In my zeal, I realized too late that in my previous post I dove right into verse 3. Today, we touch on the first (and a comparatively minor) difficulty in the book of Romans, found in verse 4.

What is the verse saying? Is it saying, perhaps, that Jesus Christ was declared, by means of the Holy Spirit, to be the Son of God by the very powerful event of his resurrection from the dead?

After all, Acts 10:38 points out that Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power or 2 Corinthians 13:4 explaining that Jesus Christ was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. Elsewhere (1 Cor 6:14 ) we see how God has both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power.

The resurrection was indeed a powerful event, and made that much more powerful that the triune God was working in that moment in finite time to perform an event that would ripple through time...and yet, is this what the verse is talking about?

Remember the examples that Paul is using here to illustrate the importance of this good news of God, promised afore, which concerns Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul highlighted the fleshly, earthly descent of Jesus (as well as the prophetic fulfillment therein) by pointing out that He was of the seed of David. What an amazing thing it is to consider that the second person of the trinity, eternal and all powerful intervened in humanity and became weak flesh. God walked among men and was subsequently tortured and killed by men!

Thank be to God that his earthly credentials were not the end of His descent. Jesus Christ our Lord was declared to be not only the Son of David, but also the Son of God. Although He was the Son of David without a throne and without authority among men, He was the Son of God with power, and not only the authority aspect. His very spirit of holiness declared this—not so much the Holy Spirit—but the very spirit of Jesus, the second person of the trinity attested to Him being the eternal, Son of God with power by means of the very fact that the dead resurrect!

The verse is pointing out, not only His own resurrection but the resurrection of anyone from the dead. Be it Lazarus, a young girl, various saints during the crucifixion, a young man falling out of a window, any of those events even reaching into the future where the very dead in Christ will rally to the trump of the Lord, Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God by the fact of the resurrection of The Dead.

This is what makes the gospel of God so utterly amazing. Paul points out that it is this very person of the trinity (this very Son of David AND Son of God, forever eternal, became flesh, died, rose again, declared by the fact that the dead actually rise up) is the one who doles out both grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name (v5). This same person being the very one who calls the Roman saints (v6)—how easily they can understand that they are beloved of God, called to be saints. With such a calling, they most assuredly, have Grace and peace from God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ (v.7).

What an astounding gospel we have here. This is not man-made or man-reliant, but God-reliant. If the eternal God can show such grace and mercy toward us, wretched sinners who have pinned His Son to the tree, let us shudder with the understanding that yes, Grace and Peace are towards us from God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next we'll touch on a group of verses from 1:8 - 1:17.