Christian Fellowship (1 John 1:3)

The Testimony of the Apostles

For the third time, John refers to what they had seen (vv. 1, 2, and 3) and what they had heard (vv. 1, 3, and 5). What John and his fellow apostles experienced while the Lord Jesus was here on earth, they now desired to testify and proclaim to others. When he describes the purpose of their proclamation, it was not based on something vague or uncertain, but on absolute and certain knowledge.

The Meaning of Fellowship

For the first time in this epistle, the word “fellowship” appears—so characteristic of Christianity. Fellowship does not merely mean being together or doing something together. It is far more than that. It means having things in common—sharing the same interests, feelings, and thoughts.

This is certainly true of human relationships, but above all, it applies to our relationship with God. To have fellowship with God means to be in agreement with His interests, feelings, and thoughts.

Of course, a sinner cannot have fellowship with God. In everything that he is and does, he stands in opposition to God. What is necessary in order to have fellowship with divine persons is eternal life. Certainly, the question of our guilt before God had to be settled. But it is the fact that Christ has become our life that opens to us the blessing of fellowship with the Father and the Son. Because God has given us His life, we are fundamentally enabled to have the same interests, feelings, and thoughts as God—to know Him (cf. Gospel of John 17:3).

Even though this is true in principle, fellowship is not automatic. Do we seek to know God better—His interests, feelings, and thoughts? Is our heart occupied with what occupies His heart? Do we feel what God feels concerning His Son, the assembly, or this world? Do we search out God’s thoughts and His plans?

It was the desire of David: “One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4).

May this increasingly become our desire as well.

True Fellowship with the Father and the Son

It may surprise us that John first writes, “that ye also may have fellowship with us,” and only afterward explains that their fellowship “is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Why does John not simply write: “that ye also may have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ”?

The apostles have long since passed away, and yet we can have the same fellowship with them that they had at the beginning of Christianity. Unfortunately, there have always been people—then as now—who reject the teaching of the apostles and therefore the apostles themselves. At the same time, they claim to have fellowship with God. But this is a contradiction.

Are there different fellowships? Can someone have fellowship with God while rejecting His apostles and their testimony? That is impossible.

The fellowship of the apostles consisted in fellowship “with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” While we must not separate fellowship with the Father from fellowship with the Son, we can still distinguish them.

1. Fellowship with the Father concerning the Son

The Son has always been the object of the Father’s love. Yet, when the Son became man, the Father could see for the first time a man who always did what pleased Him. “He that has sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I do always the things that are pleasing to him.” (John 8:29). Twice, we see heaven opened over the Son, and the Father expressing His delight in Him: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight.” (Matthew 3:17). “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight: hear him.” (Matthew 17:5).

Furthermore: “For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does.” (John 5:20). And the Son gave the Father an additional reason to love Him because He would lay down His life: “On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again.” (John 10:17). Now, we can contemplate the Son along with the Father, sharing the same thoughts and feelings about Him.

2. Fellowship with the Son concerning the Father

It is the Son who has revealed the Father. “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18). He could say: “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9). Through the Son—and only through the Son—we have the highest revelation of God: “…nor does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son may be pleased to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27).

Even on the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus declared that He would ascend not only to His Father, but also to our Father: “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” (John 20:17). Through the Son, we have been brought into a relationship with God as our Father, and through Him and with Him, we may understand who the Father is.