"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." (1 John 1:3)
"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 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 1:5-7)
We know from scripture that our way of life during this time of our probation will determine our future, whether we walk according to the ways of Yahweh our God or are led by the ways of those around us in the world. We may even be influenced by the gangrenous ways of those that would introduce false doctrine into the ecclesia (2 Timothy 2:172 Timothy 2:17 17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;).
"Called out of darkness into his marvellous light" For we have been called out of darkness into his marvellous light, but if we then continue to walk in the darkness of the world or the apostasy within the brotherhood then the day of the Messiah's second advent will overtake us a a thief (1 Thessalonians 5:41 Thessalonians 5:4 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.). We shall therefore suffer the same consequences as those who have not known the light, if not more so since we will have rejected the offer of salvation for which Christ died, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29).
Since there is no darkness in God we must therefore be the children of light and the children of the day. To be thus means that we have to display the characteristics of Yahweh in our daily lives else we are spiritually blind (1 John 2:9-11) "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." If this description matches our walk then we are no better than the Pharisees that Jesus lambasted as hypocrites. In so doing we are not judging or being judgemental but obeying the Word of God; we are stating that we believe that, in all good conscience, continuing in fellowship would imperil our own salvation.However, if we walk in the light of our Heavenly Father's truth then we have fellowship one with another, as John says. In addition the blood of Christ is then an efficacious covering for our transgressions and flesh of sin since he overcame the flesh and so is the perfect sacrifice to cleanse us from all sin.
But what of those in the ecclesia that do not obey the commandments of our God and continue to walk in the darkness of apostasy? Do we have fellowship with them if they walk in darkness and we walk in the light? We may feel that we have no fellowship with those that do not the truth since we do not see eye to eye with them. However, the fact of the matter is that we are still in fellowship (Greek koinonia, meaning fellowship, communion, joint participation) with them, and will be unless we rebuke them and turn them from their ways as Paul wrote to Timothy "them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear" (1 Timothy 5:20). James in his epistle says through the Spirit "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" (James 5:19-20). The brother or sister that walks in darkness must be brought into the light. If they do not hear the Scriptures then we must remove ourselves from fellowship with them, which is the proscribed action. In so doing we are not judging or being judgemental but obeying the Word of God; we are stating that we believe that, in all good conscience, continuing in fellowship would imperil our own salvation.
"Rightly dividing the word of truth"However, in order to be able to persuade a brother or sister of their mistaken walk we ourselves need to ensure that we are walking in the light and the only way to do this is to follow the actions recommended by Paul to his son in the faith, Timothy, and to us also in 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". The Greek means to endeavour, give diligence to, showing that you are approved (tested faithful or true from the Greek dokimos, here translated 'approved'). Only by continued study and development in the Truth shall we be approved of God, so that our growth is in accordance with His word of truth. If we deny any of the precepts that have been recorded for our learning in the Bible then we are not being faithful, but walking in darkness and not light. If we walk in darkness then our fate will be eternal darkness, if in the light then we shall live eternally in the light "And there shall be no night there; and they need no lamp, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:5).