What is Paul saying in Romans 1:4?

Question

[Romans 1:4 MGNT] (4) τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν

Here are a couple of English translations:

[Romans 1:4 NASB20] (4) who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

[Romans 1:4 NLT] (4) and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

[Romans 1:4 NIV] (4) 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.

[Romans 1:4 RSV] (4) and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

What is Paul saying? What is the Jewish background of this verse?

Related:

Did the Jews expect the Messiah to be the Son of God? Matthew 26:63

Answer 1

Jesus made bold claims about His identity--claims which were offensive to many of the Jewish leaders.

From Matthew 26:

63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.

66 What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.

I recently asked a question (here) about the relevance of the bolded titles, and found the Jewish background in the responses helpful--they may have bearing on this question as well.

So Jesus was condemned (by the Sanhedrin) for blasphemy. God raising Jesus from the dead indicated that Jesus' claims were not inappropriate. William Lane Craig is fond of saying that the resurrection vindicated Jesus' claims.

If Jesus and His followers claimed that He was the Son of God, His resurrection by God was evidence that substantiated the claim. This I believe is the very direct sense of the NLT quoted above--He was shown to be what He claimed to be.

Answer 2

I want to go back to Acts 2:36 because Romans 1:4 explains and sheds light on Acts 2:36. Its been my experience over the years that those that deny the deity of Jesus Christ love to use Acts 2:36 to show Jesus was "made/created/anointed" Lord by God the Father.

This despite the fact that Luke 2:11 says, "for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD." According to the context at Acts 2:30-32, "And so, because he was a prophet (that is David), and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne."

Vs31, "he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. Vs32, "This Jesus God raised up again to which we are all witnesses."

The point of Romans 1:4 is to show that the Son was "DECLARED" or proved to be with power by the Resurrection identifies Him as deity. The birth and the resurrection of Christ are linked together. He was divinely born, and He was divinely raised. In fact, Jesus said according to John 2:19, "Destroy this temple and in three days I WILL RAISE IT UP. All three persons of the Trinity raised up Jesus from the dead.

Romans 8:11, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."