The Fellowship of the Eternal Life is the Reality of Living in the Body of Christ

The fellowship of the eternal life is the reality of living in the Body of Christ in the oneness of the spirit by our living and entering the vertical and horizontal aspects of fellowship, even living in the interwoven fellowship, and by allowing the divine fellowship to limit us and keep us in the oneness.

Amen, Lord, we want to remain in the divine fellowship today! We love You, Lord, and we open to You! We want to fellowship with You and also fellowship with the saints. Keep us in our mingled spirit today. May we maintain the fellowship between us and You and between us and the saints so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ! Amen!

How wonderful it is to see that we believers in Christ are in the fellowship of the eternal life, for by our regeneration with God’s life, we have been brought into the flow of the life of God!

Just as we have the flow of human life within our human body, and as long as this flow is uninterrupted, we are alive; similarly, spiritually, we are in the flow of the divine life.

We need to constantly fellowship with the Lord and also with the saints, for we are both in fellowship with God and with the saints. To fellowship means that we put aside our private interests and we are joined with others for the purpose of God.

To be in the divine fellowship we need to put aside any interests that we have and be joined to the apostles and to the Triune God for the carrying out of God’s purpose.

We do this by coming to the Lord in His word and allowing Him to adjust us, correct us, and speak to us.

As we come to the Lord’s word and are infused with the apostles’ teaching, we are kept in oneness, and we are brought into further fellowship with the Lord and with the saints.

We all can testify that many times, when we come to the Word of God, opening to the Lord from within and exercising our spirit to touch Him, we see something fresh from the Lord.

He infuses us with Himself, and we allow Him to shine and expose anything that He does not agree with in our being.

We open to Him and He opens to us. He speaks to us and we speak to Him. He exposes us and infuses us, we say Amen and we give Him our problems. There’s a two-way fellowship between the Lord and us.

Similarly, when we meet with the saints and remain in the divine fellowship, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin. Hallelujah for the divine fellowship!

The Fellowship of the Eternal Life is the Reality of Living in the Body of Christ in the Oneness of the Spirit

The reality of the Body of Christ in the onenes of the Spirit is the fellowship of the eternal life; when we live in the fellowship of the eternal life, we live in reality in the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16-18; Acts 2:42; Eph. 4:3).

This fellowship of the divine life has two aspects: the vertical and the horizontal aspect.

The vertical aspect is our fellowship with the Triune God and the horizontal aspect is our fellowship with one another.

We used to be sinners, far away from God, but one day we were brought to touch God; through the preaching of the gospel, we touched something of God, and we entered into the fellowship with God, the vertical fellowship.

We enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 1:3, 6; Mark 12:30). This aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God in our loving Him.

By regeneration we have received the divine life, and this life is flowing in us; as we fellowship with the Lord, we enjoy the fellowship of the eternal life, and we touch something of God, even receive something of God in us.

First, it was the apostles who saw something concerning the eternal life, and they entered into fellowship with the Father and with the Son.

Then, they brought us all into this fellowship by reporting this to us. They reported to us the eternal life, and we enter into this aspect of the eternal life by contacting the Lord in spirit.

This is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah, we now have fellowship with the Triune God in spirit!

How about the horizontal aspect of fellowship? We enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit (Phil. 2:1; Rev. 1:10; 1 John 1:2-3, 7; 1 Cor. 16:18; Mark 12:31; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:13-15).

The horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another by the exercise of our spirit in our loving one another.

Vertically, we exercise to contact the Lord as the Spirit in our spirit, and we turn our heart to Him to love Him. Horizontally, we exercise our human spirit to fellowship with the saints and to love one another.

If there’s any consolation of love, if any fellowship of spirit – this is what we do today, we love one another and we fellowship in spirit.

We need to take care of both of these aspects of fellowship, for the fellowship of the eternal life is the reality of living in the Body of Christ.

We cannot say that it is the vertical fellowship that comes first; many times, our vertical fellowship is affected by our horizontal fellowship.

Many times, when we do not have a proper fellowship with others or when the fellowship is interrupted, we are hindered in our fellowship with God.

Similarly, if we don’t contact the Lord, if we don’t have a proper fellowship with Him day by day, we are hindered in our fellowship with the saints.

When we meet with the saints, we need to exercise our spirit and remain in the divine fellowship. We need to take care of both the vertical fellowship with the Lord and the horizontal fellowship with the saints.

A good illustration of this is the matter of electricity, the current of electricity. In a particular building, the electricity has been installed, and all we have to do to turn on the light is simply turn on the switch, and the light will be on.

In our spiritual experience, all we have to do is exercise our spirit to love the Lord and love the saints, fellowship with the Lord and fellowship with the saints, and we are in the fellowship of the eternal life, the reality of living in the Body of Christ.

There is one fellowship, the divine fellowship, the fellowship of the eternal life, and this has two aspects.

If we quarrel with our spouse or with our roommate, if we have some dissension at work and argue with someone, our fellowship with the Lord will also be affected.

Similarly, if we forget about the Lord and do not contact Him for some time, our fellowship with the saints is affected.

We need to learn to daily maintain both the vertical and the horizontal aspects of our fellowship in order for us ot be healthy spiritually.

We need to deal with any problem, any insulation, and any obstacle to the flow of the divine life in us so that we may remain in the divine fellowship. When we live in the fellowship of the eternal life, we live in the reality of the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us into the divine fellowship for us to enjoy all that You are! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ have fellowship with the Triune God vertically and we also have fellowship with the saints in the Body horizontally! Amen, Lord, may we see that the fellowship of the eternal life is the reality of living in the Body of Christ in the oneness of the Spirit. May we enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit! Amen, Lord, we love You and we exercise our spirit to fellowship with You today! May we enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to love the saints and fellowship with one another in the Body! Keep us in this one divine fellowship, contacting God and contacting the saints by exercising our spirit! May we be healthy spiritually by maintaining both the horizontal and the vertical aspects of the divine fellowship today!

Learn to Fellowship with God and with the Saints to Live in the Reality of the Body

We may know that the fellowship of the eternal life is the reality of living in the Body of Christ, we may agree with this, but we may not live in this way.

Our problem many times is that we don’t have the habit to fellowship. Many of us may not even like to fellowship. We may have many excuses not to fellowship. But we need to realise that, when we fellowship, the Lord is involved.

When we fellowship with God, when we enter into the sanctuary of God, we get the Lord’s speaking, and we see the real condition of things (Psa. 73); this motivates us to go on with the Lord.

When we learn to fellowship with the saints in the Body, the Lord supplies us, leads us, and causes us to go on in the divine fellowship.

We need to learn to fellowship with the Lord and fellowship with the saints as much as possible.

If we don’t fellowship, if we turn away from our fellowship, or if we stop our fellowship with our fellow believers, the Lord is kept away. But if we fellowship with the Lord and also fellowship with the saints, we are supplied, we are kept in a healthy condition, and we have the reality of living in the Body of Christ.

The divine fellowship corrects us, molds us, and reconstitutes us. As we fellowship with God and with the saints, the divine element is dispensed into our being, and there’s an inward change in us.

The divine fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ. What the Lord is after today is the reality of the Body of Christ, and we can live in this reality by remaining in the divine fellowship.

The Lord Jesus said in Revelation 22:20 that He is coming quickly, but it has been more than two thousand years and He has not yet come.

One of the reasons for the Lord’s delay in returning is that we believers in Christ are so individualistic, independent, opinionated, and divisive.

If we look at Christians today, it seems that they are like horses without a bridle; they do whatever they want, they speak whatever they want, and nothing seems to control them. If something bothers them in a particular “church”, they go somewhere else or start their own church. Oh Lord!

The only thing that can control us is not any human authority or teaching but the divine fellowship.

What should rule us today is the divine fellowship. May we allow the Lord to restrict us as we fellowship with Him and fellowship with the saints.

As we are restricted in the divine fellowship, the Body of Christ is kept in oneness, and the work of the ministry continues to go on.

If we look at the pattern of the apostle Paul, he did not just go wherever he wanted to preach the gospel but was led both by the Lord and the fellowship in the Body, and his going out was the Body going out to preach the gospel and establish churches.

We need to learn to fellowship. We need to learn to fellowship with the Lord about all things, and we also need to fellowship with the saints in the Body.

As we fellowship both vertically with the Lord and horizontally with the saints, we are limited by this fellowship, we are supplied by the Lord, the divine element is added to us, and we receive many benefits.

What a privilege it is for us believers in Christ to fellowship with God and also fellowship with one another!

The more we fellowship, the more we remain in the divine fellowship, the more we have the reality of living in the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, may we learn to fellowship. We open to You, Lord, concerning all things. Keep us coming to You about things big and small in our daily life. We want to maintain our fellowship with You throughout the day. Amen, Lord, we want to deal with any obstacles or insulations between us and You. May we be those who walk in the light, even as God is in the light, so that we may have fellowship with God and also with one another. Save us, Lord, from not being in the divine fellowship. Save us from not fellowshipping with God and with the saints. May we allow the divine fellowship to rule in us and restrict us. May we enjoy all the wonderful benefits of being in the divine fellowship. Amen, Lord, may we realise that it is when we live in the divine fellowship that we are in the reality of living in the Body of Christ today! Praise the Lord for the divine fellowship! Keep us here, Lord, in the fellowship of the eternal life today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brother Ricky Acosta on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” chs. 16-19, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (part 3 – 2025 Summer Training), week 35, The Fellowship of the Eternal Life— the Reality of Living in the Body of Christ – day 2.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The fellowship of the eternal life, a portion from, Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Testimony: I am grateful for my experiences in the wonderful church life, via, Living to Him.
  – Eternal life in the Gospel of John, article by John Pester in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 1 John (Program #5) – The Fellowship of the Divine Life, via, Bible study radio.
  – The eternal life, a portion from, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – What Should I Do When I Sin after I’m Saved? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Keeping ourselves in the fellowship of life, a portion from, Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – The Street of New Jerusalem for Eternal Fellowship, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Fellowship – What is it and How Do You Enjoy it? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Life eternal brings us / Fellowship of life, / Fellowship in Spirit, / Saving us from strife. / Life eternal gives us / Fellowship divine; / Thus the Lord as Spirit / May with us combine. / It is life in Spirit / Brings this fellowship; / Fellowship in Spirit / Doth with grace equip. (Hymns #737 stanzas 1-3)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Fully opened from within, / With thy face unveiled, beholding, / Single, pure, and genuine. / Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Seeking Him in confidence; / Learn to touch Him as the Spirit, / Looking up in reverence. (Hymns #784 stanzas 2-3)
  – I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee. / I long for fellowship in spirit, / That opened shall my spirit be, / Long to be rescued from seclusion, / And with the saints to worship Thee. (Hymns #847 stanzas 1-2)