In Romans 1:4, in what sense does the apostle Paul use the phrase “by the resurrection from the dead”?

Question

In Rom. 1:4, it is written,

⁴ And declared to be Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: ^{KJV, 1769}

^Δʹ τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ^{TR, 1550}

The apostle seems to affirm that Christ was clearly & decisively shown to be the son of God “by the resurrection from the dead.” But there are some who were raised from the dead like Lazarus (John 11:44), the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:22), Dorcas (Acts 9:40-41), and many others. Were all of those people also proved to be “sons of God” by the resurrection from the dead?

Answer 1

There are aspects of Christ's Resurrection that make His Resurrection distinct from the examples you cite. His Resurrection, for example, was the culmination of His descent into Hades (Ephesians 4:8-10), where He preached the Gospel to the dead (1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:6).

There is an understanding elsewhere in Paul's writing that something was fundamentally changed by Christ's death and resurrection: Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Corinthians 15:20); For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits: afterward they that are Christ's at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:26). John of Damascus wrote:

For our Lord by His own body bestowed the gifts both of resurrection and of subsequent incorruption even on our own body, He Himself having become to us the firstfruits both of resurrection and incorruption, and of passionlessness. For as the divine Apostle says, This corruptible must put on incorruption [I Corinthians 15:53]

Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, III.XXVIII

Furthermore, in the New Testament examples you give it was either by Christ directly or through Him that Lazarus and Dorcas were raised. In the Trinitarian understanding, Christ would also have been present in the raising of the widow's son in 1 Kings (Elijah calls on the Lord to raise the boy - 17:21).