CHAPTER ONE

THE CENTER OF THE GOSPEL OF GOD—
JESUS CHRIST THE GOD-MAN
(1)

THE ESSENCE OF THE PERSON
OF JESUS CHRIST THE GOD-MAN

Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:1-4

OUTLINE

1. Introduction:
   1. The book of Romans is on the gospel of God—1:1:
      1. The entire book, from chapter 1 on the person of Jesus Christ the God-man and on the righteousness of God to chapter 16 on the local churches as the expression of the Body of Christ, is the gospel, the good news and the glad tidings (10:15), of God to men in its completeness.
      2. This gospel is concerning Jesus Christ the God-man; hence, Jesus Christ the God-man is the center of the good news and the glad tidings of God to men.
   2. Crystallization, in our usage, is based upon the essence.
2. The center of the gospel of God—Jesus Christ the God-man—1:3-4:
   1. The person of Jesus Christ the God-man:
      1. The seed of David—Matt. 1:1; 22:42-45:
         1. In His humanity:
            1. 1) A human seed belonging to the old creation (the old man—Rom. 6:6) of God—Col. 1:15b.
            2. 2) Implying Christ’s incarnation—John 1:14.
            3. 3) According to the flesh—“the flesh of sin” in its likeness but without sin—Rom. 8:3b.
            4. 4) The framework (“the body of His flesh”—Col. 1:22) of Jesus Christ the God-man.
            5. 5) Both Satan and sin (the inward sin in our nature) are involved in this flesh—Heb. 2:14; John 3:14; Rom. 8:3b.
            6. 6) The involvement of the world in this flesh through Satan, the ruler of the world—John 12:31.
         2. This seed of David in His humanity is to be sonized, to be made (“designated”—Rom. 1:4) the Son of God.
         3. This is the fulfillment of the prophecy in typology in 2 Samuel 7:12-14.
      2. The Son of God:
         1. Designated in His humanity.
         2. In power according to the Spirit of holiness.
         3. The Spirit of holiness is the divinity (Rom. 9:5) in the seed of David—a man of humanity (5:15, 17b, 19).
         4. Out of the resurrection—the consummation of the processed Triune God.
         5. To be made the firstborn Son of God—8:29:
            1. 1) Christ was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18) before His incarnation, having divinity only, without humanity.
            2. 2) Jesus Christ becomes the firstborn Son of God in resurrection, with His God-created humanity uplifted, having both divinity and humanity.
            3. 3) The regenerated believers, having both humanity and divinity, are to be conformed to the image of this firstborn Son of God.
      3. Thus, the person of Jesus Christ the God-man implies the intention of God in His gospel, that is, that He, as the unique God, wanted to become a man so that the fallen men redeemed by Him could become His many sons, made the same as God in His life and His nature but not in His Godhead.

Prayer: Lord, we praise You that on this earth You have the recovery. Lord, in this recovery You have been speaking to us throughout the years. We thank You for Your oracle. Lord, we thank You even the more that You are not only the Word but also the Spirit to us. You are the life-giving Spirit, the consummated Spirit, the Spirit who is with us and who is now right among us. We trust in You. We thank You for Your Word, and we praise You for Your Spirit. We look unto You that You would make the oneness with us so real. Speak with us and speak in our speaking. Be one spirit with us. We are nothing, we have nothing, and we do not seek anything. Lord, You are all in all to us. Strengthen us and sustain us. We praise You for all that You are. Amen.

In this series of messages I have the burden to crystallize the book of Romans. Romans is a very common and popular book among Christians. I myself have expounded this book in congregations a number of times. Eventually, I had the life-study on Romans in the first year of our semiannual trainings. That was exactly twenty years ago. Even though we did this, I still feel some things are hidden there, and these things are the intrinsic essence of God’s divine revelation in the Epistle to the Romans.