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I. In establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness — Rom. 9:14—10:4:
А. Being exceptionally strengthened in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness in our reigning with Christ.
B. Being exceptionally radiant in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness in our reigning with Christ.
II. In taking Christ as God’s righteousness — 10:4; Phil. 3:9; 1 Cor. 1:30:
А. Being exceptionally extolling in taking Christ as God’s righteousness.
B. Being exceptionally successful in taking Christ as God’s righteousness.
Notes:
1. God’s righteousness is the way of His acts (Psa. 103:6-7); it is revealed in the gospel of God as its foundation, solid and steadfast as the foundation of God’s throne — Rom. 1:17; Psa. 89:14.
2. The lawkeepers attempt to keep the law for the building up of their own righteousness (Rom. 9:31). But “out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him [God]” (3:20).
3. Christ is the end of the law by fulfilling all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory and is made the righteousness from God to the believers (10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9) in two aspects — the objective aspect and the subjective aspect.
III. In presenting our bodies to live the Body life — Rom. 12—13:
А. Being exceptionally practical in presenting our bodies to live the Body life.
B. Being exceptionally abounding in presenting our bodies to live the Body life:
1. To present our bodies — 12:1.
2. To be renewed in our mind — vv. 2-3.
3. To exercise our gifts — vv. 4-8.
4. To live a life of the highest virtues — vv. 9-21.
5. To be subject to authorities — 13:1-7.
6. To practice love — vv. 8-10.
7. To live a watchful life — vv. 11-14.
IV. In receiving the believers to live the church life — 14:1—15:13:
А. Being exceptionally general in receiving the believers to live the church life:
1. According to God’s receiving — 14:1-23.
2. According to Christ’s receiving — 15:1-13.
B. Being exceptionally smooth and orderly in receiving the believers to live the church life:
1. Living the kingdom life not for eating and drinking but for righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, pursuing peace and the building up of one another — 14:17-19.
2. Being of the same mind toward one another according to Christ Jesus so that with one accord we may glorify God — 15:5-7.
In this chapter, the second chapter on reigning in life, we will see that we need to reign in life, first, in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness; second, in taking Christ as God’s righteousness; third, in presenting our bodies to live the Body life; and fourth, in receiving the believers to live the church life. In these four main points we will refer to eight “exceptional” matters: being exceptionally strengthened, being exceptionally radiant, being exceptionally extolling, being exceptionally successful, being exceptionally practical, being exceptionally abounding, being exceptionally general, and being exceptionally smooth and orderly. These eight “exceptional” items comprise everything that we have covered in the preceding chapters.
Hymn #248 in the Chinese hymnal adequately represents the eight “exceptional” points covered in this chapter. This hymn concerning grace contains expressions that cannot be found in ordinary Christian books. What is grace? Grace is actually God Himself. Then what is God? God is the New Jerusalem. However, whether it is grace or God or the New Jerusalem, actually they are just one. The following is a literal translation of this hymn:
Since we are speaking concerning God’s righteousness, why do we refer to a hymn on God’s grace? My intention, my burden, is to show you that the entire Bible speaks of only one thing — grace, which is God, who is the New Jerusalem. Grace is the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Regardless of what subject the Bible touches, it is concerned with the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — being manifested as grace consummating in the New Jerusalem. This is the highest and central revelation shown to us in the entire New Testament. Hence, we cannot touch the righteousness of God without touching grace. God’s righteousness and God’s grace are not two different things. Romans 5:17 refers to both the abundance of grace and the abundance of righteousness. Righteousness always accompanies grace and is its result.
We reign in life in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness (9:14—10:4). The Israelites, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, seek to establish their own righteousness by trying to keep the law and have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, which is Christ Himself. This is an insult to God, and it causes them to miss the way of God’s salvation. We have believed in Christ and have therefore received God’s righteousness. Believing in Christ is to establish God’s righteousness, which is Christ Himself.
We are exceptionally strengthened in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness in our reigning with Christ. To strengthen is to emphasize; this is with regard to the contents. In our work in the Lord’s recovery what we strongly emphasize is that grace is the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is representative of our speaking in the Lord’s recovery. I hope that you all can be like tape recorders and have this word deeply impressed in you. Then when you go out to contact others, you can spontaneously speak, and only speak, this word. May such “tape recorders” increase more and more until no other speaking can be heard on the whole earth except this: “Grace is the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.”
We are exceptionally radiant in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness in our reigning with Christ. To be radiant refers to the outward expression; it is regarding the result. In our work in the Lord’s recovery we do not boast in anything except grace as the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We consider this as our radiance, our boast. To be strengthened is something inward; to be radiant is something outward. Today the Lord has given these truths to us that we may strengthen them in their contents inwardly and radiate them in their reality outwardly.
Some may ask, “Does this mean that among us we should not teach anything else?” It is not a matter of whether or not to teach other things. Actually, it is that we do not have any spare time to teach anything other than the central revelation of the Bible. In the past we received Brother Nee’s leading to meet according to 1 Corinthians 14 — not to have one man speaking and all the rest listening but to have everyone prophesying. From 1933 Brother Nee began to strongly promote this practice, but it was unsuccessful. It was not until the recent years when we restudied 1 Corinthians 14 that we discovered that the Lord’s intention is not merely to have all the members taking turns to speak but to have all the members blended together as one Body to speak. In the past we did not dare to speak in the meetings, because we did not know what to speak. But now the whole situation has been changed; everyone is glad to prophesy, and everyone speaks concerning the unique central revelation of the Bible. This is what we particularly emphasize and boast of.
We reign in life in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness and also in taking Christ as God’s righteousness (Rom. 10:4; Phil. 3:9; 1 Cor. 1:30).
We are exceptionally extolling in taking Christ as God’s righteousness. How do we take Christ as God’s righteousness? The key is in living a grafted life with Christ. Such a grafted life includes dying with Christ, being raised with Christ, and being overcoming and transcending with Christ in our mingled spirit. This is the way for us to take Christ as God’s righteousness.
When we live the grafted life, not living by our natural life but living by the Triune God, the result is that Christ becomes our subjective righteousness. When we enjoy the Triune God, Christ is constituted into us as God’s righteousness subjectively. Hence, the objective righteousness is for grace to come to us so that we may receive Christ as our subjective righteousness. Therefore, God’s righteousness is the subjective Christ, the Christ whom we enjoy and experience and who is constituted into us.
In the Lord’s recovery we particularly extol and designate the truth concerning taking Christ as God’s righteousness, that is, living a grafted life with Christ. We establish not our own righteousness but the righteousness of God, the subjective Christ.
We are exceptionally successful in taking Christ as God’s righteousness. What does it mean to be successful? It means to have an accomplishment. In all our service and work, our particular accomplishment should be to take Christ as God’s righteousness, that is, to have the subjective Christ in us.
God’s righteousness is the way of His acts (Psa. 103:6-7); it is revealed in the gospel of God as its foundation, solid and steadfast as the foundation of God’s throne (Rom. 1:17; Psa. 89:14). The lawkeepers attempt to keep the law for the building up of their own righteousness (Rom. 9:31), but “out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him [God]” (3:20). Christ is the end of the law by fulfilling all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory and is made the righteousness from God to the believers (10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9).
Christ’s becoming righteousness from God to the believers is of two aspects: the objective aspect and the subjective aspect. In the objective aspect God has given Christ to us as our righteousness for us to put on as our outward covering in order that we may be justified before God outwardly and objectively. In the subjective aspect God has given Christ to us as our righteousness in order that Christ may enter into us to be our life and life supply and live God out from us so that we may be justified before God inwardly and subjectively. The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 implies these two aspects. On the one hand, he was clothed with the best robe, and on the other hand, he ate the fattened calf. Being clothed with the best robe is the objective, outward covering; eating the fattened calf is the subjective, inward life supply. God’s salvation not only has an objective aspect in which we are justified by God positionally; this is our solid foundation. Based upon the objective justification, God’s salvation also has a subjective aspect in which we enjoy Christ as grace. The objective justification is not the purpose but the procedure to fulfill God’s judicial requirement so that the Triune God may become grace to us.
The objective righteousness is positional and judicial; it was fulfilled by Christ Himself and is received by the believers once for all at the time of their salvation through justification by faith. The subjective righteousness is organic; it was not accomplished by Christ in His flesh but is carried out in the believers by the pneumatic Christ. The believers need to work out their own salvation by cooperating with the indwelling Christ (Phil. 2:12). This salvation that we are working out is our subjective righteousness, and it requires our daily and moment-by-moment experience of the subjective Christ.
By reigning in life in establishing not our own righteousness but God’s righteousness and taking Christ as God’s righteousness, we are able to present our bodies to live the Body life (Rom. 12—13).
In presenting our bodies to live the Body life, we need to be exceptionally practical. Living the Body life is something very practical; it is neither vain nor empty. All the things that the worldly people are doing are vanity and emptiness. Only the work that we are carrying out in God’s eternal economy is not a vain concept or an empty doctrine or belief; it is practical and substantial.
In presenting our bodies to live the Body life, we need to be exceptionally abounding. The Body life is neither poor nor monotonous but is rich in content and reality. The following seven items are ways for us to be abounding in the Body life.
To live the Body life in a practical and abounding way, first, we need to present our bodies (12:1). We human beings exist in time. When we present our bodies, naturally we present our time and offer our entire being.
After presenting our bodies, we need to have our mind renewed (vv. 2-3). The renewing of the mind is the base for the transformation of our soul; it makes us suitable for the building up of the Body of Christ, which is the practice of the Body life.
Romans 12:4-8 shows us that in the Body of Christ we have received gifts that differ from one another; there are those who prophesy, those who serve, those who teach, those who exhort, those who give, those who lead, and those who show mercy. Although our gifts are different, we all function according to our respective gifts as normal, proper, rich, organic, functioning members. Thus, the Body life is exceptionally abounding and intensified.
Romans 12:9-21 is a long section in which a life of the highest virtues is described. We need to live out the highest virtues of Christ in our dealings with others, with God, with ourselves, with the persecutor and enemy, and in general, before all men. Such a complete and proper life is a life of surpassing quality with an excellent issue.
Romans 13:1-7 deals with subjection to authorities. Man is rebellious in his natural character, but a transformed person is submissive. Apparently, subjection to authorities is related only to the government, but as those who live the normal church life, we should have a proper relationship with the government so that we may live the church life in peace and security.
We must also practice love in presenting our bodies to live the Body life (vv. 8-10). Only love prevails. We love, however, because God first loved us. The love of God is wrought into us so that we may live it out (1 John 4:10-11).
We live a watchful life in the Body life (Rom. 13:11-14). We do not live a befuddled and confused life; rather, we have been raised from sleep to be those who are watching and waiting.
To practice what is revealed in Romans 12 concerning presenting our bodies to live the Body life, we must learn the practical lessons of receiving the believers, as revealed particularly in Romans 14:1—15:13, that the church life may be all-inclusive, able to include all kinds of genuine Christians.
We need to be exceptionally general in receiving the believers to live the church life. To be general means that everyone is speaking and every home is doing the same thing; no one is particularly different.
This generality must be according to God’s receiving (14:1-23). God is very general; the most general one in the universe is God. Those whom God has received, we must receive; otherwise, our receiving is not general. We receive the believers according to God, not according to doctrinal views or religious practices.
This generality must also be according to Christ’s receiving (15:1-13). The most general ones in the universe are God and Christ. Therefore, remember these two statements: we must receive the believers according to God, and we must receive the believers according to Christ. As long as a person has God and Christ, we must receive him. If we do not receive him, our receiving is a selective receiving; then we are sectarian and have become a denomination. Thus, we cannot maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ.
In receiving the believers to live the church life, we need to be exceptionally smooth and orderly. To be smooth and orderly is to not be quarrelsome but to be peaceful and easy. To some extent we can see this today in the Lord’s recovery. There is no quarreling among us; everything is peaceful, smooth, and orderly. When we are not general, there is no peace, smoothness, or order, and the result is something particular and sectarian. If we receive others according to God and Christ, the church life will be smooth and orderly, and the whole church will be in harmony.
Today our church life is the practical kingdom life. The kingdom life is not for eating and drinking but for righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; it is also for us to pursue peace and the building up of one another (14:17-19).
We need to be of the same mind toward one another according to Christ Jesus so that with one accord we may glorify God in receiving the believers to live the church life (15:5-7). Whenever we are in one accord, we speak the same thing; we speak with one mouth. The only way to be with one accord and with one mouth is to allow Christ the room to be everything in our heart and in our mouth so that God may be glorified. We have said that God is the New Jerusalem. When we glorify God, we take Him as the New Jerusalem and give all the glory to Him.
