Scripture Reading: 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Rom. 1:1, 3-4; 8:3b, 10, 14, 16, 29; 12:4-5
Ⅰ
"Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…concerning His Son"—Rom. 1:1, 3a:
A
The book of Romans is on the gospel of God—vv. 1, 9, 16; 2:16; 10:16; 11:28; 15:16, 19; 16:25.
B
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 of God in its completeness—1:3-4, 16-17; 12:4-5; 16:1, 4, 16.
C
Jesus Christ the God-man is the center of the gospel, the good news and the glad tidings of God to men—1:3-4.
D
The person of Jesus Christ the God-man implies the intention of God in His gospel—that He, as the unique God, wanted to become a man so that the fallen men redeemed by Him would become His many sons, who are the same as God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead—9:5; 8:3, 14, 16, 29-30.
Ⅱ
"God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh"—v. 3b:
A
The flesh is of sin, yet the Son of God became flesh—John 1:14; Heb. 2:14; 1 Tim. 3:16.
B
However, Christ the Son of God was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin and did not have the sin of the flesh; this was typified by the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses for the sinful Israelites—2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; Num. 21:9; John 3:14.
C
Although Christ did not have the sin of the flesh, He was crucified in the flesh—Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 3:18:
１
On the cross He judged Satan, who is related to the flesh, and the world, which hangs on him, thereby destroying Satan—John 12:31; 16:11; Heb. 2:14.
２
Through Christ's crucifixion in the flesh, God condemned sin, which was brought by Satan into man's flesh—Rom. 8:3b.
Ⅲ
"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"—1:3-4:
A
The words out of refer to the two sources of Christ's being: one, the seed of David; the other, the resurrection of the dead.
B
Before His incarnation Christ, the divine One, was already the Son of God, but by incarnation He put on an element, the human flesh, which had nothing to do with divinity—John 1:18, 14; Rom. 8:3b:
１
The human part of Him needed to be sanctified and uplifted by passing through death and resurrection.
２
By resurrection His human nature was sanctified, uplifted, and transformed.
３
By resurrection He was designated the Son of God with His humanity; His resurrection was His designation—Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5.
４
The seed of David in His humanity was sonized, was designated the Son of God; this was the fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7:12-14a.
C
Now, as the Son of God, He possesses humanity as well as divinity:
１
By incarnation He brought God into man; by resurrection He brought man into God, that is, He brought His humanity into the divine sonship.
２
In this way the only begotten Son of God was made the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity.
３
God is using the firstborn Son, who possesses both divinity and humanity, as the producer and as the prototype, the model, to produce His many sons—we who have believed in and received His Son—Rom. 8:29-30; John 1:12-13; 3:15-16.
４
Eventually, we too will be designated and revealed as sons of God, and with Him we will express God—Rom. 8:19, 21.
Ⅳ
"The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God"—v. 16:
A
The Spirit witnesses to our most basic and elementary relationship with God— that we are His children, who possess His life—1 John 3:1a; 5:11-12.
B
This witnessing of the Spirit begins from the time of our spiritual birth, our regeneration—John 3:3, 5-6.
C
The Spirit of the Triune God dwells in our regenerated spirit and works in our regenerated spirit:
１
These two spirits are one—1 Cor. 6:17.
２
These two spirits live together, work together, and exist together as one mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4.
Ⅴ
"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God"—v. 14:
A
Sons are in a more advanced stage of the growth in the divine life than children—v. 16.
B
Sons are the children of God who are in the stage of the transformation of their souls; they have not only been regenerated in their spirit and are growing in the divine life, but they also are living and walking by being led by the Spirit.
C
The central thought of the book of Romans is that God's salvation makes sinners His sons, who have His life and nature so that they can express Him, that they may become members of Christ to constitute the Body of Christ for His expression—3:23; 12:4-5.
Ⅵ
"Christ is in you"—8:10:
A
"Christ is in you" is the crucial point of the book of Romans.
B
Christ today is the Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ is the very Christ in us—v. 10:
１
According to the fact, it is Christ; according to experience, it is the Spirit.
２
We receive Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, but He enters into us as the Spirit.
３
These are not two who dwell in us but one Dweller in two aspects.
Ⅶ
"Those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers"— v. 29:
A
God has predestinated us not simply that we may be sanctified, spiritual, and victorious but that we may be conformed to the image of His Son.
B
Conformation is the end result of transformation; it includes the changing of our inward essence and nature and also the changing of our outward form, so that we may match the glorified image of Christ, the God-man.
C
Both the inward and outward changes in us are the result of the operation of the law of the Spirit of life in our being—v. 2.
D
With His firstborn Son as the base, pattern, element, and means, God is producing many sons, who are exactly like the Firstborn in life and nature and who, like Him, have both humanity and divinity—Heb. 2:10-12.
E
Christ, the first God-man, is the prototype to produce millions of God as the mass reproduction of the prototype:
１
These millions of God are exactly the same as the first God-man, the firstborn Son of God as the prototype.
２
The mass reproduction of the prototype becomes the members of the proto-type to be the Body of Christ.
Ⅷ
"Just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another"—Rom. 12:4-5:
A
We are one Body in Christ, having an organic union with Him; this union makes us one in life with Him and with all the other members of His Body— 1 Cor. 6:17.
B
The purpose of God's salvation is to have Christ reproduced in millions of saints so that they may become the members of His Body, not separate and com-plete individual units but parts of a living, functioning, coordinated, corporate whole—12:12-13, 27; Eph. 5:30.