The Greek word rendered live in Romans 1:17 has a double meaning. It means to have life as well as to live. This sentence originally came from Habakkuk 2:4. In the New Testament it is quoted three times. First, it is quoted in Romans. Then it is quoted in Galatians 3:11. Last, it is quoted in Hebrews 10:38. In Galatians the emphasis is on having life. In Hebrews the emphasis is on living. But in Romans the emphasis is on both meanings: to have life and live.
You have to circle these three terms: the just, faith, life. When you go back, you have to teach the new ones. Tell them that Romans talks about the just, faith, and life. If you only talk about the just and faith, you are only up to Romans 5:10. After 5:10 it talks about justification unto life (5:18). Faith gives us justification, and the result is that we enjoy the life of God. Formerly, we were dead. After we believed in the Lord, we were justified. Moreover, we have life and shall live. Hence, after Romans 5:10, we are told how one should live after he has life.
We are not just; we are sinners. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, God gave the Lord Jesus to us as His righteousness. The word gave means to reckon. It is like the reckoning in accounting. For example, you may owe someone eighty billion dollars and be unable to repay him. So, God gives you eighty billion and reckons it to your account. In this way, you no longer have any debt. Rather, you are justified.
God reckons His righteousness to man out of faith, taking faith as the principle. It is not by work. Righteousness here is God’s righteousness; it comes from God. Faith here is our faith; it is of us.
God has a righteousness for us. Whether we can have it depends on our faith. Hence, we have to believe and receive right away, so that we can have this righteousness. God has righteousness, and we have faith. When these two combine, we receive God’s eternal life and are able to live by this life of God.
Through the death of Christ, we are reconciled to God. This includes redemption and justification (Rom. 3:24). We are saved in the life of Christ. This is the full and rich saving of God in Christ. Redemption plus saving equals the gospel of God, His full and rich salvation.
When you go back to your localities, you have to teach the new believers. You cannot do it the way I am doing it-teaching three lessons in one evening. Perhaps, you can only teach half a lesson every evening. You should do it slowly. You have to believe that this will lay a foundation in them. This is not man’s word or man’s teaching. It is the holy Word of God. When you transfuse them this way, the Word will get into them.
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