Appointed Son of God in Power
… the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life 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. Romans 1:2-4
This is not a contrast between the two ‘natures’ of Christ. A quick reading might give the impression Paul is saying: Christ is both fully human, a descendant of David, and fully divine, shown by His resurrection to be the Son of God. That is true but not Paul’s point here. The word translated ‘declared’ usually means ‘appointed.’ This does not mean Jesus became the Son of God through the resurrection. He always was God’s Son. What did happen was that He was ‘appointed Son of God with power’ (what Paul literally said) or even ‘declared to be the powerful Son of God.’
In His earthly life Jesus was always the Messiah, a descendant of David. But Jesus’ resurrection, concluding and validating the messianic work of redemption, gave Him new power to dispense salvation to all those who would believe in Him. The resurrection was the turning point. Before that He was the Son of God in weakness and lowliness (the NIV’s ‘earthly life’ translates sarx, the usual term for ‘flesh.’ but carries the thought of human nature or physical descent with the implied thought of weakness or vulnerability). Through the resurrection He was ‘appointed’ the Son of God in power.
This ‘appointing’ happened ‘through the Spirit of holiness’ (the regular Hebrew way of saying ‘the Holy Spirit.’) There is an obvious link between the Holy Spirit and the resurrection, both because the Holy Spirit is ‘the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead’ (Romans 8:11) and because it was the risen and exalted Christ who demonstrated His power and authority by pouring out the Spirit (Acts 2:33), and so beginning the new era, the age of the Spirit.
The Western church has sometimes seemed reluctant to embrace the realm of the Spirit. Sometimes past extremes have brought present caution. But neither misused nor abuse ever justifies disuse. The book of Romans, particularly in chapter 8, opens up our inheritance in and through the Holy Spirit. Christ died and was raised and exalted so you and I could live in the Spirit. Don’t allow fear to disinherit you.