The last section of Romans, chapters twelve through sixteen, covers the Body, the church life. The many brothers in chapter eight become the members of the Body in chapter twelve. This is not a matter of life—life is fully covered in the first section—but a matter of function. Being a son is a matter of life, but being a member of the Body is a matter of function. We all must function together as the Body to express Christ.
This Body must be expressed practically in all the local churches. In other words, the local churches are the practical expression of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the expression of Christ, and Christ is the expression of God. God is expressed in Christ, Christ is expressed in the Body, and the Body is expressed in the local churches. Therefore, in chapter sixteen, we have the churches: the church at Cenchrea (v. 1); the church in Rome, which met in the house of Prisca and Aquila (vv. 3, 5); the churches of the nations (v. 4); and the churches of Christ (v. 16). We are now in the churches. Hallelujah! The Body is in the churches, Christ is in the Body, and God is in Christ. How wonderful this is! If we see this, then we see the basic concept of this book.
This matter is worthy of our full attention. The first section of Romans covers personal salvation, and the last section covers the Body, which is not a matter of individual salvation, but of corporate function. The first section is on individual salvation, and the last section is on corporate function. This corporate function is the Body, which is expressed in hundreds and even thousands of localities as local churches. This is the reason that Paul wrote chapter sixteen in such a wonderful way, not in the way of doctrine, but in the way of practical experience, in the way of greetings. Through his greetings, Paul opened a window through which we may look at the churches of the first century. Romans 16 is a window. Praise the Lord for this window! Without this chapter, we could never be so clear what was taking place in the churches at that time.
Let us now consider some of the matters found in the first section. In this section, Paul firstly exposed us in our doings. I do not have the words to express how dirty, evil, dark, and ugly are the things exposed by Paul in the opening chapters of this book. It is not the persons that are exposed in these chapters, but their doings. We should observe this principle in preaching the gospel. Do not quickly expose what people are. You need to first expose what they do— their deeds, behavior, and activities. For instance, as you preach the gospel, you may ask a person what he was doing last night at ten o’clock. We have done this many times. Once, while preaching the gospel in the presence of the Holy Spirit, I pointed to a certain young student and said, “Do you know what you did? You stole chalk from school and brought it home.” When I pointed my finger at him and said those words, he said within himself, “That doesn’t mean anything.” Immediately I responded, “Are you saying that this doesn’t mean anything?” That frightened him. Then I said, “You brought the chalk home and drew circles on the floor.” That was exactly what he had done. After the message, he was the first to stand up and accept Christ. With trembling he said, “Brother Lee pointed out exactly what I did. I stole chalk from school and I brought it home. When he told me that I was saying that it didn’t mean anything, that was just what I was saying. And I did draw the circles, just like he said.” This young man was exposed in his deeds. Do you believe that you can stand God’s exposing? If God were to expose all we have done in the past, we would not be able to stand it, for what we did was dirty, ugly, evil, and dark.
Beginning in 5:12, Paul exposes not what we have done, but what we are. We are constituted sinners (5:19). Before we ever sinned, we had already been constituted as sinners. Take an apple tree as an example. Before it bears apples, it is an apple tree already. It bears apples because it is an apple tree. If it were not an apple tree, it would not be able to bear apples. Likewise, we commit sins because we are sinners. Do not think that we became sinners by committing sins. No, we commit sins because we are sinners, just as the apple tree bears apples because it is an apple tree. Do not say, “I am not a sinner, for I don’t do evil things. I am always very good.” Although you may be good, you are still a sinner, for you were born a sinner. You were constituted a sinner before you were even born. When we came into the world, we came as sinners. Do not think that you became a sinner after you were born. No, you were constituted a sinner in Adam long before you were born. This is Paul’s concept. Thus, in our behavior we are sinful, and in our being we are constituted sinners.
Furthermore, we also are short of God’s glory (3:23). The thought of coming short of God’s glory may sound strange to many. No human concept takes account of this. People can understand us when we tell them that their deeds are sinful, and they can be convinced that they have been constituted sinners. But if we tell them that, as constituted sinners who do evil things, they are short of God’s glory, they will say, “What do you mean? What is God’s glory?” God’s glory is God Himself expressed. Whenever God is expressed, glory is seen. We were made by God in His image that we might express His glory. But we have sinned. Now instead of expressing God, we express sin and our sinful self. Hence, we are short of God’s glory. We are sinful in what we do, we are constituted sinners in what we are, and we are short of God’s glory. This is our situation, our condition.