Chapter eight of Romans is very rich. We have seen that in this chapter we have the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In this chapter we also have the process through which the Triune God has passed for the purpose of dispensing Himself into us as life and as our life supply. Furthermore, in this chapter we have the divine provisions and the enjoyment of the divine dispensing.
Romans 8, of course, is not the conclusion of the book of Romans. We need to go on from chapter eight to chapter twelve, where we see the Body of Christ. Then from chapter twelve we need to go on to chapter sixteen, where we see the church life in a practical way.
As a sketch of the Christian life, the book of Romans has four stations. With each of these stations there are four chapters. In the first four chapters we come to the station of justification. Then in chapters five through eight we reach the stage of sanctification. In the third group of four chapters, chapters nine through twelve, we reach the stage of the Body of Christ. Then in the last four chapters, chapters thirteen through sixteen, we have the practical church life. Therefore, the sequence in Romans is justification, sanctification, the Body of Christ, and the church life.
The subject of Romans is the gospel of God. The introduction to this Epistle, 1:1-17, indicates that the gospel of God is the subject of this book. In 1:1 Paul speaks of himself as “a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God.” In 1:9 Paul goes on to say, “For God is my witness, Whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son.” Then in 1:15 and 16 he says, “So, as far as depends on me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Therefore, the gospel of God is the theme of this Epistle. The entire book of Romans unfolds the gospel, the glad tidings of God, in a full way.
If we would be faithful in preaching the complete gospel of God, we need to preach concerning all four stations in the book of Romans. This means that we should preach justification by faith and sanctification by the Spirit. We should also preach regarding the Body of Christ and the church life. The practical church life is also part of the gospel of God. The important point for us to see is that the book of Romans, which reveals the gospel of God, includes the four stations of justification, sanctification, the Body of Christ, and the local church life.
Many Christians today talk about the Body of Christ. However, they may not know how to reach the Body of Christ revealed in chapter twelve. How can we reach this chapter in order to have the Body? Actually, the answer to this question is not merely a doctrinal matter. In order to reach the Body of Christ, we need to participate in all the divine provisions afforded us in Romans 8. As we have seen already, in this chapter we have not only the Trinity of the Godhead and the process through which the Triune God has passed in order to dispense His riches into our tripartite being, but in this chapter we also have the divine provisions. Let us now consider these provisions.
The first of the divine provisions revealed in Romans 8 is the Spirit of life. In 8:2 Paul says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” In this verse the law is not a kind of commandment, such as a commandment of the Mosaic law. Rather, in this verse the law of life is a principle that operates automatically and spontaneously. We may say that in speaking of the law of the Spirit of life, Paul is referring to something that can be compared to a scientific principle. Paul understood that this law of life is a principle that is working in us automatically.