3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: (Romans 1:3-4 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
The apostle having told us in the foregoing verses, that he was particularly called to, and by God set apart for, the preaching of the gospel, in the verses before us he declares that Jesus Christ was the main subject of that gospel which he preached, and describes him by his two-fold nature, by his human nature, verse 3, by his divine nature, verse 4.
According to his human nature, he was made of the seed of David; that is, descended from David, and one of his posterity by the mother’s side, who was of that house and line, according to the flesh; that is, the weakness, frailty, and mortality, of his human nature.
Where observe, 1. That our Lord Jesus Christ had a being, even an eternal existence before his incarnation or manifestation in our flesh and nature. He was the Son of God before he was the Son of man; hence he is said to be made of the seed of David, intimating that he was then made what he was not before.
With regard to his divine nature, he was begotten, not made; but with regard to his human nature, he was made, not begotten.
Observe, 2. That Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, did in the fulness of time assume the true and perfect nature of man into a personal union with his God-head; the human nature was united to the divine nature of miraculously and extraordinarily, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost, Lu 1:34-35 and also integrally and completely; that is to say, Christ took a complete and perfect human soul and body, with all the faculties of the one, and all the members of the other, that thereby he might heal the whole nature of that leprosy of sin, which had seized upon and diffused its malignity into every member and every faculty.
Next, we have a demonstration of Christ’s divine nature, verse 4. Declared to be the Son of God with power, &c. As if our apostle had said, that our Lord Jesus Christ, though according to the faculty and weakness of his human nature, he was the seed of David, yet in respect of that divine power of the Holy Ghost which manifested itself in him, especially in his resurrection from the dead, he was declared to be the Son of God with power; that is, mightily and powerfully he was demonstrated to be the Son of God.
Learn hence, 1. That the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, by the Holy Ghost, is a powerful and convincing demonstration that he was the Son of God. Christ as man is nowhere said in scripture to be the Son of God but with relation to the divine power of the Holy Ghost, by whom he had life communicated to him from the Father, both at his conception and at his resurrection.
At his conception he was the Son of God, by being conceived by the Holy Ghost; but this was secret and invisible, known only to the mother of our Lord. Therefore at his resurrection, by the Spirit of holiness, that is, by the immediate power of the Holy Ghost, God thought fit to give a visible and public demonstration to the whole world that Jesus was his own Son, the promised and true Messias, and consequently did thereby give testimony to the truth and divinity of our Saviour’s doctrine and miracles.
God did now publicly own his Son, in the face of the whole world, and freed him from all suspicion of being an imposter or deceiver; for it is not supposable that God should put forth an almighty power to raise him from the grave if he had by robbery assumed that glorious title of the Son of God, therefore saith the Father of him in the morning of the resurrection; Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: that is, in the words of our apostle here, declared and made thee conspicuously appear to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Yet observe, 2. That though Christ was raised from the dead by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, yet did he certainly raise himself by his own power as God, according to his own prediction, Joh 2:19, Destroy this temple of my body, and in three days I will raise it up; and according to St. Peter’s assertion, 1Pe 3:18. Being put to death in the flesh, that is, in his human nature, but quickened by the Spirit; that is, by the power of his Godhead, or divine nature, quickening himself; for had he been only raised by the power of God, and not by his own power, how could his resurrection have been a declaration that he was the Son of God? What had more appeared in Christ’s resurrection than in other men’s? for they were raised by the power of God as well as he. But here lies the difference; Christ rose by a self-quickening principle, and others are raised by a quickening principle derived from Christ, concerning which he is called resurrection and the life, Joh 11:25 that is, the principle of quickening life by which the dead saints are raised.
Observe, 3. That the apostle does not say, Christ was made or constituted the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, but declared so to be: Multa tunc fieri dicuntur quando facta esse manifestantur , according to the phrase of scripture; “Things are then said to be when they conspicuously appear.” Nothing can be more evident than that Christ was the Son of God before his resurrection; yea, before his incarnation, being the Father of eternity, Isa 9:6.
But the glory of his divinity was much clouded, darkened, and eclipsed by the frailty of his humanity, by the miseries of his life, and the ignominy of his death. But by his resurrection God rolled away his reproach and freed him from all the aspersions and accusations of his enemies who charged him with blasphemy for affirming that he was the Son of God: and thus our Jesus, in whom we trust, was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.