I.　The book of Galatians presents the basic truth of the gospel—2:5, 14:

A.　The first aspect of the truth of the gospel is that fallen man cannot be justified out of works of law—v. 16a.

B.　Under God's New Testament economy, we are justified out of faith in Christ—v. 16b:

1.　Through believing, we are joined to Christ and become one with Him—John 3:15.

2.　Faith in Christ denotes an organic union with Him through believing; the term in Christ refers to this organic union—Gal. 2:17; 3:14, 28; 5:6.

3.　Justification is not merely a matter of position; it is also an organic matter, a matter in life.

4.　It is by means of our organic union with Christ that God can reckon Christ as our righteousness; only in this way can we be justified by God—1 Cor. 1:30.

II.　Paul's gospel is the unique gospel, the complete gospel—Rom. 16:25:

A.　Paul's gospel includes all the aspects of the gospel in the four Gospels:

1.　In Matthew the goal of the gospel of the kingdom is to bring people into God to make them citizens of the kingdom of the heavens—28:19; 24:14; Rom. 14:17; Gal. 5:21.

2.　In Mark the preaching of the gospel is to bring part of the old creation into the new creation—16:15-16; Rom. 8:20-21; Gal. 6:15.

3.　In Luke we have the gospel of forgiveness to bring redeemed people back to the God-ordained blessing—24:46-47; 1:77-79; 2:30-32; Eph. 1:3, 7; Gal. 3:14.

4.　In John we have the eternal life so that we may bear fruit for the building up of the Body of Christ, which is Christ's increase—20:31; 15:16; Rom. 8:10, 6, 11; 12:4-5; Gal. 3:28; 4:19; 6:10, 16.

B.　Paul's gospel is the center of the New Testament revelation—Rom. 1:1, 9:

1.　Paul's gospel is a revelation of the Triune God, processed to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 3:2, 5, 14.

2.　Paul's gospel is centered on the Triune God being our life in order to be one with us and to make us one with Him, that we may be the Body of Christ to express Christ in a corporate way—Rom. 8:11; 12:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23.

III.　Paul's gospel includes the entire book of Romans—2:16; 16:25:

A.　The gospel of God, as the subject of the book of Romans, concerns Christ as the Spirit living within the believers after His resurrection—8:10-11:

1.　This is higher and more subjective than what was presented in the Gospels, which mainly concern Christ in the flesh as He lived among His disciples after His incarnation but before His death and resurrection—John 1:14; 14:17.

2.　The Epistle to the Romans reveals that Christ has resurrected and has become the life-giving Spirit, and as such, He is no longer merely the Christ outside the believers, but He is now the Christ within them—8:9-11.

3.　The gospel in the book of Romans is the gospel of the One who is now indwelling His believers as their subjective Savior—1:3-4, 15-16; 8:10.

B.　The entire book of Romans, 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 of God in its completeness—1:1, 3-4, 9, 16-17; 12:4-5; 16:1, 4, 16.

C.　As revealed in Romans, Paul's gospel is a gospel of sonship—8:14, 29; Gal. 3:26; 4:7:

1.　The central concept of the gospel of God is related to the Son of God, and God's intention is to bring many sons into glory—Rom. 1:3-4; 8:3, 29; Heb. 2:10.

2.　God predestinated us unto sonship; the choosing of God's people to be holy is for the purpose of their being made sons of God, participating in the divine sonship—Eph. 1:4-5; Rom. 8:28-30.

D.　We need to preach the gospel in Romans in a way that will cause people to realize the following:

1.　That once they believe in the Lord, their sins will be forgiven, and they will be redeemed and justified by God, reconciled to God, and accepted by God—3:20, 23-28; 5:1-2, 8, 10, 17.

2.　That they will be regenerated in the spirit, have God's life and nature, and have God dwelling in them to renew and transform them so that they may be conformed to the image of God's Son and eventually reach the maturity in life and be fully glorified as sons of God—8:2, 9-11, 16, 29-30.

3.　That although they are sinners, they will become sons of God and members of Christ, coordinating together to constitute the Body of Christ, which is the testimony and the expression of Christ expressed practically on earth as the local churches—12:1-2, 4-5, 11; 16:1, 4, 16.

IV.　The center of Paul's gospel is Romans 8, which concerns the dispensing of the Triune God as life into the tripartite man—vv. 2, 6, 10-11:

A.　The Bible reveals the mystery of God, the mystery of the universe, the mystery of man, the mystery of the church, and the mystery of the future; within the Bible, Romans 8 is the mystery of all mysteries, for it particularly unveils and explains these five mysteries—vv. 1-2, 4, 6, 9-11, 17-25, 28-30.

B.　Romans 8 reveals the focal point of God's economy—that in eternity past God purposed to enter into His chosen and redeemed people so that He could be their life and they could be His corporate expression—vv. 10-11, 28-30.

C.　Romans 8, an experiential chapter, speaks about the Triune God in the experience of the Christian life—vv. 2, 10-11.

D.　The law of the Spirit of life is uniquely revealed in Romans 8; the law of the Spirit of life is the Triune God in motion; when the Triune God moves within us, He is the law of the Spirit of life—vv. 2, 10-11.

E.　Romans 8 concerns the wonderful, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God; this Spirit will make us exactly the same as Christ is in life, nature, and expression—vv. 2, 9, 11, 13-14, 16, 23.

F.　The purpose of the all-inclusive Spirit being life to our spirit, mind, and body is that we would be conformed to the image of God's firstborn Son; this conformation is the goal of the working of the divine life within us—vv. 2, 6, 10-11, 29.

G.　Romans 8 is central because it concerns God's goal and our destiny—conformation to the image of the firstborn Son of God; eventually, we will be fully conformed to the image of God's firstborn Son for the eternal, corporate expression of the Triune God—v. 29; 12:4-5; Rev. 21:10-11.