What does it mean to identify Jesus as God's son?
God is revealed to humanity as the Trinity, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit for the salvation and redemption of humanity to the glory of God. Jesus pays the cost of propitiation that is imputed to humanity. Man’s purpose from the Creation is to recognize and serve God, and that God redeems humanity in the coming of Jesus, the Christ, The Messiah, first to the chosen but then for all humanity. This new thing of God revealed as the economic Trinity in five central movements;1 the Annunciation (Luke 1:30-33,) the Baptism (Matthew 3:16-17,) the Transfiguration (Luke 9:34-35,) Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection (John 16:16-23,) and the Pentecost (John 15:16.) Furthermore, this revelation is prophesied throughout the Old Testament as the (covenantal) promises in the protoevangelium (Genesis 3:15,) to Abraham and David and the prophets. In Romans 1:1-4, Paul introduces himself to the Romans as the servant of Jesus, sent and set apart to proclaim the Gospel (Romans 1:1,) “promised beforehand”2 in The Old Testament as the fulfillment of these promises. That Jesus is made incarnate into the Davidic lineage (Romans 1:3) to “shepherd God’s people and rule the people of Israel,”3 and declared to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4.) Romans 1:4 therefore captures all of the five central movements (stated above) in the economic Trinity, and I which lies the true significance of Jesus, in history, who brings the world to the Father,4 and God to humanity.
For more on Trinitarian thought, read my blog post on the Trinity.
1. Cutsinger, 1997, pg. 128: an essay by Kallistos Ware
2. Bird, 2016, pg. 18.
3. Blackwell, 2015, pg. 34; Wesley Hill, “the Son of God.”
4. Barth, 1968, pg. 29
Works Cited
Barth, Karl. The Epistle to The Romans. Oxford University Press, 1968.
Bird, Michael F. Romans. Zondervan, 2016.
Blackwell, Ben C. Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism. Zondervan , 2015
Cutsinger, James S. Reclaiming the Great Tradition. InterVarsity Press, 1997.
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