Search
Romans 1:3 and 4 tell us that the gospel of God is “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.” First, the gospel of God is concerning a person, and this person is Jesus Christ. Second, this person has two essences or two natures — the human nature and the divine nature. According to His human nature, Christ is out of the seed of David. Third, He was designated to be the Son of God. This designation is to sonize His humanity with His divinity.
Christ is both the Son of Man and the Son of God. As the Son of Man, He is human, possessing humanity, and as the Son of God, He is divine, possessing divinity. The man Jesus was designated to be the Son of God in His humanity. The Son of God in verse 4 does not refer to Christ as the only begotten Son of God from eternity but to Christ as the firstborn Son of God, referred to in Romans 8:29. The firstborn Son of God was designated. His humanity was designated into the sonship with the divine element. The man Jesus was sonized with divinity to be the Son of God. Now He is not only the only begotten Son of God but also the firstborn Son of God. With the only begotten Son of God there was no humanity but only divinity. In the firstborn Son of God there is humanity and also divinity. The humanity of the firstborn Son of God has been designated; a man has been designated to be the Son of God. His humanity has been sonized with His divinity for Him to become the firstborn Son of God.
The central aim of God’s gospel is to produce many sons conformed to His Son (v. 29). His firstborn Son is a pattern, a model, for the producing of the many sons. Romans 1:3-4 describes this model, whereas Romans 8 reveals the mass production. The central message of the book of Romans is that sinful, fleshly people are made sons of God and conformed to the image of the Son of God. In this way Christ becomes the Firstborn among many brothers. In order to get into this crucial point, you need to spend much time to study, using the Life-study messages on the book of Romans.
We need to tell people that the gospel is a matter of a person who has a double nature — the human nature and the divine nature. His humanity has been sonized with divinity for Him to become the firstborn Son of God. We believers can be conformed to Him to be His brothers. All the learned and logical people would admire such a truth. They would appreciate your “logics.” They would declare that the people in the local churches are the top philosophers, even today’s Platos. The teachings of Confucius have no comparison with these deeper truths.
Romans 1:16 and 17 say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes, both to Jew first and to Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, ‘But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.’” The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of God. This is a very crucial point that requires much teaching. Why is the gospel of God powerful? It is powerful because the righteousness of God is revealed in it. If the righteousness of man were revealed in the gospel, the gospel would be weak, but the power of the gospel is the righteousness of God Himself. There is no power in the law because the law has only man’s righteousness, but in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.
The righteousness of God in the book of Romans is Christ Himself. Christ as the righteousness of God is given to us, so the power of the gospel of God is actually Christ as the righteousness of God. This righteousness is revealed in the gospel. When we preach the gospel, we have to preach the righteousness of God given to us, which is the very Christ.
The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel “out of faith to faith.” Out of faith indicates faith as the source of the revelation of God’s righteousness; to faith indicates faith as the recipient and retainer of God’s righteousness. Romans 1:17 goes on to tell us that the righteous shall have life and live by faith. Live here indicates that we first receive the life, and then we live by the life. This crucial point again requires very much study and labor. You do not need to go to other books for your study. Just use the book of Romans with the footnotes of the Recovery Version and the Life-study messages.
In the history of mankind the righteousness of God is not revealed, but the wrath of God is. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is manifest within them, for God manifested it to them. For the invisible things of Him, both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being perceived by the things made, so that they would be without excuse” (vv. 18-20). God’s eternal power and His divine characteristics, which are manifested in His creation, are a very good point for gospel preaching. People may say that they do not know God and may even ask where God is. Paul preaches the gospel of God in Romans beginning from God, not from sin. Today we have to do the same thing. We must present God to people. Paul presents God in the way of pointing out God’s eternal power and divine characteristics expressed in His creation.
Anyone who looks at the universe scientifically and objectively can realize that the universe itself indicates a certain extraordinary power. This power is actually the eternal power. The brothers who are going to the campuses to preach the gospel have to study much to find the evidences of this eternal power that are shown in the creation. Without such an eternal, unlimited power, there could never be such a universe. By looking at the universe, you can see the power, the eternal power, the unlimited power, of God.
By looking at the universe we can also see the divine characteristics of this Divine Being. Every attribute of God is a divine characteristic. Light is one of God’s many attributes. This attribute, or characteristic, of God is expressed in God’s creation of the universe. This is why the entire universe is not under darkness but in light. In Genesis 1:3 God said, “Let there be light.” It would be helpful to study some science to find out something concerning the light in Genesis 1 to help you in the preaching of the gospel. Genesis 1 also mentions the fourth-day lights, such as the light of the sun, the light of the moon, and the light of the stars. James refers to God as the “Father of lights” (1:17). Lights in this verse refers to the heavenly luminaries. The Father is the Creator, the source, of these shining bodies. God created all the luminaries, such as the sun, moon, and stars, so He is the Father, the source, of the luminaries, the lights.
Beauty is another one of God’s characteristics or attributes. The universe is beautiful. Only a beautiful person would and could create something beautiful. The universe is also full of life. Three categories of life can be seen in creation: the plant life, the animal life, and the human life. All these different types of life point to the very God who Himself is life.
Our God being manifested in His creation is a great truth that we need to teach to the Lord’s children. He is manifested in the aspect of His eternal, unlimited power, and He is also manifested in the aspect of His characteristics, such as light, beauty, and life. Light, beauty, and life are a few of the many characteristics, or attributes, of God, which show how marvelous He is.
Romans 2:14 and 15 say, “When Gentiles, who have no law, do by nature the things of the law, these, though they have no law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness with it and their reasonings, one with the other, accusing or even excusing them.” This is the human conscience as the law to the Gentiles. God gave the outward law to the Jews, so the Jews have to behave and act before God according to the God-given, outward law. God did not give the Gentiles an outward law, but in the nature of every human being there is a conscience, and that conscience is in the function of the law. The function of the conscience is just the same as the function of the law. The Jews are under the law condemned by God, and the Gentiles are also condemned before God according to their conscience. The conscience works to accuse you or excuse you. When the conscience accuses you, it means that you are wrong, and when it excuses you, it means that you are right. There is something within you by nature, in your nature, that condemns, accuses, you or justifies, excuses, you. This is a major point for you to study with the help of the Life-study messages.
Romans 3:23-26 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God set forth as a propitiation place through faith in His blood, for the demonstrating of His righteousness, in that in His forbearance God passed over the sins that had previously occurred, with a view to the demonstrating of His righteousness in the present time, so that He might be righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus.” The crucial point in these verses is the propitiation place for God’s justification. Very few know what the propitiation place for God’s justification of His chosen people is. The propitiation place is typified by the lid, the cover, of the Ark in the Old Testament tabernacle (Exo. 25:17, 21). The Ark had a cover on the top of it, and on the Day of Expiation the blood was sprinkled on that cover. The King James Version of the Bible refers to this cover as the mercy seat, where God met with His people. Above this seat were the cherubim, signifying God’s glory; underneath the cover and inside the Ark was the law of the Ten Commandments, exposing and condemning by its righteous requirement the sin of the people who came to contact God (vv. 16-22). Above the lid was the glory of God, and underneath the lid was the law of God. The glory of God requires that God’s people should match His glory, and the law of God requires His chosen people to have the proper righteousness with God and with man. Since no one can answer these two kinds of requirements or fulfill them, there is the need of Christ’s redemption, fully symbolized by the blood sprinkled upon this cover (Lev. 16:12-16). This blood satisfies God in answering the requirement of His glory and in answering the requirement of His law. By this redemption God can justify His people in the Old Testament time and in the New Testament time. This is the propitiation place for God’s justification of His chosen people. You have to labor on such a crucial point with the help of the footnotes in the Recovery Version and Life-study messages.
Romans 4:17 says, “(As it is written, ‘I have appointed you a father of many nations’) in the sight of God whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls the things not being as being.” Justification by faith is the crucial point in this chapter, but the crucial element is not justification by faith. We are justified by faith in the very God who gives life to the dead and calls the things not being as being. It is this kind of faith by which God justifies us. Usually we understand justification by faith in Jesus Christ, who died for us and who resurrected for us. In Romans 4, however, we see justification by faith in the One who gives life to the dead and who calls the things not being as being. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are justified by the very God who gives life and who calls the things not being as being. When He justifies you, He gives you life and He calls the things not being as being.
When the very God justifies you, at that time He makes you a new creation. This is to call the things not being as being. At one time nothing was within you as a new creation. But when God justified you, at that very moment He called the things not being as being. Now within you there is the new creation. At the same time He gives you the eternal, divine life. If you get into this point with much labor, you will be brought into the central thought of Romans 4. In the past we saw only that when we were justified by God, He forgave us of all our sins and reconciled us back to Himself. As a result, we have no more condemnation but peace toward God. We never thought that justification involves the new creation being called into being and the divine life given to us. When we go as a gospel team to a campus to preach the gospel, we need to tell others this wonderful truth. We may say, “Today you can be justified by the One who justifies, the Justifier. When He justifies you, He gives you life, and He calls the things not being as being to make you a new creation.” The presentation of such a wonderful truth would be powerful. Such a gospel would be the power to convince many professors on the college campuses. We all have to learn to labor in such a truth.
The crucial point in chapter 5 is “in Adam.” In Adam we were born sinners, we were constituted sinners, and we inherited sin and death (v. 12). The contrast to being in Adam is to be in Christ. In Christ we receive righteousness versus sin and life versus death. In this life we can reign as kings (v. 17). These are the main aspects of this crucial point.
The way we got into Christ was by being baptized into Christ (6:3). This point must be stressed in the gospel. We must tell others: “Since you have believed, you must be baptized. When we baptize you in the water, we are actually baptizing you into Christ. You were in Adam and now we are transferring you out of Adam into Christ. Since you are in Christ, you are identified with Christ in His death and in His resurrection. In His death you are out of the sinful flesh and out of the power of sin. In His resurrection you are in newness of life, so you can live a life that is out of the flesh and out of sin and in His resurrection life with its newness.”
Romans 7 reveals the bondage in the flesh under the law by the indwelling sin unto death and wretchedness. In the flesh you are sinful because in the flesh you have been sold under sin (v. 14). In the flesh sin is your master, sin is your director, sin is your boss. Because you are in the flesh, there is no way to get out of sin. This sin masters you, governs you, enslaves you, and eventually kills you (vv. 11, 17, 20). Your weakness is fully exposed in the flesh. You become a wretched man, and this issues in death (v. 24).
In Romans 8 is the freedom in the Spirit without law by the indwelling Christ unto life and peace. In the Spirit you are set free from sin and death. In the Spirit you enjoy life because you have the law of the Spirit of life (v. 2). This divine life can be enjoyed in all three parts of our being. First, this life is in our spirit (v. 10). Then we enjoy this life in our mind (v. 6). Finally, we can enjoy this life in our mortal body (v. 11). If we walk according to the spirit, the righteous requirements of the law will be fulfilled (v. 4), and we will be led as the sons of God (v. 14).
In Romans 7 and 8 there are four laws. The law of God is the outward law written in letters (7:22). The law of good is in our natural being, represented by our mind. In our mind is a law that always tries to do good, and this is the law of good (v. 23). Also, the law of sin is in our members (v. 23). When a person wants to do good, there is another law, the law of sin, that defeats him and captures him. Last, Romans 8:2 refers to the law of the Spirit of life.
The first law is the law of God, the Mosaic law. The second law is the law of good that is a kind of natural law of mankind. Mankind was created according to God, and because God is good, there is a natural law within man always trying to do good. The third law is called the law of sin, and sin is the very embodiment of Satan. The law of sin may be called a satanic law. The fourth law is called the law of the Spirit of life. This is the divine law because the very Spirit is also the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God in contrast to sin, which is the embodiment of Satan. The law of sin is satanic, and the law of the Spirit of life is divine. The four laws are the Mosaic law, the natural law of the human being, the satanic law, and the divine law.
Furthermore, every life is a law. The satanic life is the satanic law, the divine life is the divine law, and the natural life is the natural law. As a believer in Christ, we are also a created person. As a created person, within our being we have the natural law. We became fallen and received the satanic life and nature into our being, and with this satanic life is the satanic law. Then we got saved, and we received the divine life with the divine law. Therefore, in Romans 7 and 8 we see four laws and three lives.
Our God is the Triune God who has passed through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Now He is the all-inclusive Spirit to be the divine life for our participation, experience, and enjoyment. First, He dispenses Himself into our spirit, the center of our being (8:10). From the center, He spreads into our mind and saturates it with life (v. 6). Then He extends into our mortal body and thereby makes our whole tripartite being life (v. 11). In this way we become men of life in all three parts of our being. This is the Triune God dispensing Himself into the tripartite man.
Romans 8:29 and 30 say, “Because whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” This particular crucial point is fully and adequately covered in the Life-study messages. You have to go to the Life-study messages to labor on this crucial point.
Along with this crucial point, you need to study the firstfruits of the Spirit (v. 23). The firstfruits of the Spirit simply denotes that the Spirit has been given to us as a first taste, a foretaste, of our eternal inheritance, which is the very processed Triune God. In the New Testament we have received an inheritance. The Spirit is given to us as a foretaste of the full taste of this inheritance, which is the Triune God Himself given to us for our enjoyment. This Spirit who was given to us as a foretaste of our divine inheritance is called the firstfruits of the Spirit. The firstfruits of the Spirit means that the firstfruits are the Spirit. In any kind of harvest the firstfruits are a foretaste of the full taste of the harvest. For us, the many brothers of God’s firstborn Son, to be conformed to His image, we need to enjoy the Spirit as the firstfruits. The firstfruits of the Spirit as the foretaste of the divine enjoyment are the very element for our conformation into the image of God’s firstborn Son.
The issue of the enjoyment of the Spirit as the foretaste is the redemption of our body, which is the full sonship. The firstfruits of the Spirit and the redemption of our body, the full sonship, are both in 8:23: “Not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body.” As we are enjoying the Spirit as the foretaste, we are still groaning for and eagerly awaiting sonship. The sonship in this verse is the consummation of the sonship, not the initiation of the sonship, as in Galatians 4:5. The full sonship is the redemption of our body. We have received the sonship already, but we will not receive the full sonship until our body is transfigured, or conformed, to the glorious body of Christ (Phil. 3:21). The full sonship is the redemption of our body, which is also the transfiguration of our body.
Romans 8:18 says, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed upon us.” Romans 8:30 tells us, “Those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” To glorify is to bring us into the coming glory. This will not be done outside of us objectively, but this is being done right now inside of us subjectively. The work of transformation is a process to bring us into glorification, the upcoming glory. The consummation of transformation is conformation; transformation results in conformation, and conformation issues from transformation. Also, conformation equals glorification.
Romans 8:19 says, “The anxious watching of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God.” The revelation of the sons of God is in the full sonship. Someday we sons of God will be revealed to the entire universe, especially to the angels and mankind and the demons. That revelation of the sons of God is the full sonship in glorification. Romans 8:20 and 21 say, “The creation was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” The creation will not participate in the glory, but it will enjoy the freedom of the glory. Today all the creation is under slavery. When our full sonship comes, we will be glorified, and that glory will set the entire creation free from the bondage of slavery.
For this crucial point we have to read 9:14-18. By studying these verses along with the Life-study messages, we will get a clear picture of God’s selection in His mercy. Romans 9:16 tells us that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Our concept is that the one who wills will get what he wills to get and that the one who runs will gain what he runs after. If this were the case, then God’s selection would be according to our effort and labor. But it is not so. It is altogether of God who shows mercy. We do not need to will or to run, for God has mercy on us. If we do know God’s mercy, we will not put our trust in our efforts; neither will we be disappointed by our failure. The hope for our wretched condition is God’s mercy.
Romans 9:20-24 says that man was made a vessel and that this vessel is a vessel unto honor because God is contained in this vessel (2 Cor. 4:7). The contents of the vessel is a person of high honor, so this container is called a vessel unto honor. Eventually, this vessel will be brought into glory. In other words, the contents of the vessel will saturate this vessel with Himself who is the glory. When the glory saturates the entire vessel, the vessel will be in glory, so it is unto glory. Being vessels unto honor is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty. It is of God’s sovereignty that He makes His glory known by creating vessels of mercy to contain Himself. According to His sovereign authority, God before prepared us unto glory. We were predestinated by His sovereignty to be His containers, vessels unto honor to express what He is in glory. That is not only a matter of His mercy but also of His sovereignty.
Romans 10:12 and 13 say, “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him; for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” To be saved here means to be brought into the enjoyment of the riches of the Lord. The Lord is rich both to the Jews and to the Greeks. He is the rich Lord of all the peoples who call on His name. When we call “Lord Jesus,” we are calling upon the Lord because His name is His person. This kind of enjoyment is the filling up of the vessel in Romans 9. The vessel in chapter 9 can be filled up with the riches of the Lord only by our calling on Him.
Romans 11:17 says, “If some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of the fatness of the olive tree.” Romans 9, 10, and 11 are on God’s selection by His mercy, and these three chapters show us that the olive tree refers to God’s chosen people, the real children of Israel, not in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense. Romans 9:6 says that “not all who are out of Israel are Israel.” The children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the promise (v. 8). Therefore, the olive tree refers to the genuine people of God’s selection. This tree includes us because we all have been grafted into this tree, of which Christ is the root. The wild branches are grafted into this cultivated olive tree to partake of Christ as the root of this tree.
Romans 11:17 refers to the root of the fatness of the olive tree. The fatness refers to the riches of this tree. Christ is the root of the riches of this cultivated olive tree, which is somewhat like the vine in John 15. The vine is the divine organism for God to dispense Himself into His chosen people. In John 15, though, we cannot see the grafting. The fact that we Gentiles were grafted into the divine organism of the Triune God is revealed in Romans 11. We were branches of the wild olive tree, which means that we were born in Adam. But we were transferred into Christ by being grafted into Christ. Therefore, we become the cultivated olive tree, which is somewhat like the grapevine in John 15. Now we are enjoying Christ as the fatness, the riches, of this divine organism for God to dispense Himself into our being. Studying the Life-study messages of Romans and some of the Life-study messages related to John 15 will help you get into this crucial point of the truth.
Nearly every teacher of the book of Romans knows that chapter 12 is on the practice of the Body of Christ. In order to practice the Body of Christ we first have to consecrate our body (v. 1). Second, we have to be renewed in our mind, which means that our soul has to be renewed (v. 2). Finally, our spirit has to be on fire (v. 11). The three parts of our being all need to be exercised for the practice of the Body of Christ.
Romans 14 is a chapter on the church life. It tells us how to maintain the fellowship with the saints to have the church life. Verse 17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This verse strongly proves that the reality of the church life is the kingdom life. This realization requires you to go to Matthew 5 through 7. In those three chapters is the reality of the kingdom life. Romans 14:17 only gives us an extract of the reality of the kingdom life in three items: righteousness toward ourselves, peace toward others, and joy with God. In Matthew 5 those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness are blessed (vv. 6, 10). Also, our righteousness should surpass that of the Pharisees. If we do not have such a surpassing righteousness, we cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens (v. 20). Matthew 5 also tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” (v. 9). Our Father is the God of peace (Rom. 15:33; 16:20), having a peaceful life with a peaceful nature. The sons of the kingdom are makers of peace. Matthew 5 also tells us that we are blessed when others reproach and persecute us and that when this happens, we are to rejoice and exult (vv. 11-12). Romans 14:17 says that this joy is in the Holy Spirit. This is the kingdom life, which is the reality of the church life.
Romans 15:16 says, “That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.” Paul’s work was to minister Christ to the Gentiles, and his gospel preaching was a priestly service. He was an evangelist, yet in the eyes of God he was a priest in the service of the gospel, which I call the gospel priesthood. The believing Gentiles became an offering to God. Paul as an evangelistic priest offered the believing Gentiles to God as a kind of offering that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable. After being sanctified, the Gentile believers are an offering acceptable to God. The Gentiles have to be sanctified not only positionally but also dispositionally. This kind of sanctification is a transformation in the Holy Spirit. When we preach the gospel, we must do it as a priest, not merely as a preacher. In our priestly preaching we minister Christ to the unbelievers. After believing, they become our offering. As an offering, they have to be sanctified, transformed, in their disposition, in their nature. God then accepts these transformed believers as an offering to Himself.
The practice of the local churches is in Romans 16. Verse 1 tells us that Phoebe was a deaconess of the church which was in Cenchrea. In verse 5 we see the church in the house of Prisca and Aquila. Verse 16 refers to the churches of Christ, and verse 4, to the churches of the Gentiles. Then verse 23 says, “Gaius, my host and host of the whole church, greets you.” By putting all these verses together, you can see that the last chapter of the book of Romans is a chapter on the practice of the local churches. Romans begins from the designation of Jesus Christ to be the Son of God for the mass production of the many sons of God to be the components of the church, the members of the Body of Christ, and ends with the practice of the local churches as the expressions of the Body of Christ in many localities.
In conclusion, if we would all rise up to study these crucial points and to teach the saints to speak them, this would attract, gain, and keep people. We need a lot of labor to get ourselves constituted with all these things; then spontaneously we will be able to speak, teach, instruct, and train others in these crucial points of the truth. All the saints in the churches will then speak the same thing in their homes, schools, offices, and everywhere. Everyone who hears these deeper truths will be surprised at the real riches of the Lord’s salvation. From now on we must be people on a higher level, speaking the higher truths. This kind of speaking will be very dynamic.
