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,...(Romans 1:1-4)

Over the past several weeks, we have considered this gospel to which Paul was set apart. It is a gospel from God. It is a gospel about God. It is a message of promise. It was not new with Paul but had been declared by God’s prophets and set down in the holy Scriptures of the Old/First Testament.

In verse 3, Paul now moves us to the focus of the gospel. Timothy Keller eloquently elaborates on vv.3-4 in his book, Romans For You, and I quote him here at length.

The gospel’s content is “his Son” (v.3). The gospel centers on Jesus. It is about a person, not a concept; it is about him, not us. We never grasp the gospel until we understand that it is not fundamentally a message about our lives, dreams, or hopes. The gospel speaks about, and transforms, all of those things, but only because it isn’t about us. It is a declaration about God’s Son, the man Jesus. This Son was:
 

• Fully human: “according to the flesh” (v.3).
   
• The one who fulfilled the promises of Scripture:  he was “descended from David” (v.3), the king of Israel a millennium before. God had promised David that from his family God would produce the ultimate, final, universal King - the Christ (see 2 Samuel 7:11b-16). And David’s own life - his rule, suffering and glory - in many ways foreshadowed that of his greater descendant (see Psalms 2; 22; 110).
   
• Divine:  the Son was “declared to be the Son of God in power…by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). Paul is not saying that Jesus only became God’s Son when he was raised from the grave. Rather, he is outlining two great truths about the resurrection. First, the empty tomb is the great declaration of who Jesus is. His resurrection removes all doubt that he is the Son of God. Second, his resurrection and ascension were his path to his rightful place; to his rule at God’s right hand (Ephesians 1:19b-22), sitting at “the highest place,” given “the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (Philippians 2:9-10). God’s Son had humbly become a man, tasted poverty, endured rejection and suffered a powerless death. The resurrection is where we see not only that he is the Son of God, but that he is now the Son of God “in power.”

Not until the end of Romans 1:4 does Paul actually name God’s Son: “Jesus Christ our Lord.” God’s Son is Jesus, the Greek version of the Hebrew name Yeshua/Joshua - “God will save,” the fulfiller of all God “promised beforehand” (v.2).  He is Christ, the anointed man whom God has appointed to rule his people. And he is our Lord, God himself. The gospel is both a declaration of Jesus’ perfect rule, and an invitation to come under that perfect rule, to make him “our Lord.”

Jesus Christ, in his person and work, is the heart of the gospel. May He grant us the grace to submit more and more to his perfect rule and the courage to share His gospel with boldness.