy Word means by the term fellowship.
Fellowship corresponds to the circulation of the blood in the physical body. It is this circulation which unites all the members with the head and with each other. The body and the head are one because of this circulation. All the hundreds of members in the body are kept in fellowship or oneness with each other by this same circulation. Circulation is not something other than the blood itself. When the blood flows in the blood vessels, there is circulation; when the blood is stationary, there is no circulation. Once the blood flow stops, death and detachment result. The members are no longer related to each other nor to the head.
Like circulation, fellowship is the flow of life through all the members of the Body of Christ. It is not our greeting each other and engaging in conversation. It is not our paying someone’s bills. The church is not a social club or a charitable organization. It is a Body! In this Body flows the divine, eternal life, which is the living Person of God Himself. Apart from this flowing, there is death and detachment.
Electric current is another illustration of this flowing of the divine life, which the Bible calls the fellowship. When the electricity in a building is turned on, there is an electric current. Before this, the electricity is present, but not moving because it has not been applied. The electric current supplies electricity to the appliances as soon as the switches are turned on. The overhead lights, for example, are separate and unrelated until the switches are turned on. As soon as the electric current gets into them, there is a unity among them, the current of electricity itself, which brings them into “fellowship” with each other.
The microphone I am using is in the same “fellowship”! It not only fellowships with the lamps, but also with the power plant, the source of its electrical supply. Similarly, while I am speaking, I am also fellowshipping with the third heaven! Do not think that I am being superstitious. Surely it is an obvious fact to say that this microphone is in touch with a far-off power plant, which supplies the electricity for its operation. The fellowship we are in is simply Jesus Christ, the living One, flowing within all of us.
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