Romans – A Treatise
Chapter One
MARKED OUT SON OF GOD
Scripture Reading: verses 1-4 (Darby translation)
PAUL, BONDMAN OF JESUS CHRIST, [A] CALLED APOSTLE, SEPARATED TO GOD’S GLAD TIDINGS, (WHICH HE HAD BEFORE PROMISED BY HIS PROPHETS IN HOLY WRITINGS,) CONCERNING HIS SON (COME OF DAVID’S SEED ACCORDING TO FLESH, MARKED OUT SON OF GOD IN POWER, ACCORDING TO [THE] SPIRIT OF HOLINESS, BY RESURRECTION OF [THE] DEAD) JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
This is the threshold on which we step before advancing into the vast realm of truth set before us in this letter. Paul is both a “bondman” and a “called apostle,” reminding us that as a servant he is delivering a message from God Himself, yet with all the authority of apostleship. As such he is separated to God's glad tidings concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
We have been noticing that the Lord Jesus is the Central Object of the entire plan of Divine purpose of this Epistle. Its truth ranges all the way from the settlement of the sin question to the ultimate thought in Divine purpose, i.e., “Christ and the Church,” with which the last chapter closes. However, all of these truths have as their central theme the glory of the Lord Jesus Himself. It is not simply the glory of Him as the Creator, as if He stood off in the aloofness of Godhead greatness. It is more than that; it is that every truth of the Gospel revolves around Him as the One who became Man, and who, in weakness, went to the Cross of Calvary as the sin bearer, and there settled every moral issue; solved every spiritual problem. There, as risen from the dead, He Himself became the Head of a new race, in whom life and incorruptibility are brought to light and announced in these glad tidings. All of this is entailed in these opening verses.
In relation to these glad tidings, the second verse says, “Which He had before promised by His prophets in holy writings.” Keep in mind that this letter was written to Gentiles. Therefore, it is striking that Paul brings in the thought of holy writings, or, as the authorized version says, “the holy Scriptures.” Perhaps it helps to realize that God’s Book is not a religious document that has to be handed down traditionally from one generation to another by any particular company or people. God’s Book, the Bible, is universal in its appeal. It announces truths that apply generally to all mankind and no race or nation can lay particular claim to its universal truths. It is a reminder of the universality of the Lord Jesus Himself. “The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.” He is God over all, blessed forever. He is the Mediator, for “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus.” These are the thoughts of universality that are presented in the Gospel and surely this must have its appeal to everyone.
In plain language it means that if we are unsaved it is not because God has not offered to save our soul. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary was for all. It might have been for one particular nation on earth, because many of the Hebrew Bible blessings were only for Israel. The characteristic of the glad tidings of God, the Gospel of God’s grace, is that it presents God’s way of salvation, presenting the ultimate of blessings to all men, even as Paul says in his Epistle to Titus: “the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That is the universality of the Gospel of God’s grace, and it brings us back to this point: if we are unsaved, we will never be able to lay the charge of being lost eternally to anyone but ourselves. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him” (Heb. 2:3). This great salvation that has come through and in the Lord Jesus Christ proposes the redemption of every person who will accept it by true faith. If we are not a Christian, that is if we have never been born of God, if we have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, then the guilt of our rejection or our neglecting of Him will lie at our own door. That is the universality of the Gospel. Then, in verses 3 and 4, Paul says, “Concerning His Son come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead.” There are four marks of distinction that point unmistakably to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God: (1) He came of David’s seed according to flesh; (2) He was marked out as Son of God in power. The miracle power of Godhead glory followed the Lord Jesus all through His life; it was made manifest at every step of His pathway, and even at the Cross; and finally (3) He rose from the dead. Then there is the thought that (4) He was marked out according to the Spirit of holiness. In other words, He was separate from sinners. The Lord Jesus was unique as a man in this world, but His uniqueness was not brilliance of intellect, it was not tyrannical dominance of those around Him like a dictator. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus did everything to detract attention from Himself. Had He set Himself forth in overbearance, taking advantage of every miracle He wrought to secure for Himself a place of prominence or popularity, then He would have followed along natural, human lines. However, this verse in the first of Romans points us to the fact that He was marked out “according to the Spirit of holiness.”
That is, it was His holy life that marked Him as the Son of God. He did everything just the opposite to what self-seeking man would do. The great distinction between Him and every other man was that He was sinless. This was proven at the outset of His history, when He was taken into the wilderness and tested by Satan’s temptation according to the lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life; and no response was found in His heart. It is not simply that He behaved differently from other men, but He was radically different. Basically, we are sinners and our natural impulse is toward sin. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus had no impulse toward sin. Every impulse of His being was toward holiness. His meat and drink was to do the will of His Father who sent Him. He could say: “I do always those things that please the Father.” He said: “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me.” He said: “Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do thy will O God, yea thy law is within my heart.” As the Son of God, He was marked at every step of His journey “according to the spirit of holiness.” And, finally, that which marked Him conclusively as God’s Son was that He broke asunder the bars of death and rose triumphant from the grave. There He proved Himself “the living One.” Thus He was marked in a fourfold way as the Son of God with power.
