The bird’s-eye view of the book of Romans is mainly of four stations. You must remember and be impressed with these four stations. Romans is composed of sixteen chapters with four sections of four chapters each. The first four chapters end with the word justification (4:25); this is the station of justification. From chapter five through eight is the section on sanctification. The third section, from chapter nine through chapter twelve, is on the Body of Christ. Finally, the last section is a station ending with the local churches because the churches are mentioned in chapter sixteen (vv. 1, 4-5). If you have such a bird’s-eye view of these four stations you can see that the book of Romans shows us the fallen condition of a sinner who is going to be made a son of God that he can be an organic member of the Body of Christ which is expressed in the local churches. This one sentence covers the entire book of Romans from chapter one through chapter sixteen with the four major stations.
The first section goes from the fallen stage of the sinner through God’s condemnation according to the law. Then Christ’s redemption redeems us from God’s condemnation. Finally, this redemption brings us God’s justification through our faith in the Redeemer. This is the first section of the book of Romans.
The second section of the book of Romans begins with chapter five. As a justified person from chapter five you must realize that first you are in Adam, but now you have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. You are no longer in Adam but in Christ. Also, since you are in Christ, you are in union, identified with, His death and resurrection, and you are in His death and resurrection (6:4-5). Because you are no longer a natural person in Adam but a resurrected person in Christ, you should no longer live in the old flesh (Rom. 7). You must live in and according to the Spirit (8:2, 4, 6, 13). Thus, you are sanctified not only positionally but dispositionally. You are not merely outwardly justified with God. This only changes your outward condition. Now you have been transferred out of Adam into Christ and in Christ through His death and resurrection you are being transformed. This transformation is a subjective, dispositional sanctification. Through this sanctification, we are fully conformed to the firstborn Son of God as His many brothers and as the many sons of God (8:29). You were once sinners in Adam, but now you are here in Christ, sons of God and brothers of Christ, to be conformed into His image. This is the dispositional and subjective sanctification, which actually is transformation and also the proper designation. We are all designated to be the sons of God and the members to compose the Body of Christ.
The third station of Romans brings us to the Body of Christ. This section begins from chapter nine and shows us that it is altogether a matter of God’s mercy in choosing us (9:11, 16). It is not up to us. We have been redeemed, justified, transferred into Christ, and here in Christ we are transformed, sanctified, and fully designated as sons of God to be members of Christ to form His Body and even to be conformed into His image. This is altogether a matter of God’s mercy, of His merciful choice. Thank the Lord we were all chosen and that it was not up to us. Then in chapter ten we see that as chosen ones to be the vessels of mercy unto glory (9:23), we must call on the name of the Lord for our enjoyment of His riches (10:12). He is rich unto all that call upon His name. This is quite meaningful. We were chosen by His mercy, but we must enjoy Him by calling. We must be a caller. We must call on the name of the Lord that we may enjoy all of His riches. In chapter eleven we can again see the thought of God’s mercy—all things are out of Him, through Him, and unto Him (11:36). Everything is up to Him and we as the Gentiles are the wild olive branches grafted into the genuine olive tree (11:17). This is out of Him; this is through Him; and this is unto Him. This is altogether God’s business, God’s doing. It is not of us. The only thing which we can see that we have to do in these sections is to call upon the Lord’s name. First, you believe in Him and then you call on Him. This will bring you to the station of the Body of Christ.
We must be deeply impressed with this section—that it is altogether of God’s mercy and of God’s doing. He will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy. He will show His compassion to whom He will show His compassion. Also, everything is out of Him, through Him, and unto Him. This indicates that it is altogether His doing. We have been grafted into the genuine olive tree and here in the tree we are enjoying all the juice of the root of the fatness of the olive tree. The juice of the root refers to the riches of Christ which we can enjoy by calling on His name. By this we reach the station of the Body of Christ.
From chapter thirteen through chapter sixteen we are shown how to live in this Body. In other words, we are shown how to have the church life. To have the church life we must live according to chapter thirteen. According to chapter thirteen we must keep a good and proper relationship with the government (13:1-7), we must love others (13:8-10), and we must awake from our sleep to be a living person watching and waiting for the coming day (13:11-14). We must live this way. Then in chapter fourteen we see that we must live the church life by receiving all the saints (14:1). We must be careful about this. This is a deciding factor as to whether our meeting is sectarian or not. It all depends on how we receive the saints. We must receive the saints without any kind of division. This means that we must receive all the saints—whoever God has received we must receive. We should not say that we do not like a certain brother because he is not according to our taste. If we do not receive a brother and keep him outside the door of the church because he is not “our kind of Christian,” this is sectarian. We must receive the ones who are weak in their belief.
According to Romans 14 some are so weak that they do not dare to touch the sacrifices to the idols. An idol is nothing and the things offered to the idols are nothing. A weaker believer, though, may not be able to eat these things because his conscience is so weak. He may still keep a religious diet, not eating the things which are unclean. He would not even touch the sacrifices to idols and he may not want to break the sabbath. It does not matter how weak this believer is, however, you must realize that as long as he is a real brother you must receive him. He is your weak brother. Do not blame him. You have to blame the Father who begot him. The Father has accepted him. Who are you to exclude him? To exclude him would make you sectarian and the people you meet with a sect.
Chapter fourteen also tells us that the church life is the practice of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (See Romans 14:17 and note 171 in the Recovery Version of Romans.) The church life as the practice of the kingdom goes in three directions—one direction is with yourself, another direction is with others, and the third direction is with God. The kingdom of God is righteousness toward yourself, peace with others, and joy with God in your spirit. A church life which is a practice of the kingdom of God is in these three directions. Chapter fifteen goes further to tell us that we must receive the believers according to Christ (15:7). We must be what Christ is and we must do what Christ does. Then we see that the entire church will be sanctified and offered to God for His satisfaction (15:16). Finally, in chapter sixteen we see the proper local church as the expression of the Body of Christ. In Romans 16 we see the local churches and the saints living in the living church. If you live in Cenchrea you must be a member of the church there (16:1). If you live in Rome, you must be a member of the church in Rome (16:5). Other churches are also mentioned in chapter sixteen (vv. 4, 16).
This fellowship should give us a clear, bird’s-eye view of the book of Romans. John and Revelation are also good illustrations of other books of which we need a bird’s-eye view. We need to acquire a bird’s-eye view of every book in the New Testament.