Search
Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:1-4
I. Introduction:
А. The book of Romans is on the gospel of God — 1:1:
1. The entire book, from chapter 1 on the person of Jesus Christ the God-man and on the righteousness of God to chapter 16 on the local churches as the expression of the Body of Christ, is the gospel, the good news and the glad tidings (10:15), of God to men in its completeness.
2. This gospel is concerning Jesus Christ the God-man; hence, Jesus Christ the God-man is the center of the good news and the glad tidings of God to men.
B. Crystallization, in our usage, is based upon the essence.
II. The center of the gospel of God — Jesus Christ the God-man — 1:3-4:
А. The person of Jesus Christ the God-man:
1. The seed of David — Matt. 1:1; 22:42-45:
а. In His humanity:
1) A human seed belonging to the old creation (the old man — Rom. 6:6) of God — Col. 1:15b.
2) Implying Christ’s incarnation — John 1:14.
3) According to the flesh — “the flesh of sin” in its likeness but without sin — Rom. 8:3b.
4) The framework (“the body of His flesh” — Col. 1:22) of Jesus Christ the God-man.
5) Both Satan and sin (the inward sin in our nature) are involved in this flesh — Heb. 2:14; John 3:14; Rom. 8:3b.
6) The involvement of the world in this flesh through Satan, the ruler of the world — John 12:31.
b. This seed of David in His humanity is to be sonized, to be made (“designated” — Rom. 1:4) the Son of God.
c. This is the fulfillment of the prophecy in typology in 2 Samuel 7:12-14.
2. The Son of God:
а. Designated in His humanity.
b. In power according to the Spirit of holiness.
c. The Spirit of holiness is the divinity (Rom. 9:5) in the seed of David — a man of humanity (5:15, 17b, 19).
d. Out of the resurrection — the consummation of the processed Triune God.
e. To be made the firstborn Son of God — 8:29:
1) Christ was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18) before His incarnation, having divinity only, without humanity.
2) Jesus Christ becomes the firstborn Son of God in resurrection, with His God-created humanity uplifted, having both divinity and humanity.
3) The regenerated believers, having both humanity and divinity, are to be conformed to the image of this firstborn Son of God.
3. Thus, the person of Jesus Christ the God-man implies the intention of God in His gospel, that is, that He, as the unique God, wanted to become a man so that the fallen men redeemed by Him could become His many sons, made the same as God in His life and His nature but not in His Godhead.
Prayer: Lord, we praise You that on this earth You have the recovery. Lord, in this recovery You have been speaking to us throughout the years. We thank You for Your oracle. Lord, we thank You even the more that You are not only the Word but also the Spirit to us. You are the life-giving Spirit, the consummated Spirit, the Spirit who is with us and who is now right among us. We trust in You. We thank You for Your Word, and we praise You for Your Spirit. We look unto You that You would make the oneness with us so real. Speak with us and speak in our speaking. Be one spirit with us. We are nothing, we have nothing, and we do not seek anything. Lord, You are all in all to us. Strengthen us and sustain us. We praise You for all that You are. Amen.
In this series of messages I have the burden to crystallize the book of Romans. Romans is a very common and popular book among Christians. I myself have expounded this book in congregations a number of times. Eventually, I had the life-study on Romans in the first year of our semiannual trainings. That was exactly twenty years ago. Even though we did this, I still feel some things are hidden there, and these things are the intrinsic essence of God’s divine revelation in the Epistle to the Romans.
The book of Romans is a book on the gospel of God (1:1). The entire book, from chapter 1 on the person of Jesus Christ the God-man and on the righteousness of God to chapter 16 on the local churches as the expression of the Body of Christ, is the gospel, the good news and the glad tidings (10:15), of God to men in its completeness. No other book presents the gospel of God in such a complete way as Romans does. Do not think that only the first four chapters of Romans on justification by faith are the gospel of God. That is too shallow. You have to realize that every chapter in this book is a part of the gospel of God.
The Body of Christ is first mentioned in the New Testament in Romans 12. It is not mentioned in the four Gospels or in the Acts. But Romans takes the lead to use this extraordinary term the Body of Christ. The last five chapters in Romans begin in chapter 12 with the Body of Christ and conclude in chapter 16 with the local churches for the fellowship and communication of the Body of Christ. Do not think that the local churches are one distinct side, and the Body of Christ is another distinct side. These two sides are one entity. They refer to the same thing. The Body of Christ is unique in the universe, but it needs an expression on the earth. These expressions on the earth are the local churches. The local churches are the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is the local churches. This is like saying that Brother Lee is W. Lee, and W. Lee is Brother Lee. We must see that the Body of Christ is the very organism of the Triune God, and the local churches are the fellowship and the communication of the Body of Christ.
Now we need to consider what the center of the gospel of God is. When I was young, I was told that the book of Romans mainly speaks of justification by faith. In other words, the center of the book of Romans should be justification by faith. But actually, justification by faith is just an initial part of God’s salvation. When a person first learns how to read, he learns the alphabet and then some simple words. Justification by faith is just like that. It is not high or deep. It is the initiation.
Then what is the center of the book of Romans, which is on the gospel of God? The center is a person, the most wonderful person in the whole universe. He is an unlimited, all-inclusive, and all-extensive person. In Ephesians 1 we are told that this all-inclusive and extensive person fills all in all in the universe (v. 23). The measurement of the universe has no end. No one can tell how big the universe is or how many things are in it. But Ephesians 1:23 tells us that Christ is the One who fills all in all. Such a person is the center of the gospel of God. The gospel is concerning Jesus Christ the God-man; hence, Jesus Christ the God-man is the center of the good news and the glad tidings of God to men.
This center, Jesus Christ the God-man, is mainly of two aspects: His person and His work. The entire New Testament reveals Christ Jesus in these two aspects. This chapter is on the essence of the person of Jesus Christ the God-man. We may know a certain brother or sister, but do we know him or her essentially? If there is any person on this earth who knows a certain brother or sister, it would be their spouse. A piece of metal, for example, has an outward appearance, but within the appearance there is the inward element, and within the element is the essence. Now we want to see the essence of the person of Jesus Christ. Crystallization, in our usage, is based upon the essence.
I have spent over sixty years in studying the Bible. Romans was and still is my favorite book in the Bible. After over sixty years of study, by the Lord’s mercy and grace, I can tell you that the Lord has shown me the essence of the person of Jesus Christ. To know the essence of an orange, you have to open the skin to see the contents. First, you can see the element; then within the element there is the essence. It is the very essence of the orange that nourishes us.
Jesus Christ is famous today on this earth. Everywhere nearly every person knows something about Jesus Christ. But who knows Jesus Christ’s essence? Some have said that Jesus Christ is God becoming a man, so He is a God-man. This is good, but do we know the essence of this God-man? He first was God, and now He is both God and man, so He is called the God-man. Over sixty years ago, I read a book that used the term God-man. That was very fresh to me. I was with the Brethren for a number of years, and I heard hundreds of messages from them. They told me that Jesus Christ is our God and that one day He became a man. But they never told me that this Jesus Christ, who is God become a man, is the God-man.
But now we need to ask, “What is the essence of Christ being God? What is the essence of Christ being a man?” Let us read Romans 1:3-4: “Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” When I was young, I read through these verses again and again, but I could not understand them. I could realize something about the seed of David and the Son of God, but I did not know what the rest of these verses were about. I learned, bit by bit, year after year. Eventually, twenty years ago, I had a life-study on Romans in the winter training. I defined all the phrases and the terms in these verses. The Recovery Version is full of footnotes on these verses. But even if you read these verses with their accompanying footnotes a number of times, I am still concerned that you will not get anything. These two verses touch the essence of the person of Christ.
The person of Christ is of two aspects. Christ as the God-man is both divine and human because He is both God and man. God is divine and man is human, so in this one person there is divinity and humanity. Divinity and humanity are mingled together as one person. We have to see these two aspects of Christ’s person.
Now let us consider Christ’s humanity. In humanity, as a human person, He was the seed of David. David, the king of Israel, was one of the forefathers, ancestors, of Christ. In Matthew 1 there is a genealogy of Christ, which speaks of Christ as the son of David and the son of Abraham (v. 1). The son means the seed, and the seed is a son, so the seed of David refers to Christ’s humanity (22:42-45).
Christ as the seed of David is a human seed belonging to the old creation (the old man — Rom. 6:6) of God (Col. 1:15b). So in the essence of the person of Christ in His humanity, the first thing you have to remember is that Christ in His humanity was of the old creation, the old man. If I say that Christ is of the new creation, the new man, we will absolutely agree. But we need to see here that the essence of Christ is first that He belongs to the old creation. He is of the old man.
Christ’s being a human seed belonging to the old creation implies His incarnation (John 1:14). Christ’s incarnation brought Him down. He was the God of glory, but His incarnation brought Him down from His glory to be a man. He went down to the bottom to belong to the old man. He came in incarnation not to be a part of the new creation but to be a part of the old creation of God. These are items of the essence of Christ’s person.
In His humanity He was “according to the flesh,” “the flesh of sin” in its likeness but without sin (Rom. 1:3; 8:3b). Christ was in the flesh, but His flesh was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin and was without sin. All of these are the particular points of the essence of Christ’s person.
The flesh is the framework (“the body of His flesh” — Col. 1:22) of Jesus Christ the God-man. Thus far, we have seen three items related to the essence of Christ’s person in His humanity: Christ belonged to the old creation, so Christ in His flesh was an “old man” (Rom. 6:6), and Christ had the flesh without sin in it, but He was still in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Therefore, outwardly in the framework, the body of His flesh, Christ was not that excellent.
Both Satan and sin (the inward sin in our nature) are involved with this flesh (Heb. 2:14; John 3:14; Rom. 8:3b). Satan induced man to commit sin. By that, he infused man with his sinful nature. Romans 7 tells us that sin dwells in our flesh (vv. 17-18). In our flesh there is something that is condemned by God, which is sin. Sin comes from Satan. It is the nature of Satan. Since sin is now in our flesh, and Satan is linked with sin, Satan and sin are involved with the flesh, even with the flesh of Christ indirectly.
There is also the involvement of the world in this flesh through Satan, the ruler of the world (John 12:31). The flesh of this seed of David is an old man of the old creation involved with Satan, sin, and the world. This seed is of the old creation. This seed is an old man. This seed has the flesh, and with this flesh, Satan, sin, and the world are all involved. Do you like to be such a person in the old creation, involved with Satan, sin, and the world? Anyhow, Jesus became such a person in the flesh, the seed of David.
This seed of David in His humanity was sonized, was made (“designated” — Rom. 1:4) the Son of God. Jesus in His humanity, in that part, was not the Son of God. He was of the old creation, the old man, having the flesh, which is involved with Satan, sin, and the world. So this part had to be made divine, to be sonized, designated, that it might become a part of the Son of God.
It is very hard to say what the word designated means in Romans 1:4. Sonized means to be made a son, but what is designated? Christ is a wonderful person. He has two parts: the man-part, the part of man, and the God-part, the part of God. The part of man is human. The part of God is divine. The human part is in the flesh, involved with the negative things, and the divine part is marvelous. How could this human part in such a flesh be made a part of the Son of God? It was in His resurrection that Christ made His humanity divine. His resurrection uplifted the humanity of Jesus into the level of divinity. Here is the essence of the person of Christ. This is very, very deep. Jesus’ divinity is the Spirit of holiness, having the divine power and the divine element to transform Jesus’ humanity, making it divine. This is what it means to designate, and this is to sonize.
This is the fulfillment of the prophecy in typology in 2 Samuel 7:12-14. In this fulfillment we have seen the essence of Christ’s person as the seed of David in His humanity.
The Son of God is the divine part of Christ. He was designated the Son of God in His humanity. He was the Son of Man in the flesh. How could He be the Son of God, so divine? It was by designation in resurrection.
This designation was in power according to the Spirit of holiness. The Spirit of holiness is the divinity (Rom. 9:5) in the seed of David — a man of humanity (5:15, 17b, 19). Romans 9:5 shows that Christ is God. As God, He had divinity in Himself to be the seed of David, a man of humanity.
Jesus Christ as a man in the flesh was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection is the consummation of the processed Triune God. Resurrection is a person. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the resurrection” (John 11:25a). The Triune God in eternity was just the Triune God, only divine. But He was processed through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. Then He was consummated to be not only divine but also human. Now He has passed through all the processes of incarnation, human living, and death. In resurrection He became the consummated Triune God, who is resurrection itself.
Out of such a resurrection, which is the consummation of the processed Triune God, Jesus Christ as a man in the flesh was made the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). He is the Son of God, but now the Son of God is different from what the Son of God was before. When the Son of God was merely the only begotten Son of God, He had only divinity. But now He has His humanity, and His humanity has been made divine to become a part of Him as the Son of God. Now this Son of God is different. This Son of God is now the Firstborn of God.
An only son could never be the firstborn. Christ’s being the firstborn Son indicates that many sons follow. These many sons are God’s chosen people; the millions of them were all regenerated in the same resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3), in which Christ was made the Son of God in His humanity. In that big resurrection, which is the processed and consummated Triune God, the human part of Christ was made divine to be sonized. At the same time, all His believers were regenerated. These believers, of course, were also human. So in His resurrection, all these human believers were made divine through regeneration to be the many sons of God. Thus, Christ became the firstborn Son of God with many brothers.
Christ was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18) before His incarnation, having divinity only, without humanity. Jesus Christ became the firstborn Son of God in resurrection, with His God-created humanity uplifted, having both divinity and humanity. The regenerated believers, having both humanity and divinity, are to be conformed to the image of this firstborn Son of God.
Thus, the person of Jesus Christ the God-man implies the intention of God in His gospel, that is, that He, as the unique God, wanted to become a man so that the fallen men redeemed by Him could become His many sons, made the same as God in His life and nature but not in His Godhead.
