Message Five

Being Saved in Life and Reigning in Life for the Body Life

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, 17, 21

Rom. 5:10 For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled,

Rom. 5:17 For if, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Rom. 5:21 In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I. Through God’s divine dispensing in us and His divine union with us, we can experience and enjoy the saving in Christ’s life in God’s full salvation, as conveyed to us in Romans, in the following aspects—5:10:

Rom. 5:10 For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled,

A. By the abundance of grace (God Himself) and of the gift of righteousness (Christ Himself) which we received, we are able to reign in Christ’s divine life over sin, death, the old man, the flesh, Satan, the world, and all persons, matters, and things that do not submit to God—v. 17.

B. God’s holy nature sanctifies our worldly disposition; God sanctifies us dispositionally out of His divine life and unto His divine life that we may enjoy more of His divine life—6:19, 22; 15:16.

Rom. 6:19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.

Rom. 6:22 But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, eternal life.

Rom. 15:16 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.

C. The indwelling law of the Spirit of life, that is, the automatic and spontaneous working of the Triune God as life in us, frees us from the law of sin and of death, the slavery and bondage of sin; the operation of this law comes out of God’s divine life, and it also causes the increase of the divine life in us—8:2, 11.

Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.

Rom. 8:11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

D. The Divine Trinity’s divine dispensing in our spirit, soul, and body causes these three parts to be saturated with the processed divine life, with the result that our entire being is completely united with the processed Triune God and mingled with Him as one—vv. 5-11.

Rom. 8:5-11 For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Because 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. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

E. The renewing of our mind by the Spirit results in the transformation of our soul, which saves us from being conformed to the modern style of the world and issues in all the virtues and the overcoming, mentioned in chapters 12 through 16, as our daily life, a life of the highest standard, and as our church life, a life that is all-overcoming—12:2.

Rom. 12:2 And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.

F.By the renewing of our mind and the transformation of our soul, we become members one of another with all believers in the Body of Christ and are built up together as the Body of Christ and thereby have the service of the Body; this is the crystallization of our experience of the saving in Christ’s life vv. 1, 3-8.

Rom. 12:1 I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

Rom. 12:3-8 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith. For 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. And having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or service, let us be faithful in that service; or he who teaches, in that teaching; or he who exhorts, in that exhortation; he who gives, in simplicity; he who leads, in diligence; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.

G. Based on the revelation and teaching in chapters 14 through 16, we live the life of the local church in different localities as the appearance of the Body of Christ, the universal church, in different localities.

H. By becoming the built-up church, a church against which the gates of Hades cannot prevail, in different localities, we afford God the opportunity to crush Satan under our feet that we may enjoy Christ as our rich grace and the God of peace as our surpassing peace—16:20.

Rom. 16:20 Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

I. In our experience of the various aspects of the saving in the divine life, as mentioned above, we are being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God through the “all things” arranged under God’s sovereignty, so that we have His divine attributes and His human virtues and thereby express the glory and beauty of Him, the God-man—8:28-29.

Rom. 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Because 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;

J. In the process of our experience of the saving in the divine life, the splendor of the divine life gradually saturates us until it saturates our body, issuing in the redemption of our body, that our spirit, soul, and body may all enter into the glory of God; this glorification is the peak attained in us by the saving in the divine life, and it is the climax of God’s full salvation—vv. 23, 30, 17.

Rom. 8:23 And 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.

Rom. 8:30 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.

Rom. 8:17 And if children, heirs also; on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.

II. Romans reveals that the believers need to reign in life with grace over all things for the Body life—5:10, 17, 21:

Rom. 5:10 For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled,

Rom. 5:21 In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A. God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness:

1. The gift of righteousness is for God’s judicial redemption; grace is for us to experience God’s organic salvation.

2. Reigning in life is the full experience of the organic salvation of God.

B. We have been regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly, and royal life—Mark 4:26; 1 John 3:9.

Mark 4:26 And He said, So is the kingdom of God: as if a man cast seed on the earth,

1 John 3:9 Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.

C. Reigning in life in Romans 5 is the key to everything in Romans 6—16:

1. We need to see everything in chapters 6 through 16 in this light.

2. If we reign in life, we are in all the matters presented in these chapters.

D. In experience, to reign in life means to be under the ruling of the divine life:

1. Christ is a pattern of reigning in life by being under the ruling of the divine life of the Father—Matt. 8:9.

Matt. 8:9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it.

2. Paul is an example of one who, in his life and ministry, was under the ruling of the divine life to live to the Lord for the Body—2 Cor. 2:12-14; 5:14; Rom. 14:7-9.

2 Cor. 2:12-14 Furthermore, when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and a door was open to me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, for I did not find Titus my brother; but taking leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us in every place.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

Rom. 14:7-9 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself; for whether we live, we live to the Lord, and whether we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s. For Christ died and lived again for this, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

3. There is the need for all the believers who have received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life.

E. The issue of our reigning in life, living under the ruling of the divine life, is the real and practical Body life expressed in the church life.

F.Each item of the living of the Body life in Romans 12—13 requires us to be ruled by the divine life to live to the Lord:

1. We need to be captivated by the compassions of God—12:1a.

Rom. 12:1a I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God…

2. We must present our bodies as a living sacrifice—v. lb.

Rom. 12:1b To present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

3. We should not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind—v. 2.

4. We should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith—v. 3.

Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

5. We should consider that in the Body of Christ we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function—vv. 4-5.

Rom. 12:4-5 For 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.

G. We need to live a life of the highest virtues for the Body life by reigning in life:

1. We should love without hypocrisy and love one another warmly in brotherly love—vv. 9a, 10a.

Rom. 12:9a Let love be without hypocrisy…

Rom. 12:10a Love one another warmly in brotherly love…

2. We should not be slothful in zeal, but burning in spirit, serving the Lord—v. 11.

Rom. 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.

3. We should endure in tribulation—v. 12b.

Rom. 12:12b Endure in tribulation; persevere in prayer.

4. We should rejoice with those who rejoice, and we should weep with those who weep—v. 15.

Rom. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

5. If possible, as far as it depends on us, we should live in peace with all men—v. 18.

Rom. 12:18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace with all men.

H. Reigning in life is “unto eternal life”—5:21:

Rom. 5:21 In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1. Unto eternal life is a particular expression.

2. John 4:14b says, “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life”:

a. Into (unto in Romans 5:21) speaks of destination and also means “to become” or “to be.”

b. The eternal life will eventually be the New Jerusalem.

c. Into eternal life means “into the New Jerusalem.”

3. The New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine life, the totality of the life of God.

4. The issue and goal of our reigning in life are for us to become the New Jerusalem, the universal incorporation of the union and mingling of divinity with humanity.