Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study 17 of Romans, chapter 1, and we are reading from Romans 1:4-7:

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are going to try to complete the study of verse 4, Lord willing. I am not sure we will get through it all, but I hope so. We looked at where it said, “And declared to be the Son of God with power,” and we understand that the “power” has to do with the fact that at the point Christ rose from the dead at the foundation of the world, it energized the Spirit to save, from that point forward. Once the world was created and man had fallen into sin, then God could begin to operate in sending forth His Spirit to save in the life of Abel, and so forth.

The next phrase says: “…according to the spirit of holiness.” We could read this, again, as the working of the Holy Spirit, as the word “spirit” is the same Greek word used for the Holy Spirit, one of the Persons of the Trinity. But the word “holiness” is not the usual word for “holy” that we find many places in the New Testament, although it is related to it. This word translated as “holiness” is Strong’s #42 and is derived from Strong’s #40. Our word is the Greek word pronounced “hag-ee-o-soo'-nay,” and it comes from “hag'-ee-os,” Strong’s #40. But the word “holiness” is only found three times, and we will look at those places, and then we will see how it fits in this context of Christ rising from the dead with power.

It says in 2Corinthians 7:1:

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The only other place this word is found is in 1Thessalonians 3:13:

To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

We looked at all the verses, and we are looking for information as we compare verse to verse, here a little, there a little. What is God telling us about this word “holiness” that we can gather from 1Thessalonians 3:13? It says, “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness.” To have “blame” is something that is a result of sin. Sin causes us to be worthy of blame – we are guilty. Someone might say, “He did it. He is the one that stole something.” There is blame and, in our case, it is true. We are guilty because we have offended God by breaking His holy Law. But here, God is speaking of establishing our hearts unblameable in holiness, which means that the sins of our heart, and of which we are guilty, are somehow made unblameable: “There is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.” And we know why that is, as it is through Christ and His atoning sacrifice, the work finished at the foundation of the world. He bore upon Himself our sins, and it made Him guilty and the one to blame, and God poured out His wrath upon Jesus. What did that wrath of God do when it was poured upon Christ, and what did it accomplish? It slayed Him, and He died, and that is the price that had to be paid for sin: “The wages of sin is death.” But after His death, it was not the end of the story because He rose from the dead, declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness. You see, the sins were washed away when they were paid for by Christ and cleansed, and that is the word that was used in the verse we just read in 2Corinthians 7:1:

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

So, again, we see that we are worthy of blame and we are to “cleanse ourselves.” God is using this phrase, but we, of course, cannot make ourselves clean. But as we shared the Word of God (in the day of salvation), an elect could be washed by the water of the Word. Remember it said in Ephesians 5:25-26:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

So Christ died and shed His blood, making it available in a “basin,” as it were. The Word of God was like a hyssop dipped in the blood in the basin to be applied to Abel, to Noah, and to all the saints. The application was the Word of God. Yes – it was a process: 1) the sins were paid for; 2) the Word applied that payment, cleansing the sinner; 3) that person became saved.

And that is why 2Corinthians 7:1 says that we “cleanse ourselves,” because we read the Bible and shared it with others, and others have shared the Bible with us. It is the same idea we see in Revelation 19 where it says that the bride has made herself ready. It has to do with the fact that we were messengers of the Gospel, and as we shared the Gospel, the elect of God heard and became saved to form the “bride of Christ.” So God used us and we were instrumental in the whole process of salvation.

Going back to Romans 1:4, it says, “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness.” So we know the reason why God is writing us concerning this declaration of the Son of God being with power according to the spirit of holiness. It is because “holiness” is the result of having our sins washed away. If your sins are washed away, you are holy. Christ was laden with our sins. He was filthy with our sins. He paid for them and then rose from the dead in a pure way, in a spirit of holiness, because no sins were upon Him. Where did the sins go? They remained in the depths of the sea. They remained in the grave, as God’s Law had been satisfied, and they had no hold upon Him. Actually, they are gone forever and never to be brought to mind. They are forgotten, and that is why God forgives sin. He sees no sin upon His elect. The sins have been settled, and now there is no condemnation for any of our hundreds of millions of sins. There is not one transgression remaining – not even one iniquity. There is not one wrongdoing to cause God to become angry and wrathful and to declare that we must die. It cannot be, because Christ has paid for all our sins, and that is why this statement is so wonderful.

Not only was He declared to be the Son of God with power so that the Holy Spirit could go forth into the world to save, but it was “according to the spirit of holiness” because Christ had no sin upon Him. And when this Holy Spirit did go forth to work in the Old Testament era and to work in the New Testament church age and the season of Latter Rain (until He completed His work), it was according to the spirit of holiness. He applied the Word and, as a result, there was cleansing, and it could all be traced to Jesus’ resurrection, and that is what we want to look at next in Romans 1:4:

… according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

We have constantly referred to this over the last several studies, but we have not looked at the word “resurrection” itself. It is Strong’s #386, and it is found forty-two times in the New Testament. It is translated as “resurrection” thirty-nine times; and “rising again” one time; and “that should rise” one time; and “raise to life again” one time. So we see that in just about every occurrence, it has to do with rising from the dead, but it is not necessarily rising “to life” because the Lord says in John 5:29:

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Those that have done evil are the unsaved, and when they come up out of the ground on the last day, they will not be restored to any kind of life. They are not going to have conscious existence or memory, but it is simply the mechanism of “rising up” that is in view. They will “resurrect” in that sense as they are taken up by God out of the ground, and their bones or ashes will lie exposed upon the ground, apparently. They will be exposed or “shamed” at that last point of time for this world before it is all destroyed, and this whole corrupt creation will be gone for evermore.

But, often, this word has to do with rising from the dead. It is a word that is used in John 11 at the time when Lazarus had died. The sisters of Lazarus were weeping and very cast down, and we read in John 11:21-25:

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection.” Is that not interesting? That is interesting! He was still alive. He had not gone to the cross and, therefore, He had not yet physically died on the cross. It was before that time and, yet, He declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” Of course, the life has to do with the resurrection; they go hand-in-hand, as far as the salvation of sinners is concerned. We wonder how He could be declared “the resurrection.” It is one of His names: “I am the resurrection.”

His declaration is also indicating that He is God, just as the response was at the burning bush when Moses asked God His name: “What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” God said, “I AM THAT I AM… I AM hath sent me unto you.” It is a name of God. Jesus is saying that God is the resurrection: “I am the resurrection. I am the essence of resurrection. Everything that resurrection is to life, I am.”

How is that possible if He had not yet died and resurrected? Some might say, “It could just be mysterious, as He is God, or He is just saying that He has the power to resurrect someone and bring the dead to life, and He will demonstrate it.” And, of course, He did a little later with Lazarus in John 11:43-44:

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Jesus is the resurrection, and He demonstrated His power to raise the dead, and He had done this before. He raised a young girl that was twelve, and He raised a young man who was a widow’s only son, and He raised Lazarus and, yet, He had not yet gone to the cross and died.

It says in Acts 26:23:

That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead…

The word translated as “that should rise” is a translation of the Greek word, Strong’s #386, that is translated as “resurrection” thirty-nine times. He should be the first that should rise from the dead and show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. He should be the first one to rise from the dead and to resurrect, and we just kind of shake our heads. We just saw that He had already raised Lazarus and others before that, and we could go back to the Old Testament where the prophet Elijah raised a young boy to life. And we know that Moses had been resurrected because the devil disputed with Michael concerning the body of Moses. Again, what is going on? How is this possible? How is Jesus called “the resurrection” and why does the Bible say He is the first to rise from the dead?

And, remember, previously we saw in Colossians 1 that Jesus is the firstborn of every creature, in verse 15, and we saw that it could be properly translated as “the firstborn of all creation.” Then we saw it said in Colossians 1:17-18:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

He is “the firstborn from the dead” because He has preeminence. And that word “preeminence” is where we get our English word “prototype,” like the first model of a car or the first-manufactured product. It is emphasizing that He is first, and it is not only that claim, but it is His name: “I am the resurrection.” He is also the first. It says in Revelation 1:11:

Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…

And it says in Revelation 1:17:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

There it is: the name of Christ is “the first.” And, yet, there are some that say, “Well, He was the first in principle, but not in reality, because He did not die and resurrect until 33 A. D.” You see, that is an assault against the name of Jesus as ‘the resurrection’ and His name as ‘the first,’ and His name as “Alpha” because these names have to do with His resurrection. If we go back to Revelation 1, it goes on to say in Revelation 1:18:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

He could say that He was the first because He was “he that liveth, and was dead,” and He was the firstborn from the dead and the first of all creation, in that manner. To say that He was not, is taking away from these glorious declarations that apply only the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we go the Revelation 22, the last chapter of this grand book the Bible that is the mighty and powerful book of God, we know that God is telling us that He will come quickly, and we know that these are Scriptures that apply to the last days or in our time. For example, it says in Revelation 22:11-14:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

You see, at the end of all things (for this earth), the declaration is made again: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” He was the first to rise, and the first to resurrect. And what will happen on the last day? Martha said of her brother, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” The last day is the day of resurrection. That is why Jesus is the first because it was His resurrection that formed the very basis for this world; He is the foundation. His resurrection and rising from the dead was the foundation of the world. Then at the very end of the world on that last day, the saints of God will rise up from the dead, and they will rise first as the Bible tells us. There will be a resurrection of the dead, the just and the unjust. You see, resurrection began things with Christ and resurrection will conclude things with the “body of Christ,” and the whole company of the elect that had previously died will experience that wonderful resurrection and transformation of their bodies. And the elect that are alive and remaining on the earth to go through the final judgment will also receive our new spiritual bodies.

He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and He has everything to do with resurrection. If you do not understand or you are being hard-headed and refuse to understand, please know that the Bible has given more than sufficient Scriptures – even an abundance of Scriptures – concerning this beautiful teaching that Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.