Romans is full of Christ. Many expositions of Romans divide it into sections: condemnation, justification, sanctification, selection, and Christian behavior. But this way of exposition is not adequate. It is only by taking the all-inclusive Christ as the center and circumference of the entire book that our exposition can be thoroughly adequate. Christ is the centrality and universality of the entire book of Romans.
God’s complete salvation is based upon God’s righteousness (Rom. 1:17a), which is Christ. God’s righteousness is a great matter because it is the power of God’s salvation. God’s righteousness, which is solid and steadfast, is the foundation of His throne (Psa. 89:14) and the base on which His kingdom is built (Rom. 14:17). If there were no righteousness, God Himself would be finished, the entire universe would collapse, and we could not exist. The universe, including us, exists based on the righteousness of God.
Christ covers the believers that they may be justified objectively (Rom. 3:20-22). The best robe (Luke 15:22) put upon the prodigal son by the father signifies Christ as the God-satisfying righteousness to cover the penitent sinner (Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30; cf. Isa. 61:10; Zech. 3:4).
Christ is given to the believers as their righteousness subjectively to become their living that they may be justified before God subjectively (Rom. 4:24-25). As the resurrected One, Christ is in us to live for us a life that can be justified by God and that is always acceptable to God.
(Crystallization-Study of the Complete Salvation of God in Romans, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)