“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
It is well argued and probably accurate that Paul is using an early church creed in his explanation of the gospel to the church at Rome. Doing so not only lends him credibility with the Roman church that doesn’t yet know him, personally, but it also accurately articulates orthodox Christian belief held by the apostles that had been with Jesus in his earthly ministry.
In the first place, the creed contrasts and connects the two natures of Jesus (hypostatic union): his human nature as part of the lineage of David and his divine nature (declared to be the Son of God) according to the spirit of holiness (not to be confused with the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghose who is the third person of the Godhead), the proof of which was demonstrated by his resurrection from the dead.
This Son of God is, in fact, Jesus, the Christ (Messiah), our Lord (Kyrios). It is by him all things were created and through him that all things consist (Colossians 1:16, 20)—including Paul’s own ministry.
One additional takeaway is the reminder that in less than 30 years after the resurrection of Christ, there were already creeds in circulation summarizing orthodox faith. While Scripture is premiere, we would be wise—as some have done—not to dismiss the summaries of faith being used in the early church to edify believers. Further, later attempts at codified doctrine (i.e., The Trinitarian nature of God, the Divinity of Christ, etc.) were not late inventions but expansions and clarifications (in efforts to address new heresies) of what had already been believed by the church and summarized in these early creeds.
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