Romans 1:4 (the introduction) Part 1

"who was declared the Son of God with power by (or as a result of) the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,"

Have you noticed that a lot of people have good things to say about Jesus?  The Muslims believe that He was the greatest prophet of allah (yes I chose to not capitalize on purpose because he is not God) next to Muhammad (who they consider the greatest of their prophets).  Of course they do not believe that He is coequal with God the Father (or is even God the Son); they also do not even believe that He died on the cross.  It is written in Quran 4:157, "...They said, 'We killed the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of God.'  They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but the likeness of him was put on another man (and they killed that man)..."  Apparently, the Hindus believe in Jesus too.  They believe that a Southeast Asia, learning yogic traditions and returning home to be a guru to the Jews. To Hindus, Jesus' proclamation "The Father and I are one" confirmed the Hindu idea that everyone, through rigorous spiritual practice, can realize his own universal "god-consciousness."  Buddhists believe that Jesus was a "great man" and some consider Him to be a "great master and follower of God" (how that fits into Buddhism as there is no "god" in their religion).  Many other people consider Jesus to be a "great moral teacher (leader, prophet, revolutionary, etc., etc.,).  The best way I know to respond to that line of thought is to quote C.S. Lewis.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

Now let us unpack the verse.  Jesus was, is, and always will be the second Person of the Holy Trinity so it is not like He just showed up for the first time when He was born in Bethlehem some two-thousand years ago.  The pre-incarnate Christ made appearances all through the Old Testament; one interesting thing to consider all the time the Angel of the Lord is written, some theologians (and I personally) believe those are and example of Jesus poking in.  One thing we must keep in mind is that God exists outside the space-time continuum.  I know that sounds like a sci-fi thing to say, but it makes sense.  God is infinite and omnipresent.  That means that even thought God existed an infinite amount of time before He created the Universe, the beginning of creation and the final fulfillment of it is the exact same moment for Him; also He is simultaneously present with us and at the farthest reaches of the Universe at the same time.  However that is enough Ontology (the philosophy [love of wisdom] of being or existence) because this is a blog about the Bible.  The important thing to take away is that God does not get surprised by our actions.

The first part of the verse, "who was declared the Son of God..." lets try and take it apart bit by bit.  The Greek word for declared is horizo (pronounced hor-id-zo) means to ordain, determine, appoint, or proved.  It is also important to stress the fact that Jesus is the unique Son of God.  In other parts of the Old Testament the word son was used to refer to angels (Genesis 6:1-2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Psalms 29:1; 89:6) of to the Nation of Israel (by relationship of Covenant) (Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 14:1; Hosea 1:10; 11:1) and God's anointed king (Psalm 2:7; 89:27; 2 Samuel 7:14)  In the New Testament, the second Person of the Godhead took on flesh as I alluded to in Psalm 2:7, "You are My Son today I have begotten You." (granted there is more in the verse but I will leave that for you to look up).  It is written in the Gospel according to John, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-2, 14 emphasis mine).  The Greek word for only begotten is monogenes means single of its kind, only. 

Romans 1:3 (The Introduction)

"concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant (or seed) of David according to the flesh,"

I all comes down to Jesus, who is the Son of God and God the Son.  There is something interesting about the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Two were written by Apostles: Matthew and John; two were written by close disciples of an Apostle: Luke the doctor was a fellow traveler with the Apostle Paul, (John) Mark traveled briefly with Paul and latter was a fellow traveler with the Apostle (Simon) Peter.  Each of the Gospels presents an unique perspective of Jesus.  With Matthew it was behold the king, with Mark it was behold the suffering servant, with Luke it was behold the man, and with John it was behold your God.  There is also a corollary with the four living creatures in the book of Revelation 4:7, "The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle."  Quoting Matthew Henry, "...the lion indication majesty and omnipotence; the ox, typical of faithful labor and patience; man, indicating intelligence; and the eagle representing supreme sovereignty."

There are two truths that simultaneously apply to the Lord Jesus while He walked on Earth with us: He was fully God and fully man at the same moment.  This is referred to as (technical term alert) the Hypostatic Union.  In Colossians 2:9 it is written, "For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form," and again in Philippians 2:6-8, "who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (or utilized or asserted), but emptied (or laid aside His privileges) Himself, taking the form of a slave, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."  In this posting we will focus on the human aspect of the Lord Jesus.

The earliest account of Jesus earthly life comes in Luke 2:42-52.  Jesus had was now twelve and was preparing for His bar mitzvah (the traditional point when a boy is officially recognized as an adult by the Law).  Traditionally boys would go with their parents to the Passover Feast when they were that age so that they could learn what they needed to know about what would be expected of them as adults. 

They must begin to fast from time to time especially on the festival of Yom Kippur (or the Day of Atonement) the one day a year when the High Priest would enter the Most Holy Place (a.k.a. the Holy of Holies) to make a (technical term alert) propitiatory (which means the same thing as a substitutionary or in place of) sacrifice for the sins of the nation; the high priest would first have to offer a sacrifice for himself and preform elaborate cleansing rituals to purify himself.  On a side note, this is where we get the phrase "scapegoat."  In Leviticus 16:5, 8-10 we learn about the propitiatory sacrifice the high priest would make, "He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering...Aaron [the first high priest] shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat (literally the goat of removal).  Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering.  But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat."  Even after the sacrifice was made it was temporary, it would have to be repeated every year,  and each person would be required to present new sin offering to atone each time they sinned.  The whole idea of a atoning (or covering) sacrifice is as old as the Book of Genesis 3:21, "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them."  The penalty for sin was always death (and it still is) it is written in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."; that is why God gave us the sacrificial system.  This is to emphasize that we cannot do enough good works (giving money to charity, volunteering at the local soup kitchen, etc.) to pay for our sin.   However, it was not until Jesus Christ judged in our stead, died for our sins, and rose again to show that the price had been paid once for all; also when Jesus died He cleared the way to God because He was the ultimate atoning sacrifice.  It is written, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin  on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2nd Corinthians 5:21).

Now to touch on, "born of a descendant of David according to the flesh," both Jesus' mother and foster father were of the tribe of Judah and descended from King David.  This was to fulfill what was promised David in 2nd Samuel 7:12, "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendent after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."  Jesus was descended from David through His mother Mary through David's son Nathan, "the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David," (Luke 3:31) and through Joesph (you could say His foster father), "Jesse was the father of David the king.  David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah." (Matthew 1:6).  One thing I love about the Bible is that it hold nothing back.  It displays the heroes of the faith as fallen, sinful human beings that overcame through the grace of God.  No other religion's holy text shows the failings of their principle characters, but I digress.  Jesus was born a man and a royal man; He was the rightful king of Israel from a human perspective; and He had to be born a mortal man so that He could be tempted just as we are to be sympathetic to fallen mankind, as it is written in Hebrews 2:17-18, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."  Once again I am sorry that I cannot put more in, there is so much good stuff in the book of Hebrews.

Jesus had to be born a man so that He could die.  He was born without sin so He could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  He was raised to life on the third day to show that the price was paid in full.


Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness,
Because of Your truth.

Romans 1:2 (the introduction)

which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

Here is a good example of a Greek mouthful: proepangellmai (it does not even come up on Google) what it means is promised beforehand (weird I know), the reason that Paul felt that he needed to emphasize that for the Gospel of God that he was preaching is that many of the Jews were claiming that this was a new teaching and contrary to what the law and the prophets.  The Old Testament (as we call it) is full of references to what Paul was preaching; even so far back as Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."  Interestingly enough the word that is translated "bruise" comes from the Hebrew word shuwph (pronounced shoof) and in this context means to crush.  This looks way forward to Jesus' crucifixion.  The devil certainly made quite a strike in killing God the Son but in doing so Jesus crushed Satan's power and paid the debt for our sins.  Also there is Isaiah 1:18; 53; and 55.  In chapter 1:18 it is written, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool."  There is so much in chapter 53 you might even call it the first Gospel; "Surely our griefs (or sickness) He Himself bore, and our sorrows (or pains) He carried...But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed...but the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief...as a result of the anguish (or toilsome labor) of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities." (verses 4a, 5, 10a, 11).  I feel bad about cutting any of it out and strongly recommend that you read the whole chapter.  Also chapter 55:7, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."  That is just a small amount of what the Old Testament has to offer concerning Jesus Christ; there are approximately 325 prophecies concerning Jesus alone (most but not all were fulfilled in the life of Jesus).  His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), where He would be born (Micah 5:2), His family's flight to Egypt (Hosea 11:1), the fact that He would live most of His life in Nazareth (Isaiah 9:1,2), the manner of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:11, Zechariah 9:9), even what Jesus cried out from the cross, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani that is My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1); and that is just cherry-picking a few of them.  The list goes on.  The point that Paul was making is that the Gospel that he was neither new nor contrary to the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes).

The next part of the verse,"...in the holy Scriptures" reaffirms the authority of scripture.  Interestingly enough when Paul talks about holy Scriptures, he means the Old Testament.  Specifically in his last letter 2nd Timothy 3:14-17, "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writing which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in  Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired (or God-breathed) by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."  One of the earliest heretics of the church: Marcion of Sinope (85-160 A.D.) believed in a Dualistic view of Theology (spiritual=good, material=evil) and was one of the earliest believes in what we now call Gnosticism (the belief that salvation comes to special and secret Gnosis or knowledge).  Specifically, Marcion believed that the God of the Old Testament (that he called the demiurge) was the evil creator of matter and was characterized by righteousness and wrath; whereas, the God of the New Testament (specifically Jesus Christ) who is only love and mercy.  He believed that the "teachings of Christ" were inconsistent with the actions of the God of the Old Testament; that does seem to be true if you only skim over both.  In the Old, God pours out wrath, wipes out cities, and allows righteous men like Lot and Joseph to undergo great loss, hardship, and persecution; whereas in the New, God heals, provides, forgives, and shows compassion.  That is, however, until you look deeper.  This is a technical term alert: Immutability.  This attribute of God speaks of His unchanging nature.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, ’God is a spirit, whose being, wisdom power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.” Those things do not change. A number of Scriptures attest to this idea (e.g. Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Ps. 102:26; Mal. 3:6; 2 Tim. 2:13; Heb. 6:17–18; Jam. 1:17).  So basically God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; God was just as gracious in the Old Testament as He is now and His righteous standard abides forever.  The best example that springs to mind is the account of the Nation of Israel while they were wandering in the desert for 40 years.  You can read about it from Exodus to Deuteronomy; you can barely get a chapter or two before you read of yet another complaint, "What are we going to drink...what are we going to eat...we are sick of this manna, we want meat...why should you be the boss...(and the ever popular) Oh, that we had died in Egypt when [fill in the blank things were better]," and on and on.  Yet God patiently put up with them and graciously provided and protected them.  If you want some good examples of judgement and wrath in the New Testament consider Matthew 23 when Jesus lays into the Pharisees and the Religious Elite; or all the horrible wrath being poured out in the book of Revelation.

Our main problem has always been that we try to judge God based on an external man-made standard; this is both stupid and entirely wrong.  God doesn't do good, He is good; God doesn't love, He is love.  God is in Himself the perfect standard that we should judge by.  In our sinfulness we are still deceived by Satan in the same way he tempted Eve, "Has God indeed said...?).  In the same way as Psalms 14 and 53, "The fool says in his heart 'there is no God.'" we try to reason and justify our thoughts and actions thinking that we (somehow) know better than God.  Fortunately for us, God has given us His Word the Bible so that we can know who He is, where we came from, how to live our lives, and where it is all going.  So too did Paul wright this letter to the Romans to encourage and instruct the faithful.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, 
Because of Your truth.
Amen