SERMON IV.

ROM. I. 4.

And declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

ST. PAUL, in the beginning of this epistle, (according to his custom in the rest,) styles himself an apostle, particularly called and set apart by God for the preaching of the Gospel; the main subject whereof was, 'Jesus Christ our Lord;' who as he was, according to his divine nature, the eternal Son of God,' so according to his human nature, he was not only 'the Son of Man,' but also 'the Son of God.' 'According to the flesh (that is, the weakness, and frailty, and mortality of his human nature) he was the Son of David;' that is, of his posterity by his mother, who was of that house and line. Made of the seed of David, according to the flesh;' but according to the Spirit of Holiness, (that is, in regard of that divine power of the Holy Ghost, which was manifest in him, especially in his resurrection

Rom. i. 3.

from the dead,) he was demonstrated to be the Son of God;' even according to his human nature: 'declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.'

All the difficulty in the words, is concerning the meaning of this phrase, of Christ's being 'declared to be the Son of God.' The word is opɩévros, which most frequently in Scripture does signify predestinated, decreed, determined; but it likewise signifies that which is defined, declared, demonstrated, put out of all doubt and controversy. And in this sense our translation renders it. As if the apostle had said, that our Lord Jesus Christ, though according to the frailty and weakness of his human nature, he was of the seed of David; yet in respect of that divine power of the Holy Ghost, which manifested itself in him, especially in his resurrection from the dead, he was 'declared to be the Son of God with power;' that is, mightily, powerfully demonstrated to be so; so as to put the matter out of all dispute and controversy.

And therefore following our own translation, I shall handle the words in this sense, as containing this proposition in them: "That the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, by the Holy Ghost, is a powerful demonstration that he was the Son of God.'

And it will conduce very much to the clearing of this proposition to consider these two things. First, Upon what account Christ, as man, is said to be the Son of God.'

Secondly, In what sense he is said to be 'declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.' The consideration of these two particu

lars will fully clear this proposition, and the apostle's meaning in it.

First, Upon what account Christ, as man, is said to be the Son of God.' And for our right apprehension of this matter, it is very well worthy our observation, that Christ, as man, is no where in Scripture said to be the Son of God,' but with relation to the divine power of the Holy Ghost, some way or other eminently manifested in him; I say the divine power of the Holy Ghost, as the Lord and Giver of life, as he is called in the ancient creeds of the Christian church. For as men are naturally said to be the children of those from whom they receive their life and being; so Christ, as man, is said to be the Son of God,' because he had life communicated to him from the Father, by an immediate power of the Spirit of God, or the Holy Ghost. First at his conception, which was by the Holy Ghost. The conception of our blessed Saviour was an immediate act of the power of the Holy Ghost, overshadowing, as the Scripture expresseth it, the blessed mother of our Lord. And then at his resurrection, when after his death he was, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, raised to life again.

Now upon these two accounts only, Christ, as man, is said in Scripture to be the Son of God.' He was really so upon account of his conception; but this was secret and invisible: but most eminently and remarkably so upon account of his resurrection, which was open and visible to all. 1. Upon account of his conception by the power of the Holy Ghost. That upon this account he was called the Son of God,' St. Luke most expressly tells us, Luke, i. 35, where the angel tells the vir

gin Mary, that the Holy Ghost should come upon her, and the power of the Highest should overshadow her, and therefore that holy thing which should be born of her, should be called the Son of God.' And this our Saviour means by the Father's sanctifying him, and sending him into the world;' for which reason he says he might justly call himself 'the Son of God.' 'If he call them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?' If there had been no other reason, this had been sufficient to have given him the title of the Son of God,' that he was brought into the world by the sanctification, or divine power of the Holy Ghost.

2. Christ is also said in Scripture to be the Son of God,' and to be declared to be so upon account of his resurrection from the dead,' by the power of the Holy Ghost. His resurrection from the dead is here in the text ascribed to the Spirit of Holiness,' or the Holy Ghost. And so in other places of Scripture, If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you:'2 and, 'being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; that is, he suffered in that frail mortal nature which he assumed; but was raised again by the power of the Holy Ghost, of the Spirit of God which resided in him. And upon this account he is expressly said in Scripture to be the Son of God:' 'I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I be

1 John, x. 35, 36.
2 Rom. viii. 11.
31 Pet. iii. 18.

gotten thee;" to which perhaps the apostle alludes here in the text, when he says that Christ' was decreed to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead.' To be sure these words, 'this day have I begotten thee,' St. Paul expressly tells us were accomplished in the resurrection of Christ; as if God, by raising him from the dead, had begotten him, and decreed him to be his Son. 'And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.'

He was the Son of God' before, as he was conceived by the Holy Ghost; but this was secret and invisible, and known only to the mother of our Lord. And therefore God thought fit to give a public and visible demonstration of it, so as to put the matter out of all question: he declared him in a powerful manner to be his Son, by giving him a new life after death, by raising him from the dead; and by this new and eminent testimony given to him, declared him again to be his Son, and confirmed the title which was given him before, upon a true, but more secret account, of his being con-· ceived by the Holy Ghost.

And as our Saviour is said to be the Son of God' upon this twofold account, of his conception by the Holy Ghost, and his resurrection to life by the Spirit of God, so the Scripture (which does solicitously pursue a resemblance and conformity between Christ and Christians) does likewise upon 2 Acts, xiii. 32, 33.

Psalm ii. 7.