The book of Romans has four stations. The first is the station of justification, then sanctification, then the Body, and then the churches. The journey begins from the first station of justification; it passes through sanctification to reach the Body. Finally, there are the churches to express the Body. From this sketch, there is no argument that the real focus of this book is the Body. It is not even the churches, but the Body. The churches are simply the expressions of the Body. It is altogether right to say that Romans is a sketch of the Christian life, but most of the teachers of the Bible didn’t see the focus of the Christian life. The focus of the Christian life is not justification nor sanctification but the Body. If you miss the Body you don’t have the center of the Christian life; you don’t have the goal; you don’t have the aim; you don’t have any direction. For what are you sanctified? You are sanctified so that you can practically be a member of the Body. The Body is the focus, the center, of the Christian life. By His mercy, the Lord has shown us this vision. It is in the Bible; it is in Romans, but Christians have not seen it. When I was young I read some expositions on the book of Romans. Most of them said that from chapter twelve to the end of the book Paul tells us how to walk as a believer. This is not wrong. But the strange thing is that none of these teachers pointed out that the way to walk as a believer must be firstly to live in the Body.
You cannot imagine how many Christian sermons have been given on Romans 12:1. Whoever would speak on consecration would surely use this verse. But few of these messages would tell us the purpose of the consecration. What is the goal of consecration? If you read Romans 12:1-5 carefully, you can see that the purpose of consecration is so that you can realize the Body. Consecration is for the Body.
The Body life is the first item of the believer’s walk. If you would know how to walk as a believer in Christ, the first item is to live the Body life. Romans talks about the Body life in a way to show us that this Body is the focus of the Christian life. From this point in the Perfecting Training, we will begin to spend more time in the book of Romans.
In the last meeting I gave you that little phrase, “in Christ.” This little phrase indicates the organic union we have with Christ. As we are in Christ surely there is a kind of union. When the Bible was being translated into the Chinese language, this term, “in Christ,” bothered the translators to the uttermost. Nearly all of them said there was no way to translate the Bible into Chinese. In the Chinese language there is not such an expression to say that you are in someone. Humanly speaking we would not say that one person is in another person. But the Bible has this expression, that we are in Christ. Even this kind of expression was first used by the Lord Jesus in John 15 where He said He is the vine, we are the branches, and we should abide in Him (v. 5). Due to our background, we Christians take this kind of expression for granted. We never bothered to check it out. Even before I was saved I heard messages concerning abiding in Him. Sometimes I didn’t pay attention to what they were talking about, but at other times I did pay attention and I asked, How could you abide in Jesus? No doubt this expression strongly indicates that there is a kind of organic union, which spontaneously implies mingling. When you put tea into water, could you say that the tea abides in the water just in a kind of union without mingling? Likewise, how could we just be in union with Christ without mingling?
“In Christ” is a short phrase, but don’t consider that this is a small expression. This is a great expression because it reveals such a great thing—that between you and Christ there is an organic union. If you do not have such an organic union, I would not call you a brother. A brother or a sister must be one in this organic union. Don’t take this phrase, “in Christ,” for granted.