In order to function as priests of the gospel of God, we need to see what the gospel of God is. In Romans 1:1, Paul said that he was “separated to the gospel of God.” Then in 15:16 he said that he was a minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, an energizing priest of the gospel of God. A minister of Christ Jesus is one who serves people with Christ. He ministers Christ to people like a waiter in a restaurant serves people with food. The Apostle Paul was such a minister, serving people with Christ. Such a minister is an energizing priest of the gospel of God.
The gospel of God is the entire book of Romans, comprising sixteen chapters. When I was young, I considered that only the first three chapters of Romans were concerning the gospel. From verse 18 of chapter one through verse 20 of chapter three we see God’s condemnation on ungodly and unrighteous mankind. Because all of us are sinners, we need the Lord Jesus’ redemption. Therefore, the end of chapter three reveals that we are justified by faith and redeemed in Christ. In the past I considered that chapters four through sixteen of Romans were not the preaching of the gospel but were words of edification. I do not think many consider that Romans 12 is the preaching of the gospel. In our consideration Romans 12 is for our edification. Chapter sixteen is a chapter that reveals the local churches (vv. 1, 4, 5, 16, 23). We may not consider that this chapter is the gospel, but Paul indicates that the entire book of Romans is the gospel of God.
The book of Romans begins with the person of Christ, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh and was designated the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead (1:3-4). Thus, the gospel of God begins from the person of Christ, who is both God and man. Romans also speaks concerning Christ’s redemption and our faith to receive Christ. Then it continues to tell us how we are sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified. Finally, Romans reveals that we, the redeemed, regenerated, and transformed ones, become the members of Christ constituting His Body, which is expressed on this earth in many localities. Thus, the gospel of God comprises Christ, His redemption, our faith, our being redeemed, our being transformed, our becoming the members of Christ, how Christ’s Body is constituted, and how His Body is expressed on this earth in many localities.
In chapter one of Romans, we see Christ as a wonderful person with two natures—divine and human. In the last chapter, we see all the local churches. In my youth, I thought that there was not much need for Romans 16, but later I realized the great importance of this chapter. Without chapter sixteen, we would not have the result of God’s gospel. The gospel of God eventually issues in the local churches. The beginning of the gospel of God is Christ, and the consummation of the gospel of God is the local churches. Thus, the gospel of God comprises everything from Christ’s person with two natures to the local churches. These local churches are the issue of the dispensing of Christ’s person with His divine and human nature. This One is dispensed into God’s chosen and redeemed people to make them members of the Body of Christ as the church of God, which is expressed around the globe as the local churches. All sixteen chapters of the book of Romans talk about one thing—Christ and the church.
The span of the gospel of God is so broad. It comprises Christ from eternity and all the local churches on the six continents. Today we should preach such a gospel. Our preaching must be a work that issues in and includes all the local churches. Our preaching work includes setting up local churches and also taking care of all the troubles in the local churches. Many of the troubles in the local churches have to be dealt with by the co-workers and the elders. Our preaching of the gospel includes taking care of all these troubles. We all need to be participants in the preaching of the gospel of God.
The book of Romans shows us that the preaching of the gospel is not merely the winning of souls. When we preach the gospel we make sinners the sons of God and the members of Christ, and we help them to grow so that they can be the active members in the practice of the Body life. Whatever Paul did was his service in the gospel. This is why Paul told us in Romans 1:9, “For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son.” The preaching of the gospel of God is the very service we should render to God in our spirit. To serve God is to handle the gospel, and to handle the gospel is to preach the gospel in order that Christ might be imparted to others, dispensed to others, that others might become the members of Christ, that Christ’s Body might be constituted, and that many local churches could be raised up for His Body to be expressed in many localities. This is the preaching of the gospel, and this is the New Testament service, which is called the New Testament priesthood.
From this fellowship we can see that the preaching of the gospel of God is a profound and deep matter. We have been short in our understanding concerning the preaching of the all-inclusive gospel of God. We must be enlightened, and we must be adjusted in our thinking and in our consideration concerning our service. Our service should be the biblical gospelizing, beginning from Christ’s person and consummating in the local churches.
<@6>Surely the gospel of God comprises the entire book of Romans, but we need a further enlargement of our definition of the gospel of God. It is not only the entire book of Romans but also the entire twenty-seven books of the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation. The gospel of God is the good news. It is something told to us to make us happy. The entire New Testament is the “happy telling” that comes to us from God. The good news of God is the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. This is God’s gospel, the good news, the glad tidings, the happy telling of God to us. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament are a testament. A testament is a will. Before someone dies, he writes a will to bequeath certain things to his loved ones. Our will is quite long; it is from Matthew to Revelation. God’s good news is a testament, a will, and this testament is the gospel of God. The gospel of God is God’s entire New Testament economy.
The term God’s New Testament economy is new among today’s Christians, so we need to be clear about the definition of this term. The English word economy is anglicized from the Greek word oikonomia. Oikonomia is composed of two words—oikos meaning house, and nomos meaning law or administration. Thus, economy means a household administration, and it also bears the meaning of a plan or of an arrangement. With any kind of administration, there is the need of a plan to accomplish something. According to the biblical usage, economy means a household administration with a certain plan for the distribution of the riches to the household for their daily need. In ancient times a great and rich family was in need of an administration with a certain plan to distribute all the riches of the family to all the family members. A good example of this is Joseph in the Old Testament. The entire kingdom of Egypt was considered as Pharaoh’s house. For this house Joseph was a dispenser. Joseph was the one who carried out a household administration with a certain plan for the distribution of the rich food. This describes the biblical usage of the word economy.
Even in the Old Testament, God’s economy was for dispensing, or distribution, to dispense the riches of God to His chosen people. God has only one economy. The first stage of this economy is in the Old Testament. God carried out His economy in the Old Testament in typology. In the Old Testament, the shadow of God’s economy was there. This shadow eventually became the reality, which is the New Testament economy.
In His New Testament economy, the Triune God was incarnated in the Son to become a man. This Man’s name was Jesus. He was both God and man, and He lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years. Much of the time He stayed in Nazareth in a carpenter’s home. He was even called a carpenter (Mark 6:3), which indicates that He did carpentry work. Later, He went to the cross and died an all-inclusive death to solve all the problems between man and God and to take away all the negative things from the universe. Then He entered into resurrection, and in resurrection He did two marvelous things. First, He resurrected all His believers together with Him (Eph. 2:6). Second, He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) to enter into our spirit to be our life. By doing this He made us, the sinners, on the one hand, the sons of the living God (Gal. 3:26), and on the other hand, the members of the organic Body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-5), which is the fullness of Christ as the very expression of the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23). This Body is built up organically and expressed on this earth in many localities. These expressions are the local churches.
This church will be purged, purified, for one thousand years in the coming millennium. The thousand-year kingdom will be used by God to purify the church, or the churches. The Epistles of the New Testament and the epistles to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 reveal the miserable condition of the churches. Thus, there is the need of some purging. We cannot say that we are so pure. We need a great amount of purifying. In the God-ordained purification, a good amount of purging is included. To purge implies punishment and discipline. The thousand-year kingdom will be used by the Lord to purge His present church, or churches. Eventually, after the purging, the purged and purified church will consummate in the New Jerusalem. In that consummation the Triune God in His processed Trinity will be one with His redeemed people in their transformed, tripartite being. Then the processed Triune God and the transformed, tripartite man will be a universal and eternal couple (Rev. 21:2; 22:17). God and man will not only live together but also be mingled together as the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of God’s New Testament economy.
The first item of the New Testament is Christ’s incarnation, and the final item is the New Jerusalem. The incarnation of Christ is a wonderful item. The very God entered into the womb of a young virgin and remained there for nine months to be born as a God-man. The last item of the New Testament, the New Jerusalem, tells us that the Triune God, after passing through all the processes, is now in myriads of His believers. The New Jerusalem is the highest consummation of the divine incarnation. Incarnation is the mingling of God with man, and the New Jerusalem is the mingling of God with man. God’s glad tidings, His all-inclusive gospel, is that God enters into us to be mingled with us and to be one with us for eternity. Every part, every aspect, and every item of the all-inclusive gospel of God is God coming into man, God mingling Himself with man, and God being one with man to be man’s life for man to become His living. All twenty-seven books of the New Testament are the glad tidings. Everything covered from Christ’s incarnation to the New Jerusalem are the glad tidings, the gospel, that God gave to us.
By this fellowship we can see what God desires to do in His New Testament economy. The Triune God desired to be incarnated in the Son to be a man, to die on the cross to solve all the problems, and to enter into resurrection to produce the sons of God as the members of Christ who constitute the Body of Christ, which is the church to be expressed around the globe as the local churches. All these churches will be purged in the thousand years and will consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is the consummation of the processed Triune God in His economy. This is a summary of what our Triune God wants to carry out in His New Testament economy.
Now we have made two things clear—God’s gospel and God’s New Testament economy. God’s New Testament economy is God’s gospel. God’s New Testament economy and the gospel of God are synonyms. The gospel is God’s New Testament economy, and to preach such a gospel is the New Testament ministry. To preach Christ until His Body is constituted and expressed in different localities that many local churches will be raised up is to preach the gospel of God, which equals God’s New Testament economy. To carry out God’s New Testament economy is the preaching of the gospel, and this preaching, evangelizing, or gospelizing, is the New Testament ministry.