Declared with Power to Be the Son of God

From Because He Lives on Youversion

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

‭Romans 1:1-17 ESV‬

In the introduction to his letter to the Romans, Paul laid out his mission and the authority by which he accomplished it. We often skim through his words until we get to the “I am not ashamed of the gospel” part at the end, but to understand why he was not ashamed of the gospel opens up the entire letter to us.

Yes, Paul tells us in Verses 16 and 17 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation and that there is a particular kind of righteousness contained within it. These reasons are important, but by themselves they don’t explain the authority he and we have to claim them.

Look at Verses 3 and 4 – “… regarding his Son, who as to his [flesh] was a descendant of David, 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.”

There were plenty of reasons to believe that Jesus the man was a descendant of David. Paul never had a reason to doubt Jesus belonged to the tribe of Judah.

However, even with that understanding, Paul was the original skeptic regarding the idea of the risen Jesus.

But when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul could not deny what happened to him, and everything changed. He became history’s strongest proclaimer of Jesus’ resurrection.

Look at that second statement again – “who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.”

When this truth hit home, Paul had his meaning and purpose, his reason for being. This gives you and me meaning and purpose as well.

Why is the gospel “the power of God for salvation”? Why is “a righteousness from God revealed” in it? There is only one possible answer to these questions. Jesus is alive!

Jesus was raised completely victorious over sin and death. Jesus is the gospel.