THE DIVINE FELLOWSHIP BEING EVERYTHING
IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
Just as the current of electricity is the electricity itself, the fellowship of the divine life, the flow of the divine life, is the divine life itself. We can say that electrical appliances live an "electrical life," a life of the current of electricity. Similarly, our Christian life is a life of the fellowship of the divine life. The New Testament reveals that the Christian meeting, the Christian married life, and the Christian work are just the divine fellowship. The divine fellowship is everything in the Christian life. Those who were saved in Acts 2 were brought into and continued steadfastly in the apostles’ fellowship (v. 42). Later in the New Testament, the divine fellowship is called the fellowship of the Father and of His Son (1 John 1:3), the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14), and the fellowship of spirit (Phil. 2:1).
In John’s first Epistle, he speaks of the divine fellowship. First John 1:2-3 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. That which we have seen and heard we report also to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed the fellowship which is ours is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." The apostles wanted to have fellowship with the believers; this is horizontal fellowship. Then the apostles stated that their fellowship was with the Triune God; this is vertical fellowship. The vertical fellowship brings us into the horizontal fellowship. The horizontal fellowship then brings us into the vertical fellowship on a larger scale. This larger scale of fellowship is the meetings.
Today, we stress the new way, the God-ordained way, to meet and to serve. We must realize that the new way will issue in a different kind of meeting than we presently have. In meetings according to the new way, everyone will be full of the enjoyment of Christ, participating in the vertical and horizontal aspects of the divine fellowship. The meeting itself will be a fellowship. Today, however, our meetings are not like this. They have not come up to the standard of the vision we have seen concerning the proper meetings.
All the functioning in the meetings should be an expression of the divine fellowship. To prophesy is an expression of this fellowship. To testify is also a part of this fellowship. To read a verse from the Bible to the saints in the Lord’s table may also be a small part of this fellowship. The entire meeting should be a fellowship. We should be vertically fellowshipping with the Lord and, at the same time, be horizontally fellowshipping with one another.
Eventually, in this divine fellowship God is interwoven with us. This interweaving is the mingling of God with man. All of the meetings should be an interwoven fellowship with both the vertical and horizontal aspects. Our married life should also be an interwoven fellowship. The husband and the wife should not only be interwoven with each other but also with the Lord. The real Christian marriage should be the divine fellowship. Our coordination and work together should also be the divine fellowship.
We must realize that when fellowship disappears, God also disappears. God comes as the fellowship. Today our meetings, our married life, the coordination among the co-workers, and the fellowship among the local churches are abnormal because we are short of this fellowship. Today there is not enough fellowship among the local churches, and the churches are not absolutely one in the fellowship.
The divine fellowship is everything in the Christian life. The apostle Paul lived in this fellowship. When we live in the divine fellowship, our Christian life becomes very living, active, and full of impact. We need to fully enter into the experience of the divine fellowship in its two aspects by the two spirits.
(The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)
