Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God– the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 1:1-4
Paul writes very little about the life and teaching of Jesus. He leaves that to the gospel writers. Paul’s focus is on the meaning of the death and resurrection and exaltation of Jesus. To Paul, Jesus is not primarily a human teacher of wisdom or preacher of divine truths; he is the incarnate Son of God who died an atoning death, was raised by the power of God from the dead and exalted to become Lord over all (Phil. 2: 5-11). The primacy of Jesus’ resurrection is clearly affirmed in the introduction to the letter to the Romans.
Paul does not mean that Jesus became the Son of God by the resurrection, but that he who during his earthly ministry was the Son of God in ‘weakness and power’ became by the resurrection the Son of God in power. “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom. 14: 9).
The resurrection is confirmation of Jesus’ divine sonship; it means entrance into his supreme ministry of lordship. Paul’s entire message rests upon the factuality of the resurrection of Christ.
Our life in Christ is entirely on the basis of this resurrection. Because He Lives ……