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1 John 1:3–4
“That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”
The Apostle John continues his prologue by stating the purpose of his proclamation. The eternal Word who took on flesh was seen, heard, and touched by the Apostles, and they did not keep this knowledge to themselves. They proclaimed it, and they did so for a specific end: “that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (v. 3).
The word translated “fellowship” is the Greek term koinōnia, which carries the sense of genuine partnership, shared life, and mutual participation. John has in view an organic union of those who have been brought into living communion with the triune God. To know the gospel is to be drawn into this fellowship. The believer is not merely informed about Christ; he is joined to Christ, and through Christ to the Father, and through this union to all others who share the same union. The horizontal fellowship of the church is the necessary fruit of the vertical fellowship with God.
This understanding of Christianity directly opposes the error that John wrote to refute. The false teachers troubling his congregation held that salvation consisted in the acquisition of secret spiritual knowledge available to only a select few. The mass of ordinary believers, in their view, had a lesser grasp of divine things and could not enjoy the highest communion with God. John dismisses this hierarchy entirely. The fellowship he proclaims is offered to all who hear and believe the Apostolic message. Every Christian has been brought into the same communion with the Father and the Son that John himself enjoys.
Verse 4 names the further consequence of this fellowship: “that our joy may be complete.” There is a deep happiness for the people of God that cannot be experienced apart from union with Christ, and this happiness is not something to be ashamed of or apologized for. The fullness of joy is one of the marks of genuine Christianity, and a faith that knows nothing of joy has not yet penetrated to the heart of the gospel.
The shape of John’s epistle is now coming into view. He writes that his readers may know that they have eternal life (5:13), and what makes this knowledge possible is the fellowship into which they have been brought through faith in the incarnate Son. From this firm foundation, John will proceed to describe the marks of this fellowship and the errors that imitate it.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The fellowship that we share with the Father and the Son cannot be reduced to private religious experience. It flows outward in love for fellow believers and in shared joy among them. As we worship with our local congregation this Lord’s Day, let us recognize one another as those drawn together by God, who drew us to Himself.
For further study
- John 17:20–23
- Acts 2:42–47
- 1 Corinthians 1:9
- Ephesians 2:18–22
The bible in a year
- Proverbs 5–6
- 1 Corinthians 15:1–34