The Church: Its Organization, Order and Discipline

True Fellowship

The true basis of fellowship is with the Father and the Son. This is plainly stated by the Apostle John in his first epistle: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.... If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:3-7. Joyous and blessed assurance indeed,-fellowship with God and Christ, and that we may know, as expressed by the Spirit in the instruction to his people, that “the church, enfeebled and defective, needing to reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows his supreme regard.”-The Review and Herald, September 5, 1893. COOD 19.1