What Does the Greek Word for Fellowship Mean in 1 John 1:3?

   I got reminded this week about not only what fellowship is but what it’s for.  This week I started reading the Life-Study of 1 John, and in the opening verses of this Epistle, John reminds the believers that they’ve been brought into a wonderful fellowship:

I took this on Friday when I was at a park with
my grandkids.

That which we have seen and heard we report to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son… 1 John 1:3

   Witness Lee mentions in chapter 5 of the Life-Study of 1 John that the Greek word for fellowship  koinonia  means common participation or a joint partnership in the divine life.  He brings out that this implies a putting aside of your own interests and purpose.  This part on pages 49-50 really made me go wow inside because it explains that there's a purpose for this fellowship:

If we see what fellowship really is we shall realize that fellowship is a great matter.  However, for years, we have understood fellowship to be merely a kind of enjoyment in the divine life. We have not seen that fellowship also involves a common interest. God does not supply enjoyment without a purpose. God is purposeful, and He has a purpose in giving us the enjoyment in the fellowship of His life. God’s purpose is to feed us so that we may grow in the divine life and that with the divine birth as the basis, we may live a life of the divine righteousness and divine love to overcome the evil one, the world, sin, and all idols. It is also God’s purpose that the local churches may be built up as the testimony of Jesus [See Revelation 1-3].  Eventually, this testimony will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the complete and eternal expression of the Triune God [See Revelation 21]. This is the purpose of the fellowship of the divine life (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 John. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry,  1983).

I could see from reading this that my fellowship with God and other believers matters.  Through our fellowship God's interest becomes our interest, and we join with him to give Him a way to accomplish His purpose.  I saw a bit more that the fulfillment of God's purpose hinges on this fellowship--wow! 

I enjoy listening to live excerpts and the commentary on these Life-Studies on the  Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee while I"m cooking, cleaning, and typing.