Romans 1:1–7—In this beginning to his epistle to the Church at
Rome, St Paul proclaims the dual nature of Jesus Christ: true man, in that He
was descended from David according to the flesh; and true God, as testified by
His Spirit of holiness and resurrection from the dead.
Paul proclaims the LORD’s Christ to be Jesus our Lord. Jesus, a human name meaning ‘the LORD saves’; Christ his title, meaning the ‘Anointed One, the Messiah’; Lord, another title, and witness to the fact that He is the eternal Second Person of the Trinity, the only true God, though robed in human flesh. It is for the proclamation of the Gospel—the salvation that comes only through Jesus Christ our Lord—that Paul was called to be an apostle.
Like Jesus, we have a double dimension to our lives.
We are body and soul created and child of God, carnal and spiritual, mortal and
immortal. Many folks think of themselves only in one dimension – being human
flesh and blood, material, creatures. This results in the neglect of the
spiritual dimension of life. On the other hand, we cannot be so spiritual that
we cease to be human.
Consider the duel nature of the Christ-child Jesus. He
descended to man to be man through the royal lineage of David. He honors our
humanity by becoming one of us. As humans we have descended from Adam. We are
creatures of God.
By his resurrection Jesus is designated as the Son of
God. By grace, we are also designated sons of God by faith in Christ. In
Christ, we are children of God by grace.[2]
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