Class Notes: 11/28/2021

The book of Romans part 17; Verse 3; Doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ

https://youtu.be/vjzFI4BbhWc

We are in a verse by verse study of the book of Romans and got through verses 1 and 2 with the expanded translation:

v1 "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called an apostle, through having been appointed because of the Gospel from God."

v2 Which (This Gospel) He (God) promised in advance through His prophets in the holy Scriptures or writings"

We noted the Holy scriptures known as the TNACH that is an acronym formed from the Hebrew words Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuv'im that means the Law, the prophets, and the writings that we call the Old Testament.

This brings us to Rom 1:3; "Concerning his Son." The preposition peri plus the object huios. Peri takes the genitive case in the object, and the genitive of relationship also of an intensive pronoun, autou, is included. Peri with the genitive means "concerning."

The word autou" translated "His" or "of Him" is used here as a noun to designate the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The intensive pronoun autou is used for a personal pronoun and emphasizes the identity of Christ before His incarnation by virgin birth.

It indicates Jesus Christ as God. So the phrase "Concerning his Son" in the Greek refers to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next we find that God had to become something else to fulfill the Father's plan. The second person of the Trinity "was made" the aorist active participle of the verb ginomai that means to become, or to come to be.

In its connotation of coming to be it also means to be born, and that is the way it should be translated here "who was born." The aorist tense is a constantive aorist that contemplates the action of the virgin birth in its entirety, from conception to the moment when God gave soul life at birth.

The active voice: Jesus produces the action of the verb by being born. The participle is circumstantial for the virgin birth and is translated like a relative clause, "of the seed of David" - the word for "seed" is sperma. If He is going to become humanity He must be related to someone.

David is Jewish royalty. Jesus Christ's humanity was born into a royal family, the Jewish royal family of David's dynasty.

As eternal God Jesus Christ is also divine royalty as a member of the Godhead aka Trinity. He is equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit who are His royal family. As humanity He is the Son of David, and therefore all of the family of David that preceded Him and all the family of David that followed Him are His royal family.

The Davidic covenant tells us that David's dynasty will continue forever. As the resurrected Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father He will be called King of kings and Lord of lords, and this is the unique royalty, the royalty that came as the result of the victory in the angelic conflict.

But He lacked a royal family in His angelic conflict victory so a battlefield royal family must be born. This is why the Age of Israel was temporarily halted and the Church Age inserted.

The Church is the body or royal family of Christ. "Sperma Dauid" is a genitive of relationship. This brings us to the Davidic covenant in which God promised David that he would have a son who would reign forever. That son came from the virgin birth.

Mary was descended from David and it is therefore, "Jesus Christ from the seed of David according to the flesh." Kata plus the accusative singular of sarx, that means human.

As humanity it includes the fact that Jesus Christ not only had a body but that body was the residence for His soul and therefore His human spirit. So Jesus Christ became the God-Man.

Translation: "Concerning his Son who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh." Net notes 7 and 8

This brings us to at least a summary look at several doctrines: the doctrine of the Deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Royalty of Christ, the doctrine of the Davidic covenant, and the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union. We could also do the doctrine of the virgin birth but we typically do that at Christmas.

The first doctrine we will look at briefly is the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ by looking at some of the verses that identify Him with God.

He is described as being the Son of God in our passage Rom 1:3; as well as Matt 2:15;

Christ is referenced in the context of equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in 2Cor 13:14; and 1Pet 1:2;

He is described as having characteristics of God in Micah 5:2; John 1:1-3; John 8:58; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:8-10 1John 5:20;

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are eternal so in the context Christ who called the Son of God is also eternal.

The preincarnate work of Christ as creator requires His pre-existence and His deity: Christ is described as creating the universe in John 1:3; Col 1:16; and Heb 1:10;

Jesus Christ is also identified as God in the doctrine of Divine Decree: Psa 2:7-9; Psa 22:1-6; Psa 40:1-17; Psa 110:1-7;

The Theophanies of Christ indicate His preexistence and therefore His eternity as God. He is the Angel identified as Jehovah in Gen 16:7-13; Gen 22:11-18; Gen 31:11-13; Gen 48:15-16; Exod 3:1-8; with Acts 7:30-35; Exod 13:21; Exod 14:19; Judges 6:11-23; and Judges 13:9-20;

Angel of Jehovah as distinguished from Jehovah Gen 24:7; Gen 24:40; Exod 23:20; Exod 32:34; 1Chr 21:15-18; Isa 63:9 Zech 1:12-13;

Angel of Jehovah is Second Person of Trinity was the visible God in the OT. After the incarnation, the Angel of Jehovah no longer appears John 1:18; John 6:46; 1Tim 6:15-16; 1John 4:12;

Jesus Christ is called Jehovah in Isa 9:6-7; Isa 40:3; Jer 23:5-6; Zech 12:10;

Christ is described as possessing all of the attributes of God's essence.
Sovereignty Gen 1:1; Rev 1:5-16; Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16;
Eternal Life Isa 9:6; Micah 5:2; John 1:1; John 8:58; Col 1:16-17; Eph 1:4; Rev 1:8;
Holiness that is the combination of Righteousness and Justice Luke 1:35; Acts 3:14; Heb 7:26;

Love John 13:1; John 13:34; 1John 3:16;
Immutability Heb 13:8;
Omniscience Matt 9:4; John 2:25; 1Cor 4:5; Col 2:3; Rev 2:23;

Omnipotence Matt 24:30; Matt 28:18; 1Cor 15:28; Phil 3:21; Heb 1:3; Rev 1:8;
Omnipresence Matt 28:20; Eph 1:23; Col 1:27;

Veracity John 14:6; Rev 3:7;

This brings us back to our passage. Rom 1:3; Concerning his Son who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh.

We will pick up with the doctrine of the Royalty of Christ next time.

© Copyright 2024, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.