I.　"We…report to you the eternal life…that which we have seen and heard we report also to you 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:

A.　The life of God is the source of the fellowship of life—this fellowship comes from the life of God, its existence is due to the life of God, it is derived from the life of God, and it is brought to us by the life of God.

B.　The meaning of the fellowship of life is the flowing of life:

1.　Once we believe in the Lord and receive the eternal life, which was reported to us, it brings its fellowship of life, its f low of life, to us, that there may be a fellowship, a f low, between us and God.

2.　The life of God that we receive is neither only partial nor whole (but both partial and whole) because it is f lowing; this can be illustrated by the f low of the water of life in the New Jerusalem and also by the f low of electricity and by the f low of blood in our physical body—Rev. 22:1.

C.　The fellowship that we have through the entering into us of God's life is of two aspects:

1.　Vertically, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ; this fellowship carries God Himself and all His riches into us for our sharing and partaking—1 John 1:3, cf. v. 6.

2.　Horizontally, our fellowship is with the apostles and with the church, which the apostles represent; this means that we have fellowship with all those who possess the life of God—Acts 2:41-42; 1 Cor. 12:28; 1 John 1:7.

3.　In this vertical and horizontal fellowship there is the mingling of the Triune God with all the redeemed saints; in other words, the fellowship eventually consummates in the oneness of the Triune God with the Body of Christ.

II.　"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all"—2 Cor. 13:14:

A.　The fellowship of life, which is in and through the Holy Spirit, becomes our life experience and spiritual reality only when we live in the Holy Spirit and follow the Holy Spirit—Gal. 5:25; Rom. 8:14; Phil. 3:3.

B.　The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the transmission, the communication, of the grace of Christ with the love of God the Father; this fellowship is the transmission of the divine riches of the processed and consummated Triune God into our being.

C.　The entire church life depends upon the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; the current, the fellowship, of the Divine Trinity within us, as revealed in 2 Corinthians 13:14, is our spiritual pulse.

III.　The fellowship of life is carried on by the Spirit in our regenerated spirit; hence, it is also called the "fellowship of spirit"—Phil. 2:1:

A.　Our spirit is the location of the fellowship of life.

B.　If we are apart from our spirit or outside of our spirit, right away our contact with one another becomes a kind of social association that is no longer the fellowship of life.

IV.　The function of the fellowship of life is to supply us with all the riches of the divine life:

A.　A good picture of this is the f lowing of the water of life in the New Jerusalem with the tree of life—Rev. 22:1-2a.

B.　Furthermore, John 15:4-5 says that we abide in the vine and that the vine abides in us; this abiding supplies us with the life-juice of Christ, the riches of the life of Christ.

V.　We need to care for the following responsibilities of a believer toward the fellowship of life:

A.　We must continue steadfastly in the fellowship of life—Acts 2:42.

B.　We must obey the teaching of the anointing—1 John 2:27.

C.　We must walk in the light—1:7.

D.　We must confess our sins, taking Christ as our sin offering for the sin in our nature and as our trespass offering for the sins in our conduct—vv. 7-9.

VI.　We must see and realize the following results of the fellowship of life:

A.　We obtain the enjoyment of the Triune God—v. 4.

B.　We obtain the light of God—vv. 5-7.

C.　We obtain the cleansing of the blood—v. 7.

D.　We have the Lord abiding in us—John 15:4-5.

E.　We bear much fruit to glorify God—v. 8.

VII.　The fellowship of life is realized by the sense of life and is preserved by the sense of life—Rom. 8:6.

VIII.　Our relationship of life with God can never be broken (John 10:28-29), but it is possible for our fellowship with Him to be broken by sins, by disobedience, by not caring for the sense of life, or by not following the inner anointing.

IX.　We can recover our life fellowship with the Lord by confessing our sins; the cleansing of the blood of Jesus the Son of God solves the problem of separation from God, the problem of guilt in our conscience, and the problem of accusations from Satan, thus enabling us to have a daily life full of God's presence—1 John 1:9; Psa. 103:1-4, 12-13; 32:1-2; Rev. 12:10-11.

X.　As we remain in the fellowship, the enjoyment, of God as the eternal life, we partake of God in His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4)—as Spirit, love, and light; Spirit is the nature of God's person (John 4:24), love is the nature of God's essence (1 John 4:8, 16), and light is the nature of God's expression (1:5):

A.　If we spend an adequate amount of personal time with the Lord and remain in the fellowship with Him daily and hourly, we will enjoy the Lord as the Spirit, and we will become persons who are full of the divine love (the inner substance of God) and the divine light (the expressed element of God)—v. 3; 2 Cor. 13:14:

1.　The divine love is God Himself poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit to be the source for our enjoyment of the dispensing of the Triune God and the motivating power within us, so that we may more than conquer all our circumstantial situations—Rom. 5:5; 8:37, 39.

2.　The divine light is the divine life in the Son operating in us; this light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it—John 1:4-5; 1 John 1:5.

B.　When we enjoy God by touching God and by being infused with God in the divine fellowship, we walk, live, move, and have our being in His Spirit as our person, in His love as our essence, and in His light as our expression for us to be His corporate testimony—Rom. 8:4; Eph. 5:2, 8; Matt. 5:14-16.