Romans Chapter One Lesson 4
Review:
vs:3 With verse 3 we have who the gospel is about.
"concerning His Son";
- First he focuses on
His humanity;
"who was born of a descendant of David
according to the flesh,"
1. "was born" not normal word for
birth; does not mean born;
- is lit. who became [gi,nomai, Aor. ptc.] same as in Jn
2.
So the change in His existence or being, He became a descendent of David
according to the flesh.
*
Question here is this; Is it important to recognize
that He is from the line of David?
If one was to be the
Messiah, He had to be from the line of David!
Not only does the NT
begin with this recognition of Jesus as the Messiah, it also ends reminding us of this same
fact;
What is it that all
these passages are trying to tell us about Christ? Maybe if we look back at the covenant made
with David; 2
Sam 7:12f;
3.
"according to the flesh"
kata,
sa,rx
There is no
connotation here of sin; i.e. the use of flesh as sin nature; Have the normal
use of sa,rx
to indicate the human
existence.
What it means is
that in His humanity, He experienced all normal limitations of humanity;
hunger, thirst, became tired etc.
In vs:4 there is a shift from His humanity to a focus on the fact
of His deity.
Observation: have 4
names for Jesus here;
Son of God; points to deity
Jesus; points to
humanity
Christ; points to His
office; Messiah [links Him back to OT, fulfill prophecy]
Lord; points to the fact
that He is sovereign, says we look up to Him and bow to Him as the sovereign of
the universe.
who was declared
the Son of God with power
The resurrection did
not make Him the Son of God; He already existed as the Son of God.
-
What the resurrection actually did was to designate Him to all of mankind, that He was who He said He was!
This transition is
not from a human Messiah to a Divine Son of God, but from the Son as Messiah
[v.3] to the Son as both Messiah and powerful, reigning Lord, who is sovereign.
[v.4] This fact
being declared by His resurrection.
-
this was all done it says "according to the spirit of holiness"
*
Vincent/Wuest: This is not a reference to the Holy
Spirit, who is no where in Scripture referred to by this phrase, but to the
spirit of Christ as the seat of the divine nature; Just as God is spirit [Jn 4:24] the divine nature of Christ is spirit and it is
characterized by the quality of holiness.
-
Paul closes with the title that describes three aspects of our Savior.
Jesus = his
historical identity, name;
humanity
Christ = stresses
His official work; office as anointed one; Messiah
Lord = kurioj focus is on His sovereign Lordship
>
Intro: At vs:5;
the last of 3 things emphasized about "His Son"
<5> 1:5 His Legacy Read!
1. "Through whom" immediate reference is to Jesus Christ
our Lord,
- what
this verse establishes here is the mediatorial work of Christ
2. "we have received grace and apostleship"
-
It was through the mediatorial work of Christ that Paul received "grace and apostleship."
- When Paul says he
received "grace"; not
talking about saving grace;
* So Paul's focus here is the commission that he
received from Christ for his ministry to the Gentiles; all that was necessary to carry out his
responsibility
2 goals are given;
first an immediate goal and then the ultimate goal.