Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 1:4

"who was declared [to be] the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; [even] Jesus Christ our Lord," — Romans 1:4 (ASV)

With power. This means, in a transcendent and superhuman manner.

According to the spirit of holiness. This is in contrast to “according to the flesh,” and therefore appears where we might expect “in His divine nature.” Yet there is a difference, the precise shade of which is not easy to define. What should we understand by the “spirit of holiness”? Should we regard it as simply interchangeable with “Holy Spirit”? Not quite.

Or should we view it as corresponding to “the flesh,” as “spirit” and “flesh” correspond in a human being? Again, not quite—or not only that. The spirit of Christ is human, for Christ took upon Himself our nature in all its parts.

It is human; and yet, it is in this spirit more especially that the divinity resides. It is in this spirit that the “Godhead dwells bodily,” and the presence of the Godhead is seen in the unique and exceptional “holiness” by which it is characterized.

The “spirit,” therefore (or that part of His being to which St. Paul gives this name in Christ), is the connecting link between the human and the divine, and shares equally in both. It is the divine “enshrined” in the human, or the human penetrated and energized by the divine.

It is, perhaps, not possible to get beyond metaphorical language like this. The union of the human and divine must necessarily evade exact definition, and to push such definition too far would be to misrepresent the Apostle's meaning.

We can compare this passage with 1 Timothy 3:16: God (rather, Who) was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit: or with St. Peter’s phrase, Put to death in the flesh. but quickened by the Spirit—rather, in the spirit, as the seat of that divinity by virtue of which He overcame death (1 Peter 3:18).

The particular act in which Christ's Sonship was most conspicuously ratified and confirmed was His resurrection from the dead. It was ratified by His resurrection, as a manifestation of transcendent and divine power. (Compare to Acts 2:24 and following; Acts 17:31; Romans 4:24).

It should be noted that this contrast between the human and divine natures in Christ is not intended here to imply any disparagement of the human nature. Rather, the Apostle wishes to bring out the completeness and fullness of Christ's dignity, as shown on both its sides. He is at once the Jewish Messiah (a fact that would carry great weight with the Jewish section of the church in Rome) and the Son of God.

By the resurrection from the dead. Strictly speaking, it means by the resurrection of the dead. A slight distinction should be observed between the two phrases. It is not “by His resurrection from the dead,” but in an abstract and general sense, “by the resurrection of the dead”—by that resurrection of which Christ was the firstfruits.