Resuming accordingly what he had begun, he now proceeds in the same form: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.".

Having, therefore, been himself an eye and ear-witness of the self-revelation of that eternal Life which seeks to impart itself to man, John declares what he has seen and heard, that those who hear may be led by it into that divine fellowship of life in which all are to become one. By the "fellowship with us," which he represents as the object for which he declares this, he means fellowship with those who testified, as original eye-witnesses, of the eternal Life which had made its appearance in humanity; a fellowship therefore derived from that original fellowship with the divine life-fountain so revealed, a fellowship with the Apostles grounded in fellowship with Christ. All fellowship of believers with one another, in the Apostle's view, springs from that original fact of fellowship with Christ. Thus is formed his conception of the Church.

This is of special importance as a guard against the tendency, which is ever reappearing, to externalize the idea of the church, to attach an undue value to a certain visible organization; while it is forgotten that fellowship with Christ is the main point, the essential element of the whole true church, -- which, issuing from this source, grounded in this fellowship, may appear in a variety of outward forms. We must ever bear in mind that where this fellowship exists, there, whatever defects may still cleave to it, is a true church; as indeed there is no form of divine manifestation in sinful human nature wholly free from defect.

In explanation of what he understands by this fellowship, the Apostle immediately adds; "And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."