I.　The divine fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ:

A.　The fellowship is the flow of the eternal life within all the believers who have received and possess the divine life—1 John 1:3; cf. Rev. 22:1.

B.　We need to enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit—2 Cor. 13:14; 2 Tim. 4:22:

1.　The vertical aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God—1 John 1:3, 6.

2.　It is in this fellowship that we participate in all that the Father and the Son are and have done for us; that is, we enjoy the love of the Father and the grace of the Son by virtue of the fellowship of the Spirit—2 Cor. 13:14.

C.　We need to enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit—Phil. 2:1; Rev. 1:10:

1.　The horizontal aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another—1 John 1:2-3, 7.

2.　If we are going to have real fellowship horizontally with one another, we need to exercise our spirit; real fellowship is by our spirit—cf. Eph. 4:29-30; 2 Cor. 6:6.

D.　The one divine fellowship is an interwoven fellowship—the horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship:

1.　The initial experience of the apostles was the vertical fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, but when the apostles reported the eternal life to others, they experienced the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship—1 John 1:2-3; cf. Acts 2:42.

2.　Our horizontal fellowship with the saints brings us into vertical fellowship with the Lord; then our vertical fellowship with the Lord brings us into horizontal fellowship with the saints.

3.　We must maintain both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the divine fellowship in order to be healthy spiritually—cf. 1 John 1:7, 9.

4.　If we do not have the proper fellowship with the Lord, it is difficult to have fellowship with our fellow believers; in the same way, if we do not have the proper fellowship with our fellow believers, it is difficult to have fellowship with the Lord.

E.　Fellowship indicates a putting away of private interests and joining with others for a common purpose; hence, to be in the divine fellowship is to put aside out private interests and join with the apostles and the Triune God for the carrying out of God's purpose—1 John 1:3.

F.　The divine fellowship is everything in the Christian life:

1.　When fellowship disappears, God also disappears; God comes as the fellowship—cf. Rev. 22:1.

2.　In this divine fellowship God is interwoven with us; this interweaving is the mingling of God and man—cf. Lev. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 10:17.

3.　The divine fellowship not only corrects us; it also molds us and even reconstitutes us, bringing the divine constituent into our spiritual being for our growth and transformation in life.

4.　The divine fellowship blends us, tempers us, adjusts us, harmonizes us, and mingles us together into one Body—1 Cor. 12:24-25.

II.　We need to walk according to the mingled spirit to enter into the reality of the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:4:

A.　The divine Spirit dwells in our human spirit and these two are mingled together as one spirit—a mingled spirit—Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17.

B.　Whenever we turn to our spirit and exercise our spirit, we enter into the reality of the Body, because the Body is in our spirit—Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 3:5, 16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18; 4:4; cf. Rom. 8:16.

C.　In the book of Romans, Paul stressed that whatever we are (2:29; 8:5-6, 9), whatever we have (vv. 10, 16), and whatever we do toward God (1:9; 7:6; 8:4, 13; 12:11) must be in our spirit:

1.　The reality of all spiritual things depends on the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is in our spirit—John 14:17; Rom. 8:16.

2.　Our spirit has not only been regenerated and made living; it has become life—v. 10.

3.　The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace—v. 6.

D.　The goal of the apostle Paul in writing first Corinthians was for the believers to aspire to the growth in life that they might become spiritual men for the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 2:15:

1.　A spiritual man is one who does not behave according to the flesh or act according to the soulish life but lives according to the spirit, that is, his spirit mingled with the Spirit of God—v. 2—3:3.

2.　Such a man is dominated, governed, directed, moved, and led by such a mingled spirit—cf. 16:18; Rom. 8:4.

E.　In 2 Corinthians we see the apostle Paul as a pattern of a person who lived in the spirit—cf. 1 Tim. 1:16:

1.　We need to take Christ as our person in our spirit—2 Cor. 2:10; 4:16.

2.　We need to take care of the rest in our spirit, not the outward circumstances—2:12-14.

3.　We need to exercise our spirit of faith—4:13.

F.　We need to walk by Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit both in our daily life and for fulfilling God's purpose—Gal. 5:16, 25:

1.　The walk for our daily life is so that we may live an overcoming life to express Christ—Phil. 1:21.

2.　The walk for fulfilling God's purpose is so that we may accomplish God's economy in the building up of the church as the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 14:3-5; Eph. 4:12.