The Resurrection: The Power of God!

In Romans 1:4, Paul writes that the resurrection is the ‘declaration’ of the Sonship of Christ to the Father. It seems a difficult thing to understand, but Paul’s logic here is absolutely profound. In v.1, he wrote that the gospel is “of God”. In v.2, he wrote that this gospel was promised by the Father beforehand in the writings of the prophets (cf. Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 9:1-7; Psalm 110-written by David as a prophetic fulfillment of the reality that the Messiah would be the Son of God. This passage is used by Jesus as an argument for His deity as well as pointing out the ignorance of the Jewish leaders concerning the Scriptures [Luke 20:41-44]). Then he states that Jesus is the Son of David (v.3), as proven by the genealogies (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38). Finally,v.4, he states that Jesus, being a Son of David, is also the Son of God and that this fact, which fulfills the gospel spoken beforehand, is “declared” by the resurrection. How is that? What is Paul saying?

In order for the Messiah to fulfill all Scripture and thus the Father’s plan of redemption, which most specifically includes the fulfillment of the Son of David sitting on the throne that would be established forever (cf. 2 Samuel 7:13; Isaiah 9:7), He would have to live forever. But there is one problem…Jesus died. At this point, it should be obvious that the declaration that Jesus, the Son of David, as promised, is also the Son of God, as required from the fact that He would have to sit on an eternal throne, demanded a resurrection in order to bring Jesus back to life, bodily, in order for Him to rule as was determined by unbreakable Scripture (John 10:35). Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, is alive after having been dead, as the Scripture says. Thus, He is Messiah since He has clearly been proven to be both the Son of David and the Son of God and the resurrection from the dead declares to all that God has fulfilled His promise. Thus, Jesus is Lord (cf. Acts 2:36; Phil. 2:9-11). Jesus’ resurrection from the dead makes it possible for Him to sit in bodily form on the throne of His father, David, as well as the throne of His Father, God (cf. Acts 2:34-35; Ephesians 1:19-23).

For a full treatment of this text, listen to: The Resurrection, Declaration of God’s Power!