1:2 Paul next began to exalt the gospel that God had called him to proclaim. It was a message that God had promised, not just prophesied, in the Old Testament Scriptures. The words "his"and "holy"stress the unique origin of the gospel. God had inspired the Old Testament by speaking through men as He gave His revelation. Paul did not preach an unanticipated gospel but one that God had promised through His prophets (cf. 4:13-25; 9:4; 15:8). This is the reason Paul appealed to the Old Testament so fully in this and other of his epistles. Specifically Paul's gospel was not a human invention that tried to make the best of Israel's rejection of Jesus Christ.
1:3-4 Paul identified the gospel's theme to exalt it further. The gospel centers on God's Son, Jesus Christ, who was both human and divine. The phrases "according to the flesh"(v. 3) and "according to the Spirit"(v. 4) probably do not contrast the natures of Christ but His relationships.15He belonged to two realms. As to his human earthly connection, His origin was the highest. He was not just an Israelite (9:5) but a son of David (Matt. 1:1; Luke 1:32; Acts 13:22-23; 2 Tim. 2:8), which was a messianic qualification (Isa. 11:1).
Concerning the realm above He was higher than the angels (Heb. 1:4), the very Son of God (v. 4). The word "power"probably modifies the Son rather than the declaration. Paul probably meant that God declared Jesus to be His powerful Son rather than God powerfully declared that Jesus was His Son. The point of this passage is the greatness of Jesus, not the wonder of the resurrection.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse."16
Jesus was always the Son of God, but the Father declared Him to be the Son by resurrecting Him. Jesus did not change in essence--He always was the Son--but in status or function. God appointed the Son to a new and more powerful position in relation to the world at the Resurrection. He is now not only the Messiah but the Lord of all.17
To what does "the Spirit of holiness"(v. 4) refer? It may be another way of referring to the Holy Spirit.18Nevertheless in view of the parallel expression "according to the flesh"(v. 3) and the fact that Paul could have said "Holy Spirit"if that is what he meant, probably Paul was referring to the holy nature of Jesus. Jesus' nature was so holy that death could not hold Him.19
1:5 Paul probably meant that he had received the special grace (gift) of being an apostle. He introduced the character and scope of what follows in this epistle by linking his apostleship with the resurrected Christ. Jesus' descent from David and His resurrection proved that He was the Messiah and Lord promised in the Old Testament. Therefore the gospel that Paul preached as an apostle could bring all people, not just Jews, to faith in Him. It did not bring them to obey the Law of Moses. Obeying God by trusting in Jesus Christ is "for His [Christ's] name's sake"because it glorifies Him.
Faith is obedience to God because God commands everyone to believe in Christ (cf. John 6:29; Acts 17:30-31). This verse is not teaching that saving faith always results in ongoing obedience to God, though that is normally its effect.20
