We should receive people according to God’s receiving, not being more narrow than God, thereby demonstrating and maintaining the oneness of the Body of Christ. Furthermore, we should receive people according to the Son of God, according to God, not according to doctrine or practice, thus maintaining a condition of absolute peace, smoothness, and order, without any deviation and discord, in the fellowship of the Body of Christ to the glory of God (Rom. 14:3; 15:7); Christ is a servant of the circumcision to fulfill and confirm all the promises God gave to their fathers and a servant of the Gentiles so that they may glorify God for His mercy (15:8-9).
We have much to learn concerning receiving people according to God and according to His Son. Because of our negligence in this matter in the past, we have offended the Body of Christ and many brothers and sisters in the Lord. For this reason, I had a deep repentance before the Lord. Brothers and sisters, I hope that we can see our past mistakes by getting into this message through pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying. Of course, sectarianism in the denominations is wrong; it is something very much condemned by God. Nevertheless, those who are genuinely saved in the denominations are children of God and have been received by God. Hence, we also should receive them, but we would never participate in the division in which they are.
Romans 14:3 tells us that we should receive people according to God; this is to receive all those whom God has received. Romans 15:7 says that we should receive one another, as Christ also received us. Those whom God has received and those whom Christ has received are actually the same group of people. It is not that God receives one group of people and Christ receives another group of people. God is very liberal and not narrow. When we receive people according to God and according to His Son, Christ, we demonstrate, show forth, and maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ. If we receive people according to doctrine and practice, there is no way for the oneness of the Body of Christ to be maintained and demonstrated.
We must receive people according to the Son of God. This is to receive others according to the Son of God in His being unbiased and balanced in taking care of both the Jews and the Gentiles. Our Lord is a Lord who is balanced, without any bias. On the one hand, He is a servant of the circumcision (the Jews); on the other hand, He is a servant of the God-chosen nations (the Gentiles). What the Lord does is always balanced and even. His balanced ministry, on the one hand, enables the fellowship of the Body of Christ to be kept in absolute peace and smoothness to the glory of God, and on the other hand, causes the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy. To glorify God is to participate in the New Jerusalem. If we do not participate in the New Jerusalem, whatever we do is not a glorifying of God but of ourselves, an expression of ourselves. It is only when we express God in the New Jerusalem that He is truly glorified in the universe.
The last three chapters of Romans show us the blending and fellowship of the Body life brought forth through the apostle’s receiving according to God and Christ; such an explanation was not seen by the Bible expositors throughout the generations. Romans 16 gives us an excellent pattern of the apostle in bringing all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ. It is in such a life that we can truly reign in life.