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.
That which we have seen and heard - resumed from 1 John 1:1, where the sentence was interrupted by 1 John 1:2, a parenthesis.
Declare we unto you. 'Aleph (') A B C add also: unto you also who have not seen or heard Him.
That ye also may have fellowship with us - that ye also who have not seen, may have the fellowship with us which we who have seen enjoy. What that fellowship consists in he states: "Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son." Faith realizes the unseen as spiritually visible. Not until by faith we too have seen, do we know all the excellency of the true Solomon (1 Kings 10:6-7). We are "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). We know God only by fellowship with Him. He may thus be known, but not comprehended. The repetition of "with" х meta (G3326)] before the "Son" distinguishes the persons, while the fellowship with both Father and Son implies their unity. It is not added, 'and with the Holy Spirit;' for it is by the Holy Spirit of the Father and Son in us that we have fellowship with the Father and Son (cf. 1 John 3:24). Believers enjoy the fellowship OF, but not WITH, the Holy Spirit. 'Through Christ God closes up the chasm that separated Him from the human race, and imparts Himself to them in the communion of the divine life' (Neander).