Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power[ by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith
Romans 1.1-5
4.The gospel is about a Man/King
“Who as to his human nature was a descendant of David” (verse 3)
The two particular features which God wishes us to note about his Son are that he was truly man and that he was also a king. He was truly Man, not just any man, a man descended from David, a king. In Jesus, God fulfilled his promise to send a king to rule over his people forever. Jesus is undoubtedly the Messiah (or Christ).
Matthew begins his gospel by establishing this, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David” (Matthew 1:1). Luke is even more explicit in his Gospel. In relating the story of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the virgin Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, the angel describes the nature of this son as the one who will be:
…great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end (Luke 1:32,33)
There is another significant feature about the fact that Jesus was truly human and which we should note. He was born in first century Palestine, in Bethlehem – his mother was Mary. Luke, in his Gospel, carefully places this event in its historical setting (Luke 2:1-7). The ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus himself is set with equal care. Luke tells us:
In the fifteenth of the reign of Tiberius Caesar – when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene – during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiahpas… (Luke 3:1,2)
This Jesus lived an extraordinary life and died and rose again. Information about him is obtained in the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The gospel is historical. The Jesus of history is now seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. The one who was born in Bethlehem is the Lord of heaven and earth. He who died on Calvary and rose from the dead will judge the living and the dead. This same Jesus who was descended from David, will return at the end of the age.
The second part of this section continued tomorrow