«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth; but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.

　　First John 1:2-3 and 6-7 reveal that the fellowship of the divine life has both a vertical aspect and a horizontal aspect. The vertical aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God. The horizontal aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another.

　　Before the apostles reported the eternal life to [sinners], the apostles themselves already had the vertical fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (v. 3)….When the apostles reported the eternal life to others, they experienced the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” p. 354)

　　The horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship is by the human spirit. The vertical aspect of the divine fellowship is by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; 2 Tim. 4:22). The word by is actually not strong enough to express what we mean. The Spirit is not merely involved, wrapped up, or mingled with the fellowship. The Spirit Himself is the fellowship because the fellowship is the flow, the current, of the Spirit. This is like saying that the current of electricity is just the electricity itself. The current of electricity is electricity in motion. When the electricity stops, the current of electricity also stops. In the same way the fellowship of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 2 Corinthians 13:14 is the Spirit moving.

　　We… enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit (Phil. 2:1; Rev. 1:10).

　　The horizontal fellowship ushers us into the vertical fellowship. If two brothers exercise their spirit to have genuine, proper, horizontal fellowship, they will eventually be ushered into a very honest and sincere intercession. When they pray together, the two aspects of the divine fellowship are interwoven.…This interwoven fellowship is the real fellowship.

　　If you have a good time with the Lord in vertical fellowship, you will be eager to see the other saints in order to have fellowship with them. Once you have fellowship with the saints through prayer, you are brought into vertical fellowship with the Lord again. Your horizontal fellowship with the saints brings you into vertical fellowship with the Lord. Then your fellowship with the Lord brings you into horizontal fellowship with the saints. Thus, these two aspects are always interwoven; that is, they are always crisscrossing each other.

　　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.…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.

　　Eventually, in this divine fellowship God is interwoven with us. This interweaving is the mingling of God with man. All 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 be interwoven not only with each other but also with the Lord….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 there is not enough fellowship among the local churches, and the churches are not absolutely one in the fellowship.…We need to fully enter into the experience of the divine fellowship in its two aspects by the two spirits. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” pp. 359-365)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” chs. 16-19