It has always been God’s wish to have fellowship with His creature. As someone has aptly remarked, “God is sufficient unto Himself in everything except in His love; He must have objects to love.” No doubt this is why, after creating the plant and animal kingdoms, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). More than this, it is evident that God came down in order to enjoy fellowship with His creature, for it is recorded that after they sinned, Adam and Eve “heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8).
Sin Interrupts Fellowship
We know well how man’s sin interrupted this happy fellowship of God with His creature and that he was subsequently driven out of the garden of Eden. However, we know that long before sin entered this world, God had already planned the remedy for it, not only in order to bring man back into fellowship with Himself, but to bless him far more than if sin had never entered this world. Before they were driven out of the garden, God announced to them the wonderful news that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head, no doubt referring to the ultimate victory of Christ over Satan.
In the subsequent history of man in the Old Testament there was fellowship with God by various individuals, and in varying degrees, although it was not characteristic of man in general during that time. Men like Abraham, Moses, David, and many of the prophets enjoyed an intimate relationship with the Lord. Indeed, it is recorded that “there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10). However, the common people were not able to access God’s presence in such a way, and thus it is recorded that during that time, God said “He would dwell in the thick darkness” (1 Kings 8:12). A few individuals rose above their day and enjoyed a measure of intimate fellowship with God, but God had not yet revealed Himself in His full glory and character.
Reconciliation
When we come to the New Testament, we find God sending His Son into the world, and John the Baptist could say of Him, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It was sin that had interrupted God’s communion with man, and the work of Christ would ultimately banish sin from the entire universe. This will not happen practically until that period known as the eternal state, but the work of Christ has already provided the basis for this to happen. This is brought out in Colossians 1:20: “Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” However, the next verse shows us that we do not have to wait for this to happen, but can enjoy God’s presence and have fellowship with Him now. “You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled” (Col. 1:21). The believer in the Lord Jesus is now reconciled to God — brought back into fellowship with Him, a fellowship that was lost when man sinned.
The fellowship into which we are brought is far more than that which Adam and Eve lost, for while they did indeed enjoy God’s presence in the cool of the day, we can say that “our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). Our place is one of far greater nearness than Adam ever enjoyed, for not only do we have new life in Christ, but we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, giving us the enjoyment of Christ through that new life. In every way the believer today is brought nearer to God than he could possibly have been, even if sin had never entered this world.
Separation From the World
This wonderful fellowship, of necessity, separates the believer from the world. Prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world, man was not as responsible as he is now, and there was not the same differentiation between the world and those who followed the Lord. It is true that separation from other nations was enjoined on Israel, but eventually they proved themselves to be morally no better. In connection with His coming into the world, the Lord Jesus could say, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division” (Luke 12:51). His coming caused an irrevocable separation between those who accepted Him and those who rejected Him. The break with the world was complete, for those who have new life in Christ have no common moral ground with this world, unless they come back down to the level of what they were before they were saved. But the new life is characterized by a desire to please God, while the old, sinful self can only do evil. Thus the believer, if walking with the Lord, can have no fellowship with the world. He is not to go out of the world, but while being in the world, he is not of the world. He is sent back into the world as a living witness of the grace that saved him, but he can have no fellowship with it.
New Life
We have already seen that the believer’s fellowship is “with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” However, we also read that “every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (1 John 5:1). The believer has a new life that responds to God’s love, and because of this, it also responds to other believers. All of those who “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7) are part of this fellowship, for every true believer is in the light. Thus the believer has the wonderful privilege, not only of fellowship with God, but of fellowship with other believers, for they also are children of God.
Confession — Forgiveness
The word “fellowship” (or “communion”) simply means “having common thoughts,” and it is because we have common thoughts with God and with one another that we can have fellowship together. However, we well know that this fellowship can be interrupted by sin in our lives. When we sin, the Spirit of God must occupy us with the sin until we judge it, and thus He cannot occupy us with Christ. Our fellowship is not restored until we have dealt with the sin by confessing it. Then God acts in forgiveness, and we enjoy fellowship once more.
The Unity of the Spirit
In the same way our fellowship with other believers can be interrupted, for known sin in our lives will cause other godly believers to avoid us, until we have dealt with the sin. Likewise, fellowship is based on what Scripture calls “the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3), and it is only to the extent that we walk in that unity that we have real fellowship, either with God or with fellow-believers. A believer can have fellowship with another believer only to the extent that both walk in this unity, so such fellowship may be to a greater or lesser degree. If a believer holds or teaches bad doctrine as to the person and work of Christ or if there is serious moral sin in his life, we would have to refuse fellowship with him until that sin is confessed and dealt with.
There is a day coming when all hindrance will be removed, and full fellowship will exist, not only with God Himself, but with all fellow-believers. In that day all outside hindrance from the world and Satan will be gone, and our sinful self will likewise be gone. We will be perfectly like Christ, and in the words of the hymn, “We shall dwell with God’s Beloved, through God’s eternal day” (Little Flock Hymnbook, #48).
W. J. Prost