Declared the Son of God

 

 

Romans 1:4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

I have been thinking quite a bit about my own powerlessness this past week.  I told you the last time I posted that I've been ill this past week, and I have taken some time off of work.  I have spent days at this point watching TV, thinking my thoughts, praying and thinking about God's plan in my life and the life of my family.  I managed to make it to church on Sunday and we had a really good worship session, along with excellent preaching from pastor Jason.  The message that he brought was how we were built for praise...how we were built to praise God.  We were declared from the beginning of eternity to be instruments of praise, with our voice, with our worship, with our bodies, with our obedience and our service.  Declared by whom?  By the holy spirit of God, that's who!  The same God that spoke the very light into existence and separated the heavens from the earth declared us as instruments of praise, through prayer, obedience and supplication.  That declaratory power of creation exists only in the spirit of God and has no equal!  

Paul understood that declaratory power of the Creator quite well, and in his greeting to the believers of Rome he has already established God's mastery over him (v. 1), the execution of God's preplanned will (v. 2) and the humanity of Jesus as being God in the flesh (v. 3).  In today's verse, Paul explains to the reader that not only was Jesus a flesh and blood human, but also that He is the very Son of God by the same declaratory power that spoke Creation into existence.  The evidence of this declaration is the power in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.  The empty tomb speaks of the power of God as nothing else does.  Through Jesus's death, burial and resurrection we are shown that He is indeed the manifest Son of God.  If we look at the other resurrections spoken of in the bible, they occur because men of God are there and the power of God flows through their faith in true resurrection power to revive the dead back to life; however, Jesus was laid alone in His borrowed tomb and was brought back from the grave through His own faith and trust in God the Father.  None spoke resurrection power over the grave of Jesus, no man called him from the tomb.  They didn't have to because God was there in the body of Christ.  The holy spirit showed Christ's Sonship through His resurrection and Paul points to this very clearly in this verse.

We see the importance Paul placed on understanding that not only do we serve a mighty teacher, a man of loving kindness worth following through our own choice and faith, but a risen Lord that is the very Son of God.  I read another study of this verse in preparation for writing this, and the author stated that Paul had already gotten 'sidetracked' in his greeting to the Roman church by declaring the gospel of Christ, however I don't necessarily agree that this is at all a sidetrack.  I believe that Paul's very purpose was to begin the greeting by reminding the readers that we all serve a living God, whose prophet and messiah is still living.  Paul understood that in the greeting of these brothers and sisters in Christ that it was of paramount importance to remind us who we serve, where our faith is placed, why we believe in the love of a God that would not only see his own Son made flesh nailed to a cross to atone for all sin, but the love of a Father that would then wipe the shame and disgrace of the death on a cross away in resurrection power...the love of a Father who would move heaven and earth to ensure that a dead prophet in a borrowed tomb was not the end of the story, but the beginning.

Through this, we come to understand that Christ's sonship was a definative part of His character.  Imbued by the Holy Spirit of God with power through faith and belief we serve a risen savior, a savior that has been with God since the beginning of eternity, a triumvirate God that would deign to humble himself in the body of a man crucified for no sin of His own, but to cover our own sins in the very blood of his body - a perfect sacrifice - and go through the pain and humiliation of an execution on our behalf; we serve a God that went through all that, then rose from the grave on the power of his own faith and spirit.  Paul knew that it was vital that we remember who we serve, who loves us, who is watching over us, so that we may rejoice in the fellowship of believers.  As Christ said - the stone that was rejected is the very cornerstone of our faith, and it was vital that Paul show that he understood this in greeting fellow believers.  

My Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, I thank you first for my salvation, the blood shed on the cross of Calvary to atone for my sins.  I praise your holy and powerful spirit, your name is above all names!  I humble myself before you and praise your sanctifying spirit, for I am as nothing.  Without your word, without your presence, I would not be here Lord, and I thank you for your Love.  I pray that this study would touch the hearts of all who read it, that it would plant a seed that you would bring the rains and sun upon for a mighty harvest, Oh Lord!  I pray your holy power on my life, and on the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I thank you Lord for your never-ending love and pray that you would continue to reveal your will in my life so that I may serve you.  

I pray now for each person that reads this, that you would touch their life with healing, love, grace, and mercy.  I pray for understanding of your will, and an increase of faith that shows the power of your love in their life.  Father, may I decrease so that you may increase.  I pray that today I die to self, so that your spirit may inhabit me and fulfill the purpose in my life that you have laid out before me.  It is in the blessed and wonderful name of Jesus that I pray all these things.

Amen