Romans 1:1-7 - Part 2

The Gospel of God

Last week Paul began his letter to the Romans by introducing his divine calling as an apostle and servant of Jesus Christ.   In v. 1, he identified his Master, his office, and his purpose, which is summed up in his being set apart by the resurrected Son of God to proclaim the gospel of God to all people, but especially in his unique calling to the Gentile nations.

As an apostle, Paul reminds us that he is not speaking on his own authority, but as God's representative with God's own divine seal of authority.  Therefore, as God's people we are to hear and obey all that Paul will say to us.  And what is Paul saying to us?  That is what we now turn to this morning in vv. 2-4 where Paul will now introduce the content of the message of the gospel that he has been set apart to proclaim to the nations.

In other words, what we are to hear and obey is Paul's call to faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ -- to believe in the One whom God has sent with all power to save us from our sins (see vv. 5-6).  It is this powerful gospel that has made such a dramatic change in Paul's own view of the world.  This one-time persecutor of the church now serves the Lord of that same church with such passion, devotion, and single-mindedness as Christ's representative to boast in nothing but the cross of Christ.

In v. 1, Paul tells us that he was set apart by God to proclaim the gospel of God.  Now, in vv. 2-4 Paul fills out the content of that "gospel of God."  As we noted last week, the gospel begins with God -- it is His gospel -- the gospel of God, the good news which begins/originates and belongs to God.

Since the good news begins with God, then it will certainly be in conformity to what God has been doing from the very beginning.  So in v. 2, Paul says that this gospel was "promised" by God "beforehand" or "ahead of time" through God's prophets in the Holy Scriptures.  Paul also says in chap. 3, that this gospel was witnessed to in the Law and Prophets (3:21).  The prophets would include not only those whom we normally call "the prophets" but all the Old Testament leaders who spoke prophetically concerning God's promise including men like:  Abraham, Moses, and David.  In other words, the good news was promised in the Old Testament. 

Paul pictures the whole Old Testament as a set of promises needing fulfillment.  It is only half of the story needing a climax and a conclusion, which now finds its culmination in the good news of God.

But why does Paul stress this fact at the beginning of his letter?  Well, not only was Paul unknown to the Roman Christians, at least personally, but surely with all the rumors flowing freely throughout the empire, Paul's gospel was under a tremendous amount of suspicion.  He was being attacked from every side and as soon as he planted a church and was ready to move on, it seemed that the troublemakers from Jerusalem were determined to come behind him and destroy the foundation that he had laid. 

So, Paul wants the churches in Rome to be clear that "his" gospel is not something radically new but is completely linked to what God has been doing all along, going all the way back to the Old Testament.  There is a direct line of continuity between God's new work through His Son and the whole story of the Old Testament.  What God promised "ahead of time" in the Old Testament is now fulfilled in His Son.  This will be especially important, as Paul has to assure these churches that the gospel has the power to bring unity to these divisive Jew and Gentile believers. 

Now in v. 3 Paul reveals that the "gospel of God" in v. 1 and the "promise beforehand" in v. 2 concerns a person:  the Son of God.  The good news, which God has given to the whole world, is about His own unique Son, whom God has known and loved for all eternity.

Like a father who proudly displays his son's new trophy, God the Father now tells the greatest story ever told, the good news is now published before the whole watching world concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. 

In vv. 3-4, Paul can't help but join in the enthusiasm and excitement of God the Father in retelling the incredible events that have taken place -- in what Jesus has accomplished.  In v. 3 we are told that Jesus "was born" or "has come" as "a descendent of David according to the flesh."  And in v. 4 that Jesus "was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead."  This is Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let's look at each phrase in turn:

1.  Jesus "was born a descendent of David according to the flesh" (v. 3).

Jesus came into this world and was born as a descendent of David according to the flesh.  Paul here not only emphasizes that Jesus became a human being, but by implication Jesus already existed as the eternal Son of God.  If Jesus hadn't already existed, the Father would have no one to send and be wrapped in human flesh.  Paul tells the Galatians and the Philippians:

When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal. 4:4).

Christ Jesus . . . existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8).

The Apostle John beautifully stated:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being . . .  And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14).

Jesus was sent on a mission of salvation from the Father, a mission that was planned in all eternity within the perfect council of our Triune God.  When Jesus became a man, he didn't simply begin for the first time as if God simply took a human born man and made him into a god.  Paul has already clearly established the eternal, divine sonship of Jesus by stating that the subject of these verses is the Son of God (v. 3).  Jesus dwelt before the glory of His Father for all eternity and when the time arrived He didn't cease to be God to be born a man, but He rather added a human nature to His divine person. 

This eternal Son of God did not simply become human but particularly a descendent of King David, which we will discuss further below.  Of the many connections between David and Jesus, the one Paul is most clearly emphasizing here is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the descendent of David (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Isa. 11:1, 10; Jer. 23:5-6; 30:9; 33:14-18; Ex. 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Matt. 1:1-16; Lk. 1:27, 32, 69; 2 Tim. 2:8; Rev. 5:5; 22:16).

2.  Jesus "was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead " (v. 4).

In v. 4, Paul says that the Son of God was declared the "Son of God with power" at His resurrection.  What does Paul mean?

Well, we have already made the point that Paul is not saying that in His earthly ministry that Jesus suddenly became divine -- as if God took a mere human and made him into a god.

Again, Paul is making a very important redemptive historical distinction.  In some way, at the resurrection, Jesus Christ was declared to be something he wasn't before the resurrection.  In other words, through the raising His Son from the dead, God the Father appointed Jesus to now do something that He could not do before and it all revolves around His atoning work on the cross.  Therefore, the change that takes place in the resurrection is not referring to Jesus' divine nature but His human nature.

To make sense of what Paul is saying here we have to go all the way back to the beginning, to creation itself when Adam was formed from the dust of the earth to serve as God's regent or king, under God's own authority, over all that He made.

In Genesis 1:26, as the climax of all creatures, God made man, male and female, according to His own image in that He gave them sovereign rule and dominion over everything:  the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and over everything on the earth including from the cattle in field to the creeping things that creep on the earth.

Man and woman were the apex of God's creation and as rulers they were God's appointed stewards to care for, fill, and bring every created thing under the lordship and glory of God.  God held out a promise to them that if they obeyed him in every way then they too would enter into the glory of God and dwell with Him forevermore in eternal joy and happiness.  But Adam and Eve disobeyed God and broke His law, choosing to worship the creature, rather than the Creator, which caused everything to fall short of God's glory.  The creation was no longer going to submit to their sovereign rule.  Instead it would fight against them and cause man and woman to attempt to control it ending only in futility never being able to subdue.

Therefore, the dominion of creation would have to come through another . . . it would not come through Adam and Eve's rebellious, sinful seed.  As God promised them, He would have to send a New Adam who would bring about dominion of the now fallen universe.  But this New Adam would not only include the fulfillment of this dominion but He would also redeem and restore order to the fallen and rebellious universe. 

At a particular point in this history of salvation, God chose the people Israel to be His picture and instrument to bring out this New Adam, the Redeemer who would restore order to the universe.  Israel's long history found its ultimate personification in King David.  David was given a promise by God that one day one of His descendents would come and bring about this promised restoration of God's plan for man to rule over all His creation, as well as restore those who had fallen in the first Adam.

That promised descendent arrived in human flesh in Jesus Christ.  As a man he came under the law to redeem those who broke God's law.  Unlike the first Adam, this last Adam kept the law of God perfectly on our behalf.  But he ultimately stood in our place as rebellious sinners and died upon the cross under the curse of God. 

In this way, the preexistent Son of God entered into human history on a mission to restore our fallen human condition, to redeem us from condemnation, and to restore us to the position as kings over all God's creation. 

The Son of God has always been sitting upon His throne in Heaven as King over the whole creation from all eternity.  But in the incarnation, the eternal Son of God became something He wasn't before:  He became a man -- a human being like us.

And it is in this sense that Paul is now speaking of Jesus' mission:  He became one of us to save us and restore us as God originally planned, to be rulers and stewards over everything He has made.  And when God raised Jesus, our new head, the last Adam, from the dead, He raised Jesus in power to now be the powerful, life-giving Savior or all who will believe in Him. 

Jesus is now the human King of kings and Lord of lords, raised in power, who now represents us before the Father's throne as our New Adam in whom we stand.  Son of God from all eternity, He now becomes Son of God in power who is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him (Heb. 7:25).

Another way of looking at this important redemptive historical distinction that Paul is making in Jesus' earthly ministry is to examine His contrast in vv. 3-4 between Jesus' coming "according to the flesh" (v. 3) and His being raised in power "according to the Spirit" (v. 4).  What does Paul mean by this important distinction?

When Paul makes a contrast between the flesh/Spirit in his writings, he is making a very important redemptive historical distinction.  The flesh and Spirit refer to the two ages:

1.  The flesh refers to this old age - this creation - which is dominated by sin, death, and will end in condemnation for all who belong to this old creation.  All who belong to this age are under the law and therefore are under the curse of God.  When Paul says that Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law in Gal. 4:4 he was bringing these two thoughts together -- it was because Jesus was born in the flesh of our humanity that he came under the law and therefore the curse of God.  This is what Paul means when he says that the Son of God was born "according to the flesh."  Jesus took up our humanity and therefore by coming under the law, he came under our condition. 

2.  The Spirit in Paul's writings then refers to the new age, the age to come, the new creation which is characterized by righteousness, life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and as a free gift of God's grace it results in justification for all who belong to this new creation.

You will then notice that these two ages or the distinction between the flesh and the Spirit are separated by the crucifixion of Christ.  Jesus comes to earth according to the flesh and then he is raised in power according to the Spirit, as Paul says in vv. 3-4.

To belong to the realm of the flesh, all you have to do is be born.  To belong to the realm of the Spirit, meant that your flesh has been crucified with Christ and you have been born again by the Spirit.  Therefore, according to Paul's distinction in the history of salvation, a believer cannot be both in the flesh and in the Spirit at the same time.  You have died to the one and been raised to the other.

What is now true of you was first and foremost true of Jesus Christ.  In His incarnation (the realm of the flesh), Jesus was David's seed, the Messiah.  But that was only part of the story.  Once Jesus was nailed to the cross, was buried, and then raised from the dead in power, something new took place.  He was raised into the realm of the Spirit or the new creation, as the powerful life-giving Son of God.  Paul says in 1 Cor.:

It is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.”  The last Adam became a life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

In Christ, the new age of the history of God's plan of salvation has been reached and in this new moment in God's plan Jesus reigns as the Son of God, powerfully active to bring salvation to all who believe (cf. 1:16).  He is not only Son of God, Lord over all creation, but now He is Son of God, Lord over all the redemption of God's elect. 

Jesus' lordship refers not to His divine nature, which He has been the Lord God from all eternity.  Rather, it is linked to His human nature as He has come as one of us and restored what was lost in Adam and He is now raised as the New Man - the New Adam - having perfected our human nature and God clothes Him in power at and because of His resurrection so that He is now mighty to save all those who will trust in Him.  Paul again brings this out to the Philippians:

Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).

It was only after Jesus humbled himself on the cross that God then exalted Him above every other name on earth and in Heaven as Lord of all.  Jesus has now become our new head and master of the whole universe.  He is the New Adam, raised in power, to be our sovereign Lord and Savior.

This is the heart of the gospel that Paul is now setting forth before the Roman Christians, which has the power of God to save everyone who believes in Jesus, who Paul says this morning is:  the Son of God, the seed of David, the promised Messiah/Christ, and Lord of all.  This is not only Paul's Master whom Paul has been set apart to proclaim, but He is Jesus Christ our Lord and He is mighty to save all who trust in Him.

Amen!

-SDG-