Outline

«　WEEK 7　DAY 5　»

　　1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him…; 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.

　　The horizontal and vertical aspects of the divine fellowship are very closely related. We can see this from our experience. Sometimes we may talk about other saints under the pretense of having fellowship about their situation, but our conversation is actually gossip. Afterward, we often cannot pray because our praying spirit is quenched by our gossip. But when we fellowship in a genuine way by exercising our spirit, we are eager to pray and contact the Lord. This shows how close the relationship is between the vertical and horizontal aspects of 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. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” pp. 362-363)

　　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.

　　Second Corinthians 13:14 is a verse that shows the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the Spirit. This verse speaks of the grace of Christ, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Triune God is referred to in this verse—Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, three things are covered—grace, love, and fellowship. Just as the Spirit is the consummation of the Divine Trinity, fellowship is the consummation of love and grace. Love is the source, grace is the course, and fellowship is the application. The application is the consummation of the flow of the Divine Trinity.

　　In the Divine Trinity the Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the application of what the Triune God is to us…If we have the Spirit, we have the Son and the Father because the Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. With this Spirit there is the particular capacity of the divine fellowship. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship.

　　Philippians 2:1 speaks of the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship, the “fellowship of spirit.” This refers to the regenerated human spirit of the believers. The divine Spirit regenerated our human spirit with the divine life (John 3:6b), and now our human spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17). The divine Spirit is for vertical fellowship, and the human spirit is for horizontal fellowship. These two aspects of the divine fellowship are inseparable. If we have the vertical aspect with God, it will bring us to the horizontal aspect with our fellow believers. If we are in the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship, we are also in the vertical aspect. These two aspects of the divine fellowship are woven together.

　　Real fellowship is by our spirit. When we exercise our spirit, we are unable to talk about worldly amusements and entertainment. When we exercise our spirit, the nature of our conversation will change because our spirit is holy (cf. 2 Cor. 6:6). If there are problems in a certain church, we may have a desire to merely talk about the situation, but our spirit within will urge us to pray. Our spirit will not allow us to gossip about others’ mistakes and failures. The only way to have the reality of horizontal fellowship is by exercising our spirit. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” pp. 363, 367-368, 362)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “The Intrinsic Problem in the Lord’s Recovery Today and Its Scriptural Remedy,” ch. 1