Rom 1:3-4, 1Cor 15:45 | JFB | STEP | 3, 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord —the grand burden of this "Gospel of God." made of the seed of David —as, according to "the holy scriptures," He behooved to be. (See on ). according to the flesh —that is, in His human nature (compare ); implying, of course, that He had another nature, of which the apostle immediately proceeds to speak.

Romans 1:3-4

3, 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord—the grand burden of this "Gospel of God."

made of the seed of David—as, according to "the holy scriptures," He behooved to be. (See on Mt 1:1).

according to the flesh—that is, in His human nature (compare Ro 9:5; Joh 1:14); implying, of course, that He had another nature, of which the apostle immediately proceeds to speak.

4. And declared—literally, "marked off," "defined," "determined," that is, "shown," or "proved."

to be the Son of God—Observe how studiously the language changes here. He "was MADE [says the apostle] of the seed of David, according to the flesh" (Ro 1:3); but He was not made, He was only "declared [or proved] to BE the Son of God." So Joh 1:1, 14, "In the beginning WAS the Word . . . and the Word was MADE flesh"; and Isa 9:6, "Unto us a Child is BORN, unto us a Son is GIVEN." Thus the Sonship of Christ is in no proper sense a born relationship to the Father, as some, otherwise sound divines, conceive of it. By His birth in the flesh, that Sonship, which was essential and uncreated, merely effloresced into palpable manifestation. (See on Lu 1:35; Ac 13:32, 33).

with power—This may either be connected with "declared," and then the meaning will be "powerfully declared" [LUTHER, BEZA, BENGEL, FRITZSCHE, ALFORD, &c.]; or (as in our version, and as we think rightly) with "the Son of God," and then the sense is, "declared to be the Son of God" in possession of that "power" which belonged to Him as the only-begotten of the Father, no longer shrouded as in the days of His flesh, but "by His resurrection from the dead" gloriously displayed and henceforth to be for ever exerted in this nature of ours [Vulgate, CALVIN, HODGE, PHILIPPI, MEHRING, &c.].

according to the spirit of holiness—If "according to the flesh" means here, "in His human nature," this uncommon expression must mean "in His other nature," which we have seen to be that "of the Son of God"—an eternal, uncreated nature. This is here styled the "spirit," as an impalpable and immaterial nature (Joh 4:24), and "the spirit of holiness," probably in absolute contrast with that "likeness, of sinful flesh" which He assumed. One is apt to wonder that if this be the meaning, it was not expressed more simply. But if the apostle had said "He was declared to be the Son of God according to the Holy Spirit," the reader would have thought he meant "the Holy Ghost"; and it seems to have been just to avoid this misapprehension that he used the rare expression, "the spirit of holiness."

1 Corinthians 15:45

45. so—in accordance with the distinction just mentioned between the natural or animal-souled body and the spiritual body.

it is written— (Ge 2:7); "Man became (was made to become) a living soul," that is, endowed with an animal soul, the living principle of his body.

the last Adam—the LAST Head of humanity, who is to be fully manifested in the last day, which is His day (Joh 6:39). He is so called in Job 19:25; see on Job 19:25 (compare Ro 5:14). In contrast to "the last," Paul calls "man" (Ge 2:7) "the FIRST Adam."

quickening—not only living, but making alive (Joh 5:21; 6:33, 39, 40, 54, 57, 62, 63; Ro 8:11). As the natural or animal-souled body (1Co 15:44) is the fruit of our union with the first Adam, an animal-souled man, so the spiritual body is the fruit of our union with the second Adam, who is the quickening Spirit (2Co 3:17). As He became representative of the whole of humanity in His union of the two natures, He exhausted in His own person the sentence of death passed on all men, and giveth spiritual and everlasting life to whom He will.