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Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:16-17, 18b, 21; 8:2
In this and the following chapters, we will consider the results of God’s salvation in life. The first five items speak of God’s salvation in life. The first item is the law of the Spirit of life. This law saves and frees us. Second, we have the subjective and dispositional sanctification that saves us from a nature soaked with the element of the world. Third, the renewing of our mind leads to the transformation of our whole soul, which delivers us from a living soaked with the element of the world. Whereas dispositional sanctification delivers us from a nature soaked with the element of the world, the renewing of our mind, leading to the transformation of our soul, delivers us from a living soaked with the element of the world. Fourth, we are being built up together in the Body of Christ and are thus delivered from the individualism of the natural life. Last, we are also being conformed to the image of the Son of God to be delivered from the expression of the natural life. These five items of saving in life are very profound. They touch the depths of our being. They touch our nature, our living that is soaked with the element of the world, our individualism in the natural life, and the expression of our natural life.
There are also four results to the saving of the life of Christ. First, we reign in life to subdue all insubordination. When we come to the matter of reigning, we reach the top and the ultimate point; there is nothing higher than this matter. God has saved us to the extent that we can reign in this saving life. The second result is that we are all living the church life in a locality to be saved from our self-view and self-goal. The third result is that Satan is crushed under our feet and God’s kingdom is brought in. The final result is that we reach glorification, the ultimate consummation of God’s salvation in life.
All of you who are involved in the spread of the gospel work should know that after we bring a person to salvation, we must help him to know Christ’s redemption through His death. The first step of redemption is to redeem us back. The second step is justification based upon this redemption. Then we are reconciled to God. The meaning of reconcile is “to appease.” In the New Testament Recovery Version we use the term propitiation (1 John 4:10). Formerly, we sinned and developed a problem with God. We had violated His law. At the same time, through our sins, Satan took the opportunity to inject his poison—the sinful nature—into us. As a result, we were unable to live with God in peace.
God is willing to bless us. But on our side we have developed a problem with Him. Therefore, there is the need of propitiation. Christ came to be our propitiation. He did not come to appease God’s wrath, for God’s wrath was not greater than His love. He still loves us. That is why He sent His Son to be our propitiation (v. 10). Propitiation is not to appease God’s wrath nor to appease our problem. It is to appease the sins that we have committed before God. Christ has come to solve for us the problem of sin. The solution of the problem of sin is His appeasing.
In the Old Testament there was atonement but not redemption. The Day of Atonement or Expiation was on the tenth day of the seventh month each year (Lev. 23:27). The sacrifice offered was called the sin offering. In addition, there were the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. The meal offering had neither blood nor flesh. Its contents were flour, oil, and frankincense. All the other four offerings, however, contained flesh and blood. The sin offering deals with the deep-seated sinful nature in us. The trespass offering deals with our outward, sinful conduct. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, His death was a sin offering; it dealt with our sin. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The sin here refers to the totality of sin, including the inward sin and the outward sins—the nature of sin and the acts of sin. In Chinese theology there are the terms original sin and personal sin. Original sin refers to the sin that Adam committed. Personal sin refers to the sins that a person commits himself.
The first half of God’s salvation is negative. The Lord’s death solves the problem of sin for us. He has redeemed us, purchasing us, as sinners, back. This is what the Lord’s death has accomplished for us. In addition to this, He has resurrected and has come to live in us as our life. The negative redemption plus the positive saving equals salvation. His redeeming death solves all the negative, objective problems outside of us. But the problem in our inward nature can be solved only by the Lord’s coming into us as life in resurrection. His life solves the five basic problems that we have. Thus, today we can reign in this life.
When we reign in life, we overcome mainly two sources. One source is sin; the other is death. In addition to these sources, there are all the negative things that belong to sin and death. None of these things are in subordination to God. Neither are they in subordination to us. Romans 8 tells us that the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be (v. 7). Even if the mind is willing to submit, it cannot submit. This is rebellion. Sin and death are rebellion in us. All the negative things that belong to sin and death are also rebellion in us. This is the situation of man before he is saved. But now that we are saved, we can reign in this life, and everything is in subordination to us. Sin, death, and every negative thing that belongs to sin and death can do nothing with us. We have subdued them. All insubordination has to be in subjection to us. This is to reign in life to the subduing of all kinds of insubordination.
Romans 5:18 ends with the words “unto justification of life.” This shows us that the result of justification is life. Christ has died for us, and He has redeemed us. When we believe in Christ, all the demands of God are met by Christ. He has given us Himself as our righteousness. Through this righteousness we can stand before God, and God can justify us. In addition, God gave us a gift. This gift is eternal life. Acts 11:18 says that our repentance is unto life. Hence, both repentance and justification are for us to have God’s life.
The believers’ sin is solved by justification (Rom. 5:16). But there is still “death” within the believers. Although it is called death, it is actually working very actively in man. This problem cannot be solved by justification. Life is required to solve the problem of death. Death in man causes him to be weakened to such an extent that he is dead, without any strength concerning the things of God. In this way death reigns. But life has dealt with death for the believers (v. 17). The life that the believers receive has become the law of the Spirit of life. It frees the believers from the law of sin and of death (8:2). What I can point out here is very limited. You have to dive into a deeper understanding of the matter, and you must spend time in our publications and the footnotes of the New Testament Recovery Version. In this way you will receive many riches.
God has not only caused the believers to have life, but He has also caused them to reign in life. Romans 5:17a says, “If, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one.” Death reigns as a king in us. This king purposefully puts us to death. Due to the transgression of Adam, we as his descendants have a king in us who has gained control of us and who is reigning in us. Verse 17b says, “Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Justification is a gift (v. 16), and grace abounds. From this abounding grace comes a gift. This gift is righteousness. We who have inherited righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. The former king was death. The latter king is those who receive grace to be justified.
But can we reign? Death is more than qualified to reign. We who are the kings do not know how to be kings. We are like the last Chinese emperor Pu-ye of the Ching dynasty, who became emperor at the age of three. Although he was a king, he did not know how to be a king. He needed a protector to help him to be king. We who have been saved and who are justified are indeed kings, but we do not know how to be kings. Hence, through the One, Jesus Christ, who has put life in us, we are able to be kings. On the one hand, it is through this One. On the other hand, it is by reigning in life.
You have to learn to study the Bible in this way. Find out who the two kings are in Romans 5:17. The name of the first king is death. The name of the second king is your name. We are all kings today! The reason we are kings is that we are saved and have been justified. We are not only saved, but we have also received a great gift, the gift of righteousness. The grace that we have received is not a little grace but abounding grace. It is like the abounding ocean. It is not like a cup of tea, which is gone after two sips. Grace is like an ocean. In this endless grace God has given us a gift—abounding righteousness. Righteousness is God giving Himself to us in Christ. Furthermore, God wants us to reign. He wants to help us through the one man, Jesus Christ, with His life to reign in life.
When you go to all the villages, you should teach the people in this way. Do not try to cover too much. You will be very successful if you can teach them these ten outlines in four to six months. This will broaden their view and give them an understanding concerning salvation and the Bible. They will also be able to learn many spiritual terms. This all depends on your speaking these things clearly and accurately.
Every kind of addiction, such as alcohol, gambling, and theater-going, comes from sin. Moreover, every kind of addiction is rebellion. When a man is addicted to opium, he cannot live without opium. Opium smoking becomes something of rebellion. For a man to lose his temper is also something of rebellion, something related to sin. When a child refuses to obey and is naughty, we say that such a one is rebellious. According to man’s fallen condition, he is rebellious in his nature. He is rebellious in his very bones, and even every one of his hairs is rebellious. This rebellion brings in insubordination.
Sin reigns unto death, and death reigns through the sinner. For example, when a couple argues, the man becomes the male king and the woman becomes the female king. Not only have they become kings in their voices, eyes, and eyelashes; even every hair on their body becomes a king. The whole family becomes a band of rebellious kings. By the end of the argument they do not want to live anymore. This is all due to the reigning of sin and death, which cause a sinner to lose all his rights.
We all know that grace is sweet. But grace does not have the authority. Hence, grace reigns through righteousness. God gives us grace, and He also gives us righteousness. Today we have both grace and righteousness. Grace reigns through righteousness, that is, through God Himself. The result is that man obtains eternal life. This eternal life causes the believers to reign through Jesus Christ. Romans 5:21 says, “So also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In the end we the believers will reign in this eternal life through Jesus Christ.
When married brothers and sisters are about to clash and argue with each other, they have to declare that they are reigning through Jesus Christ. They have to declare that they will not argue anymore. This will bring in God’s kingship. In a family, when the parents argue all the time, the children will become disobedient, and the whole family will be in a situation of rebellion. This family will lose the grace and right to God’s blessings. What is true with a family is also true with a church. We should not consider arguments as light matters; arguments are rebellion. Arguments with proper reasons are rebellion. Arguments without proper reasons are also rebellion. What then is obedience? Obedience is to not argue and to be silent. Because I submit to the authority of the head, all my hair, tongue, lips, and teeth submit to me. They do not argue anymore, and I reign. Not arguing brings in God’s kingship, which expands to become the kingdom of God.
The kingship that is brought in as a result of our reigning in life is the expansion of Christ in us. Christ is in us as life. When your companion or your spouse is arguing, and you refrain from doing the same, you are allowing Christ to reign within, and He is expanding within you.
According to Mark 4 and Matthew 13, the kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus as the seed of life sown into the believers. This seed will develop until it becomes a sphere that is the kingdom of God. This kingdom will expand until the end of the age. At the end of the Gentile rule, we will have the condition described in Daniel 2 concerning the great image. The stone cut out without hands is the Lord Jesus (v. 34). He will come down from heaven, strike the image, and break it into pieces (v. 35). The stone will become a great mountain to fill the whole earth (vv. 31-35). The great mountain is the expansion of the stone.
We all hope that the Lord Jesus will come back soon. But we need to allow Him to expand His kingship in us. The more He expands in the believers, the sooner He will return. Whether He will come back sooner or not depends on whether we allow Him to expand in us. This is the kingdom of God.
