Section 7
Mark and Luke we have salvation, but in neither of them do we find the churches. However, Paul's gospel includes the churches and presents a por trait of the local church life, mentioning peo ple such as Phoebe who served the church and Prisca and Aquila who risked their necks for the churches. Never forget that Paul's gospel has sixteen chapters, not eight or twelve.
Once again I say that Paul was excited and satisfied at the end of Romans. God had started from creation and had reached His peak in the local churches. Therefore, Romans is an extract or an abstract of the whole Bible. The Bible begins in Genesis with God's creation and concludes in Revelation with the New Jerusalem, the totality of all the local churches and the consummation of God's building. Romans consummates with the local churches, and the Bible as a whole con summates with the New Jerusalem as the total ity of all the local churches. This is the view from God's side.
A PRACTICAL VIEW
Now we must consider the view from our side. In chapter one we saw that we were sinners and that neither culture nor religion could help us. Regardless of the kind of people we were, we