Romans 1:1-4 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord
1. The Gospel of God – the Greek word for “of” here speaks of possession – in other words, it is the Gospel belonging to God. It is God’s gospel – God owns exclusive rights to the message and we are called to proclaim it, not adjust it or modify it.
2. The Gospel is the fulfillment of Old Testament promises (God keeps His promises)
3. The Scripture is holy – the Holy Bible – the sole infallible rule of faith for the people of God. The Bible alone is the word of God.
4. “Concerning His Son” – The Gospel is about Jesus Christ – His Person and work – who He is and what He has done
5. Born in the line of King David
Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’
Isaiah 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse (i.e. the Son of David, Jesse’s offspring), who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
This dead Messiah, Paul says in verse 4, was raised from the dead. This is at the heart of the gospel of God. And Paul says two things about this resurrection:
6. According to the Spirit of holiness – Dr. John Piper writes:
a. God’s Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.
I take my cue from Romans 8:11 where Paul says, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” This teaches that we will be raised by the Spirit of God who dwells in us, in the way that Christ was raised. So the Spirit was involved in raising Jesus from the dead.
b. But why does Paul use this unusual expression, “Spirit of holiness” (found nowhere else in the New Testament)?
Here’s my suggestion. Dealing with the dead was dirty business. When King Saul wanted to commune with the dead he went to the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7ff), and it was a secretive and illicit business. Mediums and diviners and sorcerers were an abomination in Israel. When the dead are dead, you leave them alone and don’t have dealings with them. Seances were and are unlawful for believers. Dealing with the dead has been a kind of black magic, not a beautiful, clean, holy thing. Anything but. Talk of an executed dead man being raised from the dead must have sounded to many ears absolutely horrible and gross and dirty and unclean, like dark sorcery and black magic.
Over against this Paul lays stress on the exact opposite: Christ was raised from the dead in accord with the Spirit of holiness, not a dark spirit or an evil spirit or a defiled spirit, but the very Spirit of God himself who is marked above all by holiness. He was not defiled in raising Jesus. It was a holy thing to do. It was right and good and clean and beautiful and God- honoring, not God-belittling. It was holy.”
7. The resurrection was God’s declaration of Jesus as “the Son of God with power” (v. 4)
Most of the Jewish people in Paul’s day expected that the Messiah would come with power and political sway, and would defeat the oppressive rulers of the world, the Romans, and establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem and live forever triumphant with his people. But what Paul says in verse 4 implies that between verses 3 and 4 the Son of David died. He died!
Those who thought he was the Messiah were devastated. Messiahs don’t die. They live and conquer and rule. They don’t get arrested and beat up and mocked and crucified and leave their people destitute. This was absolutely devastating. (Luke 24:21, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel”).
Triumph in the gospel of God. The cross was a triumph, not a defeat.
Col 2: 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
The cross was pre-planned – Acts 4:27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
At Jesus’ baptism, the Father proudly announced “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
Then there was seeming silence for 3.5 years…. Especially so in the cross as Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”…. and… no answer came… ohhhh – the haunting silence, as the sins of the people were transferred to the back of Christ and He absorbed the full force of the Father’s just anger (wrath) against sin as our Substitute, taking the punishment we deserved (2 Cor 5:21)…
VINDICATION: But in the resurrection, God declared to all, that this is indeed His Son – the resurrection was a total (and public) vindication of all that Jesus is, and all that He said, and all that He accomplished in His work for us sinners on the cross.
He was of course the Son of God before the resurrection… but in a lowly humble state; His glory veiled..
Now He is the Son of God with power – He is seated now at the throne of all the Universe waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool…