At the beginning of Romans Paul describes the Gospel as 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” (Romans 1:3-4). Although part of Paul’s address of the book to Christians in Rome, this is a rich theological description of Jesus which is based on Paul’s reading of the Hebrew Bible.
The phrase “Son of God” is a messianic title used in Psalm 2. Other Second Temple period texts use a similar title for the coming messiah. In Psalm 2, the king of Israel is called the Lord’s anointed one (2:2) and “God’s son” (2:7) as he is enthroned in Zion. This anointed son of God will receive the nations as his inheritance (2:8) and all the kings of the earth (the nations) are to serve the Lord in fear (2:11). 2 Samuel 7:14 may be the source for Psalm 2, since David is promise that his son would rule after him forever.
Paul’s is not far from the language used by the Qumran community to describe a coming king who will rule on behalf of God:
4Q246 He will be called son of God, and they will call him son of the Most High. Like the sparks that you saw, so will their kingdom be; they will rule several year[s] over the earth and crush everything; a people will crush another people, and a province another provi[n]ce. Until the people of God arises and makes everyone rest from the sword. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all his paths in truth. He will jud[ge] the earth in truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease from the earth, and all the provinces will pay him homage. The great God is his strength, he will wage war for him; he will place the peoples in his hand and cast them all away before him. Martınez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Translations) (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 493-95.
The writer of this document describes a coming king as a “son of God” and a “son of the Most High” (ובר עליון) who will crush the enemies of God’s kingdom and establish an eternal kingdom. The scroll alludes to Psalm 2:9 (“crushing enemies”) and Isaiah 1 (the sword being removed, nations paying homage, but also Ps 2:11). The scroll also resonates with Luke 1:35, Gabriel’s words to Mary announcing she will be overshadowed by “the Most High” so that the child she bears will be called “holy, the son of God.” Not everyone agrees the scroll refers to a messianic figure (see Collins for a survey of the options). The title “son of God” has clear messianic overtones in the New Testament, and as Collins shows, sometimes the phrase was messianic at Qumran (184).
Paul begins Romans by announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God. To a Jewish ear, this is a clear statement that Paul believes Jesus is the Messiah and in some ways fulfills the messianic expectations of the Hebrew Bible. But he does not burst into history and destroy Israel’s enemies, crushing them with a rod of iron and ruling over a kingdom of peace. The Gospel is “God’s intervention in Christ” (Moo, Romans, 43), but the action of God in Christ destroys the power of the real enemy, the power of sin and death.
How does this apocalyptic reading of the first line of Romans playout over the rest of the book? How is Jesus “God’s intervention”?
See also:
García Martínez F. “The Eschatological Figure of 4Q246,” in Qumran and Apocalyptic. Studies on the Aramaic Texts from Qumran (STDJ 9; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992) 162–179.
Collins, John J. “The Messiah as the Son of God,” in The Scepter and the Star (Second Edition; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2010) 171–190.
Cross, Frank Moore. “Notes on the Doctrine of the Two Messiahs at Qumran and the Extracanonical Daniel Apocalypse (4Q246),” in D.W. Parry, S.D. Ricks (eds.), Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 20; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996): 1–13.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Maybe a better question is why, not how?
I think Paul definitely believes Jesus is the Messiah and “Son of God”. Romans 1:4, as you said, is very telling, “and through who the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead…” The Jews believed a Messiah would come and destroy their enemies, but that is not exactly how it played out. However, though Jesus did not “conquer” their enemies, he conquered death, so ultimately we can overcome the evils of this world in the end. Looking back at Romans 1:3-4, according to The Bible Knowledge Commentary, “This asserts Christ’s deity as basic to His person and prior to His Incarnation, since His identification with David’s line “came to be”…He was genuinely human too, as His tie with David and His resurrection from the dead show” (Walvoord and Zuck). Jesus is God’s intervention because he made a way for us to come to him freely, breaking the power of sin and granting us salvation through his death. We therefore have victory and authority with the power of his Holy Spirit. Jesus’ resurrection proved that he was the Son of God.
Works Cited:
Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. “The Bible Knowledge Commentary.” The People of the Book. The People of the Book, Inc., 2005. Web.
One reason I believe Jesus is presented in the beginning of Romans as the focal point of the Gospel, because Jew and gentiles are no longer until the Law or the ways of the Torah any more. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for the atoning of all of our sins (Romans 3:25, NIV). This means Jew no longer had to practice the things of the Law to come into a righteous standing with God. The practices of the Law were still a great example of the right way to live, but the Jews needed to realize too that it was not the way to eternal life (Romans 2:12-16, NIV). Also, Paul concludes the book of Romans by reminding his reader he has made known to them the Gospel which is fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Romans 16:25-27, NIV). Jesus is stated in the first lines of Romans, because He is the one who made it possible to come into a relationship with God without any barriers, for example our sins. Jesus was able to break the barriers between man and God that we may approach God with confidence (Hebrew 4:15-16, NIV).
I completely agree with your post. One reason Jesus is presented immediately at the beginning of the letter as the Son of God is because the Jews needed to remember that it is precisely because of Jesus that they are no longer under the law. Romans 6:14 says that we are not under the law but instead under grace. God’s grace is for all people, and the law conversely is dependent on human’s own ability (Romans 8:2-4). However this does not diminish the law completely. Titus 2:11-12 states that the new covenant should make the Jews obey the law, not ignore the law, and as Romans 3:31 says, our faith “upholds the law”.
Since Paul has not visited the Roman church, it would make sense that he would begin the earlier part of his letter in agreement with the church there, or at least make clear of where he stands. Another reason could be, Paul wanted to prove to the Jews he was legitimate and genuinely cared, thus, showing that he has read the Hebrew Bible. In the letter to Corinth Paul states “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews…” (1Cor 9:20) by making this claim Paul shows the Jews he has done his homework. This statement at the beginning in a way gives Paul credibility to the rest of what he has to say. Jesus is God’s intervention because all people have sinned and are condemned (Roman 3:23). Humans had a need to fix this sin problem. Because God is just, humans have to pay for there sins. But at the same time God being full of love and mercy made a way to save his condemned creation. However, someone had to pay the price for the sin of the world. That is where Jesus comes in. God sent his son (God’s intervention) fully man, fully God, to die on a cross and pay for the sins of the world past, present and future.
I believe that Paul presents Jesus at the start of Romans as the focal point of the book to start the book off right so the Romans truly know what He believers and where he is at in his own personal life and to potentially establish credibility within the Roman church with the knowledge that Paul has. I also believe he presents Jesus because then he can validate how Jews and Gentiles are no longer under the old testament laws. As far as God using Jesus as His “intervention” I would say this goes all the way back to Genesis 3 with the fall of Adam and Eve. From that moment God had to articulate a new plan, although he definitely already had it. God knew that the people of the world would need a divine plan for the future and using Jesus to take all sins was God’s way of intervening to make us able to come back to Him and rejoin His family with the hopes of ending up in the New Jerusalem with Him permanently. I also think that sending Jesus down to Earth to intervene was part of God’s divine plan to bring us back to His family and re-adopt us while allowing forgiveness and showing us mercy.
Paul lists his credentials first (v.1) and explaining that the authority behind the letter was given to Him by Jesus Christ, whom he also quickly introduces as the messiah they all waited for (v.2). He talks about the promises and the Holy Scriptures maybe for the purpose as Brenna states to “establish credibility within the Roman Church with the knowledge that Paul has.” Paul studied the Law and was devoted to its obedience for years before his conversion and then still kept up with certain customs to reach certain people. When he makes this statement that Jesus who has come and been resurrected already was the “Son of God” he is saying “Hey, you missed it.”
What is interesting to me is that the Jews have been an oppressed people group for as long as they have been God’s chosen people. They consistently sin and need God to save them. In the scriptures you can see with Moses and the Law (God’s salvation through the exodus) that God uses Moses who was once a prince of Egypt. A king if you will. Then to Joshua and Judges, (Joshua, who was a warrior and leader) through out the book of Joshua, Israel is being attacked by different nations and needs a savior. And finally with the Prophets and Samuel you see Israel ask for a king. I think truly that the sin that Paul is addressing at the end of Romans 1, idolatry was such a problem for the nation of Israel. They were not happy with a God who they could not see so they built idols. They asked for a king so that they would have a ruler and every king dealt with Idols before God. But at the heart of my argument is that Israel had for herself an idea that a king would come and in the end crush her enemies. It was promised.
When God sent Christ as the intervention they did not get it. They had expectations that God would send one who was mightier than King David and Jesus came and did not meet their idea of the promises. The gospel is that we can be saved through faith in Jesus. God sending his son as a sacrifice for sins is Paul’s meat of his message. He tries to explain later in (Rom,ch. 1) that Jews are no longer protected under the covenant because God has sent Jesus as the power to destroy death. Getting the Jews and Gentiles to agree to this “good news” was amazing as they both approach Paul’s teaching with history and questions in disbelief and probably unbelief at Paul’s opening lines.
I believe that Paul’s strategy for the rest of the book of Romans was to explain what Jesus taught and Paul goes into detail about Christ being the intervention. That in the end there is death and only Christ has the power to overcome death. If it is simple enough today that people can read the book of Romans and come to belief in Christ as savior then I wonder if once Paul was present in the Roman church, if he was able to answer questions and then were people able to see Christ clearly as the awaited messiah?
This first statement makes a lot of sense, it lets the Jews in the community know that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah they were expecting from the Law and the prophets. At the same time, it gives the Gentiles a small bit of background as to who Jesus is. Paul is now set up to explain how Jesus has come with power and what His sacrifice means. While not it was not political, Christ’s sacrifice has allowed believers to be a part of a heavenly kingdom. Christ is our intervention, because without His sacrificial life, death, and resurrection, we would all be damned. Pre-Christ, sacrifices only covered people’s sin, but did not forgive it. Now, we are directly reliant on Christ’s sacrifice to save us. He is the turning point.
I find it extremely interesting that all the concepts presented here regarding the term “son of God” are abstract in nature. Of course Jesus was the Messiah and so fulfilled the Jewish idea of a messianic “son of God,” but he also was the very literal, biological, if you will, “son of God.” I don’t think I have ever thought of the term “son of God” referring to his status as one who conquered death, as you say, “in power,” but it is intriguing. It seems that even the more biological component, “son of David” is more to do with the promised eternal ruler more than a matter of bloodline.
When it comes to leaving Rome be and taking on sin and death instead, I love how people expected fleeting physical freedom from an oppressive government and were gifted instead with eternal freedom from their ultimate enemy. It’s like how you have expected for months that grandma will give you socks for Christmas, because you know grandmas want to keep your feet warm. But when Christmas comes you are distraught to find no socks under the tree until you discover an ultra-soft Snuggie in your favorite color. Now all your warmth needs are covered beyond what you could have imagined.
Only the Jews wanted something much more violent than socks and got something much better than a Snuggie.
This is a very interesting perspective on the son of God. With our Christian perspective, we immediately jump to the fact that it is referring to Jesus Christ. I fully believe this. But from Jewish perspective, if they think He didn’t technically fulfill all the prophecies, it brings up an interesting argument. Because the 16 chapters Romans lays out the “gospel of God,” it only makes sense that in the beginning He would point to the reasoning behind all of salvation (Longenecker 165). The first line of Romans sets up the rest of the book to further explain the issue of sin and death yet see the redemption through the life of Jesus Christ. Longenecker discusses the power of sin and death quite a bit, but when you truly understand the depths of these statements and see how clearly God broke the power of sin and death with Jesus Christ, it proves the point that the power broken is the destruction of the enemy’s power, and in the end, the enemy. It depends on how they define enemy and what they consider destruction, too.
Jesus is God’s intervention because through the Old Testament with all the sacrifices and deeds to be done to become right with God, God then sends His Son to destroy that way of thinking once and for all. There is no more striving in daily sacrifices because of our sins- instead God intervened by sending His son. There was no other way we could possibly become right with God. Romans is the reveal of the righteousness of God and not only who we were, but who we have become because of His intervention. Romans 8 is a great way to see how the Spirit makes us righteous after salvation, and how day-to-day lives look because of the Spirit’s help (Longenecker 185).
The “Coming Son of God” spoken of in both the Bible, and the text of the Qumran community is referring to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Christ is “God’s intervention” in that we, as the human race, mankind, and so on, would have been helplessly lost and condemned to judgment for our wickedness and sins without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Many individuals today, Christian or not, claim that “not everyone is bad”, or that “I am a good person, so I do not need God”. This type of sinful and illogical thinking is false and without basis, as we know from Romans 3:10: “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one”. There are no “good people” in the world, only sinners who are destined for eternal damnation for rejecting the Son of Man, or sinners were are continuously being sanctified and are saved through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. The natural inclination of the heart of mankind is one of evil and wickedness. Apart from the sacrifice of the Lamb, there would be no hope for any of us. At one point in history, God chose to wipe out man from the race of the earth, apart from Noah and his family, because sin and evil had reached such a degree that no heart” had anything but evil in it, and only evil “all the time”. Genesis 6:5-6: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled”…
I believe Jesus is mentioned at the beginning of Romans as a focal point for the Gospel. It enforces the idea that Jesus is the Messiah and that there is no other name but His (to the Jews). It also acts as an introduction to who Jesus is for those who do not know of him (to the Gentiles). It could also have been to reinforce the idea of God’s grace over the law because Jesus Christ is the reason that the law was lifted and so they do not need to be abiding by the law anymore. I’m sure Paul did not want there to be any misconception of the Gospel, especially since a lot of people thought Paul not to be very credible. This could have been his way of also reinforcing his credibility and knowledge on the subject of the Gospel so the Romans would be more attentive and more susceptible to listen.
When it comes to the idea of Jesus being “God’s intervention,” I’m not quite sure what this word is meaning in that context. Does it mean something like Jesus is interceding for us or is it more along the lines of divine intervention; Jesus and His acts being a miracle from God (Jesus being born of a virgin, dying, and being raised from the dead). Jesus being described in this way, if you are meaning divine intervention, is kind of a great way to share the Gospel and what Jesus has done. I would say that it is a good description of who Jesus was to God and why He sent Him.
Divine Intervention – A miracle or act of God that causes something good to happen or stops something bad from happening (yourdictionary.com).
Jesus was sent by God to wipe away the sins of the world!
“Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!…There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death…by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Romans 7:24-25; 8:1-3, 10).
I would say that Paul explains Jesus being ‘God’s intervention’ by explaining our own sin. Paul goes through our sinful nature as humanity and the need for a savior for a price we could not pay. The price of death (3:23). He goes through the deeper aspect of Jesus’ time on earth how we needed Jesus to save us from our sins. The only way to be saved is through Christ by faith (5:1-2). In chapter 7 is where Paul talks about the freedom from the Law and how instead we are bound to Christ. Jesus is our gift of life, instead of being set apart by following the Law, we are set apart through Christ. Jesus is the way to Salvation, He is ‘God’s intervention’ of humanity’s sin (10:9-11;13). Jesus was God showing HIs ultimate love for mankind, his creation. God showed His love with Jesus dying on the cross, now Paul tells us in chapter 12 (vs. 9-13) how to put that love into action ourselves. Romans is Paul writing out the entire gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. He wanted to make sure the Romans knew his gospel and knew the freedom that is with Christ. The freedom and love that was shown through Jesus dying on the cross and rising again, and only by faith can we be saved from death.
One of the essential roles Jesus has in association with being God’s intervention in the book of Romans is to restore the people’s faith. Faith has been weakened among the Romans because they have been captivated by the ways of the world. Both Jews and gentiles have been living in their own perspectives of righteousness in the eyes of the Lord. For that reason, Longenecker explains that Paul’s has already charged everybody under the power of sin, which is the overall theme in the book of Romans (Longenecker, 180). Due to the Jews’ and Gentiles’ role under sin, Paul presents Jesus as the only solution to relive people from sin. Jesus is the scapegoat for the people, and as Longenecker claims, Paul presents Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement in order to redeem people of their sinful actions (Longenecker, 181). Jesus has come to save people from their sin in order for them to be presented holy in front of God. This is one way Jesus becomes God’s intervention as the anointed one to bring judgment into the world and free everybody from their sins. That is Paul’s overall ideology presented to the Jews and gentiles throughout the book of Romans.
i found it interesting in this post that it was mentioned in the third paragraph that the son of God came to judge the earth in “truth” and bring peace. a lot of people see God judging us because he’s just God, but he is judging what is just and truth. and if we are or have done or lived a life away from the truth that should make sense to you why you are being judged for your wrong actions. Paul explains that Jesus came to defeat the true enemy and that is the enemy of sin and death and he did just that. and that is why when we witness we can bring up the same exact thing when someone things they have lost it all, let them know Jesus already won this fight. he is Gods intervention because he is the fulfillment of the law he is the law, “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 as you can see it says all. not some so we are called to love him with all of we are, Jesus came to make that possible and have a clear view on how to do that. that is the greatest command he gave. its not easy to wrap our heads around there’s a son of God that is the same person but there had to be a sacrifice for us to be one with the father again and this is how God wanted to play it out.
Son of God, one of the many titles that is used to describe Jesus. This phrase can be found in Romans 1:4, “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 (Rom. 1:4).” Paul addresses the issue concerning God’s son. Because The son of God will become the main theme of Paul’s gospel. “By calling God’s son, Paul connects him with Old Testament predictions about a coming king, or messiah. But the title also suggests Jesus’s unique and intimate relationship with the Father (Moo pg. 23).” Christ serves as God’s intervention because Christ intervenes on our behalf. He intervened for us when he became the payment for our sins on the cross. Paul uses this throughout Romans to explain why and how we can have a future hope. And the reason why we can have the forgiveness of sins. Because if it wasn’t for Christ intervening there wouldn’t be a hope of forgiveness. Just like Paul never would have become a follow of Christ. If Christ hadn’t intervened in Paul’s journey to Damascus, who knows what would’ve happened?
The gospel is the good news about our Lord Jesus and this great new plan of God before we were born or a thousand years ago. It was planned a very long time ago because God knew that all mankind would be saviors. Paul or Peter did not bring this good news, and this had been planned before we were all born. Grace is a person, and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus was a human and also fully God. He was dead and rose again by his own power. In the Old Testament, it talks about Jesus as the Messiah and king. In John 8:58, it says, “Very truly, I tell you,”Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” Jesus was the descendant of David and Abraham, but he was already there before them. Jesus already knew about the good news, and he would come to save us and die on the cross for us. He died on the cross to forgive our sins and create a great relationship between God and humans. His resurrection showed his divine power, and he was a powerful God. The gospel impacts individuals and changes lives. It’s by grace, through faith. Everyone needs the gospel, and it must impact the whole world. Jesus is our only hope, and he is the way, the truth, and the life. His sacrifice is enough for the whole world and to free us from the slavery of sin.
In the first seven chapters of Romans Paul shows how righteousness is not gained through obedience to the law because all under the power of sin (Rom 3:9). Because of sin or “the flesh” as Paul; refers to it the law was unable to make one righteous because it condemns a person who sins (Rom 7:7-25). Paul also says how the “righteous requirement of the law” is fulfilled thru Jesus’ sacrifice as an “offering for sin”( rom 8;3-4)Rom Jesus being the Messiah the son of God who frees Jew and Gentile from the real oppressor which is the power of sin. To which thru the faithfulness of Jesus one who believes and has loyalty To Jesus as the Messiah or Lord is now able to live a free life in the spirit (Rom 8:4). Paul continues in Romans 9 stating that though Jews have the law, the promises, even the “ancestry of the Messiah who is God over all” (Rom 9: 4-5), Only a few of the Jew believes and accept Jesus as the Messiah, though many gentiles believe. Yet, Paul continues to say how in time thru gentiles coming to faith in Jesus so will all Israel be saved (Rom 11:26).
Jesus is Gods intervention because salvation can only come through jesus as the righteous fulfilment of the law intervention so that He might crush the power of sin through his sacrificing of his own life to bring justification for all who believe. Rising from the dead so that those who believe in him may also be raised to live new lives with Christ reigning in us (Rom 4:24-25,5:17, 6:4).