THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Epistle of Paul to Romans

Message Two
Being Saved in Life to Reign in Life

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, 17, 21; 6:19, 22; 15:16; 8:2, 5-11; 12:2, 4-5, 11; 16:20; 8:23, 17, 28-30

I. Through and His divine union with us, we can experience and enjoy the saving in Christ’s life in God’s full salvation, as conveyed to us in Romans, in the following aspects—5:10:

A. By the abundance of grace (God Himself) and of the gift of righteousness (Christ Himself) which we received, we are able to reign in Christ’s divine life over sin, death, the old man, the flesh, Satan, the world, and all persons, matters, and things that do not submit to God—5:17, 21; John 12:31; 14:30; Rom. 6:6.

B. God’s holy nature sanctifies our worldly disposition; God sanctifies us dispositionally out of His divine life and unto His divine life that we may enjoy more of His divine life—Rom. 6:19; 15:16; 1 Tim. 1:6; 4:8.

C. The indwelling law of the Spirit of life, that is, the automatic and spontaneous working of the Triune God as life in us, frees us from the law of sin and of death, the slavery and bondage of sin; the operation of this law comes out of God’s divine life, and it also causes the increase of the divine life in us—Rom. 8:2, 11.

D. The Divine Trinity’s divine dispensing in our spirit, soul, and body causes these three parts to be saturated with the processed divine life, with the result that our entire being is completely united with the processed Triune God and mingled with Him as one—vv. 5-11.

E. The renewing of our mind by the Spirit results in the transformation of our soul, which saves us from being conformed to the modern style of the world and issues in all the virtues and the overcoming, mentioned in chapters 12 through 16, as our daily life, a life of the highest standard, and as our church life, a life that is all-overcoming—12:2.

F. By the renewing of our mind and the transformation of our soul, we become members one of another with all believers in the Body of Christ and are built up together as the Body of Christ and thereby have the service of the Body; this is the crystallization of our experience of the saving in Christ’s life— vv. 1, 3-8.

G. Based on the revelation and teaching in chapters 14 through 16, we live the life of the local church in different localities as the appearance of the Body of Christ, the universal church, in different localities.

H. By becoming the built-up church, a church against which the gates of Hades cannot prevail, in different localities, we afford God the opportunity to crush Satan under our feet that we may enjoy Christ as our rich grace and the God of peace as our surpassing peace—16:20.

I. In the process of our experience of the saving in the divine life, the splendor of the divine life gradually saturates us until it saturates our body, issuing in the redemption of our body, that our spirit, soul, and body may all enter into the glory of God; this glorification is the peak attained in us by the saving in the divine life, and it is the climax of God’s full salvation—vv. 23, 30, 17.

II. Romans reveals that the believers need to reign in life with grace over all things for the Body life—5:10, 17, 21; 12:4-5; 16:16:

A. God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness—5:17, 21:

1. The gift of righteousness is for God’s judicial redemption; grace is for us to experience God’s organic salvation—1:17; 5:10.

2. Reigning in life is the full experience of the organic salvation of God—vv. 17, 21.

B. We have been regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly, and royal life—Mark 4:26; 1 John 3:9.

C. Reigning in life in Romans 5 is the key to everything in Romans 6—16.

D. In experience, to reign in life means to be under the ruling of the divine life—Matt. 8:9; 2 Cor. 2:12-14:

1. Christ is a pattern of reigning in life by being under the ruling of the divine life of the Father—Matt. 8:9.

2. Paul is an example of one who, in his life and ministry, was under the ruling of the divine life to live to the Lord for the Body—2 Cor. 2:12-14; 5:14; Rom. 14:7-9.

E. The issue of our reigning in life, living under the ruling of the divine life, is the real and practical Body life expressed in the church life—Rom. 12:1-4, 9-12, 15, 18.

F. Each item of the living of the Body life in Romans 12—13 requires us to be ruled by the divine life to live to the Lord:

1. We need to be captivated by the compassions of God—12: la.

2. We must present our bodies as a living sacrifice—v. 1b.

3. We should not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind—v. 2.

4. We should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith—v. 3.

5. We should consider that in the Body of Christ we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function—vv. 4-5.

G. We need to live a life of the highest virtues for the Body life by reigning in life—vv. 9-18:

1. We should love without hypocrisy and love one another warmly in brotherly love—vv. 9a, l0a.

2. We should not be slothful in zeal, but burning in spirit, serving the Lord—v. 11.

3. We should rejoice with those who rejoice, and we should weep with those who weep—v. 15.

H. Reigning in life is “unto eternal life”—5:21.

 

Ministry Excerpts:

BEING SAVED BY REIGNING IN LIFE

The full salvation of God to us is revealed in the book of Romans in two sections. The first section is God’s redemption through the death of Christ, and the second is God’s saving in the life of Christ. Hence, 5:10 says, “If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life.” The main significance of what is covered in Romans chapters one through four is the redemption of Christ (including reconciliation) in God’s full salvation, and the main significance of what is covered in Romans chapters five through sixteen is the saving of Christ in God’s full salvation. In this book we will see only the main significance of the second section of Romans, that is, how Christ saves us in His divine life.

Many readers of the book of Romans appreciate chapter 5 because it contains many wonderful matters, such as justification, peace, joy, boasting, and glory (vv. 1-5). But few have paid attention to the matter of reigning in life in verse 17. Romans 5:17 says, “If, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” In this verse the abundance of two things is mentioned: the abundance of grace and the abundance of the gift of righteousness. Grace has been given, and out of the abundance of grace, the gift of righteousness has also been given. The righteousness of God has been given to us as a gift. This gift of righteousness is one of the highest gifts that God gives to us. Many of us may have realized that God has given us His Son, His eternal life, and the Holy Spirit as precious gifts. But very few of us may have realized that God has also given us His righteousness as a crucial gift.

God’s gift of His righteousness matches His grace. First, God’s grace is given; then out of God’s grace, there is God’s gift. This gift is the righteousness of God. Because we have received the abundance of grace and the abundance of the gift of righteousness, we can reign in life. After we have been justified, we should reign in life.

The crown of our enjoyment of all the items in chapter 5 is reigning in life. We are kings enjoying the kingship, but our kingship is not one of authority or power. Our enjoyment of the kingship is in life. Life should be the crown of our enjoyment of God’s salvation. Our enjoyment of God’s salvation should come up to the standard that we are kings reigning in life.

Reigning in Life Over Sin, the World, Satan, the Natural Man, the Self, and Individualism for the Accomplishing of the Building up of the Organic Body of Christ in Fulfilling the New Testament Economy of God

To reign in life is to reign over such things as sin, the world, Satan, the natural man, the self, and individualism. These things are all part of today’s rebellion. Everything is in rebellion. Sin is rebellion within us, and the world is rebellion outside of us. Satan is in rebellion, being the top rebel. Our natural man and the self are also very rebellious. Even within the church, the natural man rebels. Individualism is the rebellion of our natural man. Our natural man is altogether rebellious. As long as we live in our natural man, we would not agree with our wife, our husband, our parents, or the other members of our family. In our natural man, we would not be one with the brothers and sisters in the church life. Our natural man always rebels. When we behave ourselves in Christ, in the status and position of a saint, we are nice and agreeable with everybody in nearly everything. But when we are outside of Christ, especially when we lose our temper, we forget our position and status as saints. In such a condition, we are unhappy with everyone and nothing is agreeable to us. If we are living with other brothers and sisters, we may think that the arrangement of the dining table with its chairs is wrong, that the kitchen is wrong, and that all the saints with whom we are living are also wrong. This kind of experience indicates that our natural life is one of rebellion. In order to reign in life over our temper, we must exercise our spirit to say, “Satan, stop your activity. You must be under me. I am the one ruling and reigning here.” When we say this, we are actually speaking to ourselves.

We must learn to exercise our kingship. We all have been crowned to be kings in life to reign in life. We must learn not to say any word that expresses anything of rebellion. This means that we are learning to reign. Many times something of sin or of the world rises up within us. When this happens, often the best way to reign over these things is to say to sin or the world, “Stop! Don’t go any further.” Some may say that this does not work. But according to my experience, this really works. Simply to pray concerning the negative things in order to rule over them is not very effective. When your temper is rising up, you may pray, “Lord, I don’t like to lose my temper. Lord, help me not to lose my temper.” I prayed this kind of prayer in the early days of my Christian life. But I discovered that this kind of prayer does not work very well. Today, when I feel my temper rising, I say, “Stop! Temper, you are not the king. I am the king. Don’t try to overcome or overrun me. I am ruling over you. Don’t go any further.” To speak a word of command to your temper really works. When you give such a command, sin stops not only within you but also within your wife and your children. Sin stops because you rule over it.

By the Dispositional Sanctification of the Indwelling Spirit

We also are saved in the divine life of Christ by the dispositional sanctification of the indwelling Spirit. Sanctification in the New Testament has two aspects: positional sanctification and dispositional sanctification. Positional sanctification also has two aspects: before and after we were saved. Before we believed, the Holy Spirit came to us to sanctify us, to separate us from sin and the world before our repentance (1 Pet. 1:2). Our repentance came from the positional sanctification of the Spirit before we repented. Then, after we repented and believed, we were sanctified positionally (Heb. 10:10; 1 Cor. 1:2; cf. Matt. 23:17, 19; 1 Tim. 4:3-5) with a view to the dispositional sanctification. Then the Spirit continues to sanctify us dispositionally, day after day. This sanctification is to transform our being. Positional sanctification is objective, outside of us. But dispositional sanctification is subjective, within us (Rom. 15:16; Eph. 5:26; 1 Cor. 1:30).

Sin is in our nature, and the element of the world is in our disposition. For this reason, all men love the world and want to be modern according to the current fashion of the world. This is because the world has saturated our disposition since the time we were born. Thus, we all need to be dispositionally sanctified. Our nature is contaminated by sin, and our disposition is contaminated by the world. The only thing that can save us from the contamination of the world is the dispositional sanctification by the indwelling Spirit. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “To Be Saved in the Life of Christ as Revealed in Romans”, ch. 1)

Being Saved by the Freeing of the Law of the Spirit of Life

The law of the Spirit of life, as we have already seen, is the Triune God Himself. The Spirit in Romans 8 is the processed and consummated Spirit. At the beginning of the New Testament, the Spirit had not yet been processed and consummated. In Genesis 1 the Spirit had only the element of divinity, but in Romans 8 the Spirit has many ingredients. In this consummated Spirit there is God, man, human living, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the ascension of Christ.

All these elements have been compounded together into one entity—the compound Spirit (cf. Exo. 30:23-25). This compound Spirit has become a law (Rom. 8:2). This law, like a natural law, has a spontaneous power that moves, works, and operates by itself. Gravity is such a natural law. Things drop to the earth spontaneously because the law of gravity operates upon all the objects on the earth.

The law of the Spirit of life works to save and free us from the law of sin and of death. The law of sin and of death is a bondage, a slavery. We need to be freed from its slavery, its bondage. Only another law that is more powerful than the law of sin and of death can free us from its slavery. Thus, only the law of the Spirit of life, which is more powerful than the law of sin and of death, can free us. The law that governs the flight of an airplane and the law of gravity are illustrations of this. The law that governs the flight of an airplane is more powerful than the law of gravity; therefore, an airplane can take off from the earth, overcoming gravity.

The Law of the Spirit of Life Working through Our Cooperation
by Minding the Things of the Spirit

We are saved in the divine life of Christ by the law of the consummated Spirit of life freeing us from the law of sin and of death, which is the slavery and the bondage of sin and of death. This law works through our cooperation by minding the things of the Spirit (8:5b). When we mind the things of the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life works.

The Law of the Spirit of Life Working through Our Cooperation
by Walking according to the Mingled Spirit

This law of the Spirit of life also works through our cooperation by walking according to the mingled spirit (v. 4). When we mind the things of the Spirit and walk according to the mingled spirit, this gives the law of the Spirit of life the opportunity to work within us. For this reason we do not need to try to overcome our temper or other besetting sins. We just need to mind the things of the Spirit and walk according to the mingled spirit. Then spontaneously, a law works within us to free us from the law of sin and of death. Today there are many people who have addictions. Addiction is a negative law. The only way to be freed from this negative law is to allow the law of the Spirit of life to operate.

Being Saved by the Dispensing of the Triune God into Our Tripartite Being

Another crucial point of God’s saving in the life of Christ is the dispensing of the processed Triune God into our tripartite being. This is clearly unveiled in Romans 8:5-13. This divine dispensing saturates us in our tripartite being—spirit, soul, and body—making every part alive, and saves us from death in all the three parts.

First, the Triune God dispenses Himself into our spirit by the Spirit’s regenerating of our spirit (John 3:6b) with Christ as life (Col. 3:4a) to make our spirit life (Rom. 8:10). Then from our spirit the dispensing God spreads His dispensing into our mind, the leading part of our soul, to make our soul life (v. 6b). By such a dispensing, our natural soul is transformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Third, through our soul the triune dispensing of the processed Triune God penetrates further, even into our mortal body, by the indwelling Spirit, to impart the divine life into it and save it from being deadened (Rom. 8:11). Such a triune dispensing will go on progressively within our entire being until our body of humiliation is transfigured into a body of Christ’s glory (Phil. 3:21). This is the redemption of our body, the full participation in our divine sonship, the full taste of the entire God for our enjoyment (Rom. 8:23). This is also the consummation of the mingling of the processed Triune God with us, the God-regenerated, -sanctified, -transformed, -conformed, and -glorified people, which is the ultimate saving of God in the divine life of Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God. This will be portrayed and manifested in full in the coming New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2—22:5). (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “To Be Saved in the Life of Christ as Revealed in Romans”, ch. 2)

Being Saved by the Renewing of Our Mind,
Issuing in the Transformation of Our Soul

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Transformation is not simply a change. Rather, transformation is a metabolic process. In this metabolic process a new element is supplied, and an old element is discharged. In metabolism a new element comes in to supply, replace, and discharge the old element.

Transformation is the completion and issue of renewing. First, we are renewed, and then we are transformed. Renewing issues in and brings in transformation. Renewing is in our mind, and transformation is in our entire soul. When our mind, the main part, the leading part, of our soul is renewed, our entire soul is transformed. The transformation of the soul comes out of the renewing of the mind. This kind of renewing and transformation saves us from our living, a living that is conformed to the present age (the modern style) of the world (v. 2a). The present age is just the modern style. This can be shown by the different architectural styles over the past centuries. In Europe you can tell the age of a building by its style of architecture. At the time the building was built, its architecture was the modern style. The hair styles and styles in dress of people today are also according to the present age, the modern style, of the world.

We have seen in one of the preceding chapters that our disposition has been soaked with the element of the world and that we love to have the present age, the modern style, the present fashion, of this world. Subjective sanctification saves us from the world-soaked disposition, and the renewing with transformation saves us from the appearance, the living, that is fashioned according to the present age, the modern style, of the world. Such a saving delivers us, by the indwelling Spirit, out of the world, not only inwardly but also outwardly. Inwardly, we are saved from our disposition, and outwardly, we are saved from a living that is conformed to the present age of the world.

Through Our Cooperation by Setting Our Mind on the Spirit

Our being saved from the living that is conformed to the present age is through our cooperation by setting our mind on the spirit (v. 6). We need to turn our mind away from the worldly appearance. In order to be saved from the modern style of the world, we must set our mind on the spirit.

Through Our Cooperation by Receiving the Dispensing
of the Divine Element into Our Inner Being

We must realize and believe that God’s divine element is always being dispensed into us. If we do not reject this dispensing, we will immediately receive the dispensing of this divine element into our being. It is the inner dispensing of the divine element that transforms our inner being. First, we must set our mind on the spirit, minding the things of the Spirit. Then we must be careful to not reject or block the inner dispensing of the divine element within us. This dispensing takes place day after day in a slow way. Digestion in our physical body is an illustration of this dispensing. Through digestion whatever we taste by eating is dispensed into our blood, cells, and fibers. Through the dispensing of the food into us, nourishment and sustaining strength are absorbed into our cells and fibers. Every day we live by this dispensing. The dispensing in the physical life is a figure of the dispensing in the spiritual life. In the spiritual life the dispensing is a matter of the divine element spreading within us. Through years of study and experience we found the fact of dispensing in the New Testament.

The dispensing of the divine element within us is spontaneous. This dispensing is also a law. The digestion of our physical food dispenses the food into our blood. This is a law. It goes on all the time. Physically speaking, we live on the dispensing of food through digestion. Spiritually speaking, we live on the inner dispensing of the abiding divine element in our being. This abiding divine element is God Himself. He is our food (John 6:35). As our food, He gets into us, and there is the dispensing of this food into our spiritual being. Without this spiritual dispensing, we could not live spiritually.

Being renewed in our mind and being transformed in our soul issue in all the virtues and victories in chapters 12 through 16 of Romans: being built up in the Body of Christ, living an excellent life of the highest standard of ethics (ch. 12), subjecting ourselves to authorities, practicing love, putting off the works of darkness by putting on Christ as the weapons of light (ch. 13), living a proper church life in its locality (ch. 14), and crushing Satan under our feet so that we may enjoy the God of peace by participating in the grace of Christ (16:20).

Being Saved by Being Built Up in the Body of Christ

In order to be built up in the Body of Christ, we must experience reigning in life, dispositional sanctification, the freeing of the law of the Spirit of life, and the renewing of our mind, which issues in the transformation of the soul. Without these experiences we cannot be built up in the Body of Christ. We do not have the capacity within our natural life to be one with others. Marriage life illustrates that we do not have much capacity in our natural life to be one. In God’s ordination man and woman should be married. Marriage is to make two people, husband and wife, one flesh (Gen. 2:24). The only couple in the universe that is able to be genuinely one is Christ and the transformed and glorified church. This couple will be in eternity. We must learn to reign in life, to be sanctified in our disposition, to be freed from the bondage of sin by the law of the Spirit of life, and to be renewed in our mind and transformed in our soul. When we have such experiences, we have the capacity to be built up with others.

In Acts the most prevailing thing among the disciples was neither their prayer nor the outpouring of the Spirit. The most prevailing thing was the one accord (1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 5:12; 15:25). In Acts 1 the Lord’s disciples saw the vision of the Lord’s ascension (vv. 9-11). That vision of the Lord’s ascension caused them to be outside of themselves and to be in one accord (vv. 14-15). Because of the one accord, they turned the entire world upside down (17:6, KJV). Their one accord was truly unique. Even to the present day, that one accord has never been repeated. We in the Lord’s recovery are somewhat weak and poor because of the lack of one accord. To be in one accord is to be built up. The one hundred twenty were built up. Their being in one accord was a building up. Therefore, the heavens opened, and the world was turned upside down.

In the beginning of Acts the practice of one accord by the disciples brought in the Holy Spirit’s outpouring and the blessing of three thousand people being saved on the day of Pentecost (2:41). The church was established and built up through the one accord. In order to have the one accord today, we must pass through these aspects of being saved in the life of Christ presented in Romans 5 through 12. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “To Be Saved in the Life of Christ as Revealed in Romans”, ch. 3)

Being Saved by the Living of the Church Life in a Locality

The book of Romans not only has a rich content regarding God’s complete salvation conveyed in His full gospel; it also has a definite goal, which is the practice of the church life. The experience of the first six aspects of being saved in the life of Christ, which we have seen in the first thirteen chapters of Romans, makes it possible to enter into the experience of the living of a proper church life in many localities. This is according to God’s desire as the good pleasure of His heart, which He arranged in eternity in His eternal economy (Eph. 3:9-11).

Being Saved by the Crushing of Satan under Our Feet

We are saved in the life of Christ from the aerial power of darkness by destroying Satan (Rom. 16:20; Eph. 6:12). We need to be saved from the power in the air; this power is Satan. Romans 16:20 says, “Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” Today Satan should not be in the air above us; he should be under our feet (Eph. 1:22). When we are in the proper church life, Satan is under our feet. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” If we would overcome the power of Satan, we must be built up; that is, we must have the church life. The built-up church can overcome the power of Satan. In the proper church life Satan is crushed under our feet so that the kingdom of God may be brought in. The church life in a locality is the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17), even the kingdom life. This kingdom is in contrast with the power in the air, the power of Satan.

When the enemy Satan is crushed under our feet in the church life, we enjoy Christ as our grace, our life supply. Peace is God Himself for us to remain in, and grace is Christ Himself for us to enjoy. When we live a proper church life and Satan is crushed under our feet, we remain in God as peace and enjoy Christ as grace. What a wonderful life this is! This is the blessed conclusion of the book of Romans, issuing from God’s full salvation, consisting of His redemption through Christ’s death and His saving in Christ’s life.

By Our Being Conformed to the Image of the Son of God

The full salvation of God as revealed in the whole book of Romans has a particular purpose, that is, to make us sinners His sons so that we may be His corporate expression. He is the mysterious God and He is invisible, but He has a desire, as His good pleasure, to have Himself expressed through man. First, He was expressed in His incarnated Son, Jesus Christ. Then He desires to enlarge this individual expression into a corporate one by making us, His chosen and called people, His many sons so that His only begotten Son could be His firstborn Son among many brothers to express Him in a corporate way. Hence, we, the many brothers of Christ, need to be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.

By Our Being Conformed

Concerning God’s full salvation, Romans 8:29 unveils that God predestinated His chosen people to be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son. The next verse, verse 30, also unveils that God calls, justifies, and will glorify His predestinated people. Both our conformation to the image of God’s Son and our glorification are the consummation of the purpose of God’s predestination concerning His people. This indicates that God’s conforming us and God’s glorifying us are two aspects of the same step of God’s saving us in the life of Christ. God’s conforming us is His fashioning us in the life of Christ so that we may bear the image of Christ as the God-man to express Him as the embodiment of the Triune God, and God’s glorifying us is His saturating us with the splendor of the life of Christ so that we may be soaked with His glory to express the processed God. Both are for the expression of the Triune God, which will be consummated at the consummation of our Christian life when Christ will appear the second time. This is to make us like Him not only in our spirit and soul but also in our body and to bring us into His divine glory (v. 18; Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 5:10). (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “To Be Saved in the Life of Christ as Revealed in Romans”, ch. 4)

LIVING THE BODY LIFE

Being Ruled by the Divine Life

All the items mentioned in Romans 12 through 13 are for the living of the Body life. Each item requires us to be ruled by the divine life. All these items are small things, yet they can be done by us only when we are ruled by the divine life.

To present our bodies a living sacrifice (12:1) is a matter of reigning in life. Without reigning in life, no one can present his body a living sacrifice. When we reign in life, we are not being fashioned according to this age but are being transformed by the renewing of the mind, proving what the will of God is (v. 2).

When we are controlled by the divine life, we surely will think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith (v. 3b). Our thinking about ourselves is like a wild horse. But by reigning in life, our thinking is bridled.

Often, the deacons or deaconesses may not take their proper position. This means that they are not ruled by the divine life. When they are ruled by the divine life, they will serve faithfully in their particular service (v. 7a).

As we are under the ruling of the divine life, we are able to teach, exhort, give in simplicity, lead in diligence, and show mercy in cheerfulness (vv. 7b-8). Likewise, when we are under the ruling of the divine life, we will take the lead in showing honor one to another (v. 10b).

Living a Life of the Highest Virtues by Reigning in Life

Romans 12:9-21 is a section on living a life of the highest virtues for the Body life. We must realize that in ourselves we could never practice these virtues. We can have such a living for the Body life only by reigning in life. If we check our church life, we will find that we are short in nearly every point. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” When others are rejoicing, we may be jealous, and when others are weeping, we may despise them. To rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep are impossible except when we are under the ruling of the divine life. Our natural life cannot make it; but by living a life under the ruling of the divine life, we are able to live the Body life with these virtues. To see the Body life built up as a practical reality, we must reign in life, and to reign in life in practice is to be under the ruling of the divine life.

God’s will is to have the Body life. Romans 13 presents some additional aspects of the life of one who is living in the Body life. As we have seen, we cannot have this kind of living in ourselves. Only by living under the ruling of the divine life can we be this kind of people. We must be subject to all authorities, realizing that they have been established under the sovereign arrangement of God. Furthermore, we must owe nothing to anyone except to love one another, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Finally, we must live a watchful life “in the day” (v. 13). One effect of our reigning in life is that we are awakened, made alert, made watchful, and not lulled to sleep by this age. We must be those who make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts but rather are awake as in the day, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ as our second garment (Psa. 45:13-14) to live Him as our subjective righteousness and to magnify Him.

The Issue Being the Real and Practical Body Life When We Are All Reigning in Life, Living Under the Ruling of the Divine Life

God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace (God Himself as our all-sufficient supply for our organic salvation) and of the gift of righteousness (God’s judicial redemption applied to us in a practical way). When we are all reigning in life, living under the ruling of the divine life, the issue is the real and practical Body life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “Crystallization-study of the Complete Salvation of God in Romans”, msg. 5)