Lessons #07 and 08
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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The Gospel of God (Rom 1:2-6)
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
In our last study we indicated that the central message of this section of Romans 1:2-6 is that the Gospel of God is a promised good news given through the prophets and it is about the Son of God. From this central message we derived a simple message the Holy Spirit wants us to hear from this passage that is: You should endeavor to remember that the focus of the gospel of God is Jesus Christ. This message is due to two general statements of the apostle in the section that we are considering. The first general statement of the apostle about the gospel of God is that it had been in God’s plan from eternity and so was revealed through the prophets in written form as he stated in Romans 1:2. It is this general statement that we expounded in our last study. So, we proceed with the second general statement of the apostle in the section we are considering.
The second general statement of the apostle about the gospel of God is that it is about the Son of God. This general statement is derived from the very first phrase of Romans 1:3 regarding his Son. This phrase would not make much sense without relating it to the preceding verse. You see, the word “regarding” of the NIV is translated from a Greek preposition (peri) that in this verse is used to denote the person to whom the activity of prophecy mentioned in the preceding verse relates. In other words, the person that the prophets wrote about in the Holy Scripture is the One that is the concern of our phrase.
The person that is the concern of what is written in the Holy Scripture is described in the phrase of Romans 1:3 his Son, that is, the Son of God, since the pronoun his refers to God mentioned in verse 1 in the phrase the gospel of God. Thus, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul reminds us that the promised gospel of God is about God’s Son or his Son. He later indicated that the gospel he preached was about the Son of God as he wrote in Romans 1:9:
God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you.
Gospel preaching must include the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, so the apostle used the phrase his Son to convey this truth later in Romans 5:10:
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
The phrase his son or “Son of God,” to say the least, troubles many individuals that are not Christians in that they argue that God does not have a wife and so how could He have a son. Sadly, some bible translators now advocate that the phrase should be removed and replaced with probably the title “Messiah” since they argue that the phrase “Son of God” often carries with it messianic overtones. The concern of such translators is that it is a stumbling block to presenting the gospel to Muslims. When Muslims hear the title “Son of God” they say that it is blasphemous since such a title implies that God had physical relations with Mary that led to her pregnancy and virgin birth. Of course, Christians do not believe that Mary had physical relations with God since we believe that virgin pregnancy is a result of God empowering Mary in special way so that she became pregnant as stated in Luke 1:35:
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
This being the case, to avoid the phrase “Son of God” is to attempt to dilute the Christian message so that people would not be offended or turned off from the gospel message. I think that those who are so concerned about not offending unbelievers or thinking that such phrase would hinder faith in Christ have forgotten first that the gospel message described in terms of “message of the cross” is one considered foolish by unbelievers as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:18:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Furthermore, the gospel message is one that gives offense or is a stumbling block to some as the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:23–24:
but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Consequently, to want to shy away from the use of the phrase “Son of God” to describe Jesus Christ is to dilute the gospel message. Such an attempt should be resisted because of what Apostle Paul stated in the passage of our study, that is, Romans 1:3 where he tells us that the gospel of God promised is about His Son. Thus, we should not abandon the term but should endeavor to understand what it means so we can explain that to those offended by the phrase with the conviction that it is the Holy Spirit that would make the word of God real to any human and not necessarily our logical ability to convince anyone of any truth of any kind. Having said this, it is important we truly understand what is meant in the use of the phrase “Son of God” or his Son to refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this that we intend to do as we expound on the phrase of Romans 1:3 regarding his Son. Of course, we should be clear that the phrase “Son of God” as a Greek phrase applies only to Jesus Christ. We make this observation because of Adam described as son of God in Luke 3:38:
the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
The phrase the son of Adam, the son of God is literally of Adam, the of God that probably because the word “son” indeed appears in Luke 3:23 to describe Jesus as one thought to be a son of Joseph, our English versions added the word “son” in verse 38. But the word son is not used in verse 38 so that Adam is not described as son of God in the sense that it is used of Jesus Christ.
Be that as it may, one problem in the use of the phrase “Son of God” or his son is that people often do not understand the various ways the word “son” may be used in the NT Scriptures. The word “son” is translated from a Greek word (huios) that has a range of meanings or usages in the Greek. The word may refer to “son” as a male who is in a kinship relationship to someone either biologically or by adoption. It is used for one that is related to a man who is biologically the father of the individual described as son in describing the two sons of Abraham in Galatians 4:22:
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
It is in the sense of adoption that the word is used to describe Moses as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter in Acts 7:21:
When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
Our Greek word can mean “a pupil, a follower” or “a spiritual son of someone.” Thus, the disciples or followers of the Pharisees are described as their sons in Luke 11:19:
Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
The phrase your followers is literally your sons. It is with the meaning of “a spiritual son” in the sense of endearment or a younger associate in the ministry that Apostle Peter used it to describe Mark in 1 Peter 5:13:
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.
Mark was not Peter’s biological son so that what he meant in describing him as his son is that Mark was a younger associate or a spiritual son in the sense that he might have led him to Christ.
Another use of the Greek word is to describe a person of certain class so that the Greek word has the sense of “kind of”, as it is used to describe unbelievers as a class or believers in Christ as stated in Luke 16:8:
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
The phrase people of this world is literally sons of this age and the phrase the people of the light is literally the sons of light so that Luke describes persons who belong either to this world or who belong to God. Still another usage of our word is of one whose identity is defined in terms of a relationship with a person or thing, so it is used to describe those who are bound to a personality by close but non-material ties so that the ones so described have the same characteristic that defines the personality. Thus, because Abraham was the first person whose relationship to God is defined in terms of faith then those who have relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ are described as Abraham’s sons in Galatians 3:7:
Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
The phrase children of Abraham is more literally sons of Abraham. The word may mean “descendants” as it is used to describe male descendants of Levi in Hebrews 7:5:
Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, their brothers—even though their brothers are descended from Abraham.
The phrase the descendants of Levi is literally sons of Levi. In any event, in our passage of Romans 1:3, the Greek word translated “Son” is used in the sense of “one whose identity is defined in terms of a relationship with a person.” This is important because the pronoun his in the phrase of Romans 1:3 his Son refers to God so that the word “Son” implies being identified with God.
We have noted that the word “son” especially the phrase “son of” may be understood in different ways depending on the context and noun used. Consequently, our concern is to understand the word as it is used with respect to Jesus Christ. There are three ways the phrase “son of” is used as it relates to Jesus Christ that is of concern to us. The first is in his relationship with David. Thus, we encounter severally in the NT the phrase “son of David.” This phrase is first used in genealogical record of Matthew as we read in in Matthew 1:1:
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Here the phrase the son of David means “the descendant of David.” The second time Matthew used the phrase “son of David” to describe Jesus Christ is in connection of two blind men who pleaded for healing from Jesus Christ as we read in Matthew 9:27:
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
The phrase Son of David is here used as “a Jewish Messianic title” so that the blind men because they believed Jesus is the Messiah and that the messianic period will be characterized by miracles appealed to Him for healing.
The second use of the phrase “son of” in association with Jesus Christ is in connection with the word “man” so we have the phrase “the son of man” as, for example, in Jesus’ use of the phrase to describe Himself as one without even a house as we read in Matthew 8:20:
Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
The phrase the Son of Man is literally the Son of the man. In all occurrences of the phrase in the Greek NT, only in one passage that the phrase does not have a definite article before the two nouns “son” and “man.” The only exception is in John 5:27:
And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
The phrase the Son of Man is literally son of man. This notwithstanding, the interpretation of the phrase in all the other occurrences of the phrase in the gospels applies to this passage in John since the context is that of judgment and so would be referring uniquely to Jesus and not man in general. Anyway, the phrase “the son of man” because of the Greek syntax involved may be fully unpacked to read “the son who is a man.” This helps us to understand that the phrase “the son of man” when exclusively used of Jesus Christ means that He is described as “the human One” or “the human being.” So, the emphasis is on the humanity of Jesus Christ to convey that He shares in the human fragility yet transcending it. We can see this fact in those passages where there is an implied comparison between His humanity and His divine being. Take for example, when instead of saying to a paralytic “be healed” He said that his sins have been forgiven him. To which the teachers of the law charged Him with blasphemy since no human can forgive sin. Well, Jesus wanting to show that He is a human that is in a class by Himself or that He is divine but has humbled Himself to take on a human form used our phrase to describe Himself as we read in Mark 2:9–10:
9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralytic,
If Jesus was blaspheming, the man would not have been healed but because the man was healed, Jesus described Himself as “the Son of Man” to indicate that although He is truly human but that He is in fact God. This would agree with the reasoning in the protest of the teachers of law who correctly stated that only God could forgive sin. The point is that the phrase “the Son of Man” that is used only by Jesus Christ to describe Himself is one that described Him as a unique man that is in a class by Himself. In fact, it is Jesus’ way of saying that He is the divine One that took on a human form as per the declaration of the vision of Daniel as recorded in Daniel 7:13:
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
The reality is that the phrase “the Son of Man” is intended to convey that Jesus Christ is “Human One” or “the Human Being” in a class by Himself in that He transcends human fragility.
The third use of the phrase “son of” as it relates to Jesus Christ is with the noun God, so we have the phrase “the Son of God” as we find, for example, in the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus Christ as we read in John 1:34:
I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
The phrase “Son of God” is one that was used to describe Jesus Christ several times in the NT. Jesus’ disciples on observing His miracle of calming down the storm, acknowledged Him to be the Son of God as stated in Matthew 14:33:
Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Evil spirits recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God as recorded in Mark 3:11:
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
The centurion that observed Jesus’ crucifixion confessed Him to be the Son of God as recorded in Mark 15:39:
And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Martha confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God as stated in John 11:27:
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Apostle Paul, following his conversion, in effect, immediately described Jesus as the Son of God according to Acts 9:20:
At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
The Greek phrase translated “Son of God” in some passages does not have any definite article before both nouns “Son” and “God” so that literally the Greek phrase reads “Son of God.” Regardless of whether there is a definite article before both nouns or not, the Greek syntax permits us to fully translate the phrase either as “Son who is God” or “the Son who is the God.” So, the phrase is one that tells us that Jesus Christ is God. Because we indicated that in Romans 1:3, the Greek word translated “Son” is used in the sense of “one whose identity is defined in terms of a relationship with a person” the phrase “Son of God” indeed means “One, of the nature of God,” that is, “One who is of the nature of God.” We are saying that phrase is one that is used to assert that the One who came to the planet in a human form is God in the flesh. Thus, when Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:3 his Son, that is his way of saying that Jesus Christ is fully God. Bear in mind the apostle is a Jew so he would understand the phrase “Son of God” as meaning that Jesus Christ is God as Jews of his time understood the term.
Our interpretation can be demonstrated by Jesus’ assertion in His interaction with the Jews. The Jews understood the phrase “Son of God” to mean that the One described by it is indeed God. The occasion that indicated the Jews understood the phrase “the Son of God” to mean “God” is when Jesus Christ associated Himself with God the Father as we read in John 10:29–30:
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
When the Jews heard Jesus’ declaration, they wanted to stone Him. Jesus asked them the reason they wanted to stone Him. Their explanation indicates that they considered Him to be blaspheming for claiming that He is God as described in John 10:31–33:
31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 33 “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
The Jews charged Jesus of blasphemy because, according to them, He claimed to be God. Jesus did not say that He was God directly but the Jews understood that when He addressed the Father uniquely as His Father and claimed to be one with God the Father, that both are tantamount to claiming to be God. If that was the end of the interaction between the Jews and Jesus, then we could say that there is no proof that the phrase “the Son of God” refers to God. However, Jesus clearly stated that it was because He claimed to be the Son of God that they stated He claimed to be God as we read in John 10:36:
what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?
The sentence I am God’s Son is more literally I am the Son of God. So, Jesus’ assertion that He is the Son of God is what the Jews regarded as claiming to be God. This being the case, we can be certain that to a Jewish mind of the time of Jesus Christ and when Apostle Paul wrote the phrase his Son that this means a claim to be God. Hence, we should recognize that Apostle Paul in the phrase his Son meant to say that the gospel of God is about stating that Jesus Christ as the Son of God is God.
It is important to emphasize that the phrase “Son of God” used to describe Jesus Christ should be understood to mean “One, of the nature of God,” that is, “One who is of the nature of God.” In effect, the apostle described Jesus Christ as One with the nature of the unique God that the Holy Spirit directed him to describe in his epistle to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 8:6:
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
The clause for us there is but one God should be interpreted based on the assertion of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul of the existence of many supernatural beings called “gods” as the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 8:5:
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
The supernatural being that is supreme and highest in authority is the divine being that we call God. This supreme being that we call God is unique among all the divine beings either in heaven or on earth. His uniqueness is the concern of the clause of 1 Corinthians 8:6 there is but one God. The Holy Spirit through the apostle was not concerned with quantity as the number “one” would suggest instead the concern was the uniqueness of the God we Christians worship that is revealed in the Bible. This uniqueness of the God of Christians is that of plurality of persons in a unique class of divine beings and that of unity in function of the persons that we call God. This plurality of persons is different from polytheism, the belief in existence of many gods. Christians recognize that there are other divine beings, but they are lesser than the divine being we worship, because this divine being that exists in plurality of persons is the creator. Thus, to say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is to assert that He belongs to the unique being we call God. He is one of the three members that define the unique class of supernatural being, the creator that we call God. The point is that the phrase “Son of God” or his Son of Romans 1:3 is one that acknowledges that Jesus Christ is God. Apostle John clearly indicated that the phrase “Son of God” that refers to Jesus Christ should be understood to mean that He is God because of the declaration recorded in 1 John 5:20:
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
This declaration that the phrase his Son indicates Christ is God is given in the last sentence of the verse that reads He is the true God and eternal life. Worshipping of Jesus Christ could not possibly be considered idolatry as some charge Christians of being guilty because the Holy Spirit through Apostle John declared that He is God. Interestingly, it is after the apostle stated clearly that Jesus is God that he issued the warning against idolatry in 1 John 5:21:
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
If John had thought of Jesus Christ as other than God, the instruction about idols would apply to anyone who worshipped or recognized Jesus Christ as God. As it stands, he recognized Jesus Christ as God so his prohibition against idolatry in no way applied to worshipping of Christ. This aside, that He is God is in keeping with the prophecy of Isaiah recorded in Isaiah 9:6–7:
6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
Our interpretation of the phrase of Romans 1:3 his Son should cause us to recognize that to try to avoid the phrase in order not to offend anyone is to be untrue to the gospel of God. It is impossible for anyone to be saved if that individual does not acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God in the sense that He is God. Consequently, Apostle John indicated that he wrote his gospel to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that is, God so that faith in Him will lead to salvation in that such a person receives eternal life as we read in John 20:31:
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The Holy Spirit through the same apostle communicated that God lives in spiritual sense only in a person that acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God according to 1 John 4:15:
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
Furthermore, no one could be victorious over the world if the individual does not acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God as stated in 1 John 5:5:
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
So, one gets the point that it is impossible to change the phrase “Son of God” in describing Jesus Christ and still be preaching the “gospel of God.” Again, we should recognize that the phrase of Romans 1:3 his Son is the way the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul tells us that the person in view is God and so the gospel of God is about Him. The difficulty the phrase may cause to people points to the fact that our Scripture is revealed word of God. It defies human imagination to think of the phrase “Son of God” other than natural way of thinking of human son-father relationship but as we have indicated that is not the case. Hence, we must not shy away from the phrase because we want to avoid giving offense. We should also not forget that it is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to work in people to get it. All the same, everything the Scripture reveals about Jesus Christ does not necessarily make sense from a human perspective but that does not make facts stated about Him not to be true. For example, it does not make sense to say that He was born of a virgin since it is not natural for a woman to give birth without sexual intercourse with a man or semen from a man but that does not mean that virgin birth is not true. Another thing that does not make sense is that the apostle not only described Jesus Christ as God but also a true human. It is difficult to conceive how a person could be both God and human at the same time. The truth is that we should recognize that everything about the Son of God is unique.
In any case, the apostle not only asserted the One described in the phrase his Son (that is, Jesus Christ) is God but that He is truly human as he wrote in the last clause of Romans 1:3who as to his human nature was a descendant of David or who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David. Literally, the Greek reads the (one) having come from (the) seed of David according to (the) flesh. The literal translation reveals that the translators of the NIV probably intended to emphasize the last literal phrase according to (the) flesh because they brought it forward in their translation his human nature since it is the last phrase in the Greek clause we are considering. The expression “human nature” or “earthly life” is how the translators of the NIV rendered a Greek word (sarx) with a range of meanings, but we will briefly mention some of these in this study. The word may refer to the material that covers the bones of a human or animal body hence means “flesh” as it is used for the ritual of circumcision in Galatians 6:13:
Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.
The word may mean “nature” as it is used to describe what will be involved in the spiritual law of sowing and reaping in Galatians 6:8:
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
The word may mean “physical” as it is used to describe Christ’s body in Colossians 1:22:
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
The word may mean “person, human being” as the word is used in the priestly prayer of our Lord to refer to His authority over humans in John 17:2:
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
The phrase over all people is literally over all flesh. In our passage of Romans 1:3, the word means “human nature, in a neutral sense of not being concerned with its activities” or simply “physicality.” Thus, the standard Greek English Lexicon of BDAG suggests that the Greek phrase associated with our word in Romans 1:3 could be translated either “according to the human side of his nature” or “as far as his physical descent is concerned.”
The human side of nature or physical descent of the One described as his Son in Romans 1:3 is given in the NIV of Romans 1:3 was a descendant of David. The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul wants us to recognize that this person (Jesus) became what He was not as God. We say this because the word “was”, is translated from a Greek word (ginomai) that may mean “to be” although it is different from another Greek word (eimi) that may also mean “to be” in that our Greek word emphasizes that of being what one was not before. That aside, our Greek word has several meanings. For example, it may mean “to come into existence” so may have the sense of “to perform” as it is used for the description of the miracles of the apostles in Acts 5:12:
The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
The word may mean “to become something” as Apostle Paul used it in cautioning believers not to become stumbling block to others in their use of their freedom in Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:9:
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
In our passage of Romans 1:3, the general sense of the word is “to become,” that is, “to enter a certain state that one was not before.” Hence, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul intended for us to recognize that Jesus only entered the state of humanity that was not previously the case with Him as God. He eternally existed as God or Son of God but now He has taken another nature, that is, human nature. In a sense the apostle from the start of his epistle introduced the two natures of Jesus Christ – divine and human. Of course, up to this point the apostle had not identified the person meant in the phrase his Son with a personal name but we know it is Jesus Christ as the apostle states later.
It is not only that the One described in the phrase his Son of Romans 1:3 had taken on human nature, but He did so as One from the family line of David as the phrase a descendant of David. The word “descendant” is translated from a Greek word (sperma) that may mean “seed, as the source from which something is propagated”, so can refer to seed of plants or male seed or semen. The word may refer to “the product of insemination,” that is, “offspring, descendants” as it is used to describe God’s promise to Abraham as that which would be fulfilled through Isaac’s offspring as stated in Hebrews 11:18:
even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
In our passage of Romans 1:3, the word means “seed” in the sense of “descendant.” So, the Holy Spirit conveyed through the apostle that Jesus Christ as far as His human side or nature is concerned, is from David, the second king of Israel, that is regarded as Israel’s greatest king. It is important to recognize that the mere fact that the apostle spoke of a human nature of the Son of God implies that there is another nature that defines Him. This other nature is the divine nature that we have already indicated is meant in the phrase his Son of Romans 1:3.
Anyway, when the Holy Spirit directed the apostle to write the clause of Romans 1:3 who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, there are at least two things He wanted to convey to us. First, that the One described in the phrase his Son refers to One that is truly human. His humanity is evident in that he was born of a woman as the apostle wrote in Galatians 4:4:
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law.
That Jesus Christ was truly human is evident in His display of human experiences. For example, He underwent human developmental stages as implied in Luke 2:52:
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
He knew what it meant to be hungry as He experienced after forty days of fasting as recorded in Luke 4:2:
where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
He experienced hunger not only because of His fast but as a human being who did not fast would, as indicated in Matthew 21:18–19:
18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
Jesus Christ as a human being experienced fatigue after a long journey as recorded as part of the narrative of His encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4:6:
Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Humans face temptations, so did Jesus Christ, as recorded in the gospel records and echoed by the human author of Hebrews in Hebrews 2:18:
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
The Holy Spirit wanted to underscore that Jesus Christ is truly human since only a human could die. Of course, it was necessary that Jesus be truly a human in order to be the mediator between God and humanity as Apostle Paul stated in 1 Timothy 2:5–6:
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit knew that after Jesus Christ had finished His work of redemption and returned to heaven that there would be those who will deny that He was truly human. It is no wonder that the Holy Spirit directed Apostle John to write in such a way to indicate that Jesus had a body that can be touched as he wrote in 1 John 1:1:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
The same apostle was used by the Holy Spirit to indicate that those inspired by false spirits would deny the humanity of Jesus, so he wrote in 1 John 4:2:
This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
Anyhow, Apostle Paul conveyed that Jesus Christ is truly human when he wrote in Romans 1:3 a descendant of David.
Second, the Holy Spirit directed Apostle Paul to write the phrase of Romans 1:3 a descendant of David to convey that Jesus Christ is One that fulfilled the prophetic promise given to David of having a Son who would rule forever. Recall that the apostle had written in Romans 1:2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Consequently, when he used the phrase of Romans 1:3 a descendant of David, he wants to remind the original recipients of the epistle as well as all of us that Jesus Christ was prophesied as coming as a descendant of David. God had promised David an everlasting dynasty through his descendant as we read in 2 Samuel 7:11–16:
11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Prophet Jeremiah referenced the same promise in Jeremiah 23:5:
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
When Angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus to Mary, he indicated that He would be a descendant of David as stated in Luke 1:32–33:
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Therefore, the use of the phrase of Romans 1:3 a descendant of David is intended to convey that the Son of God who took on the human nature is the One that fulfilled the promised Son of David that will rule forever. There is more to consider regarding what is said about the Son of God, but we are out of time but let me end by reminding you of the message we are considering which is You should endeavor to remember that the focus of the gospel of God is Jesus Christ.
04/26/24