1: 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God- 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
The gospel is about Jesus Christ -- and Jesus is "the Christ" (Messiah) and the Son of God (see also Rom 1:9). There is a powerful royal christology at the heart of the gospel. But we should not convert this into an idea; the gospel is about a Person: Jesus.
The gospel emerges from God's Story of Israel -- the Scripture's Story.
The gospel involves the Spirit and the Resurrection.
The gospel declares that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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These posts are great - even if they don't garner much comment.
But what gets me here is no mention of crucifixion - Spirit and Power and Resurrection as the essence of the declaration that Jesus Christ is Lord.
RJS,
Isn't it resurrection from the dead? Is it too much of a jump to make from dead to crucifixion? Is that what you mean?
Georges,
No, what I meant is that in Paul's summary here the crucifixion isn't mentioned.
The key element is not the sacrifice of Christ, it is resurrection from the dead. Now this is just a summary and in other places Paul talks about preaching "Christ crucified." So I am not saying this isn't important, just that it isn't primary here.
#3 RJS
I'm not sure this is a summary of the gospel. Paul doesn't say it is. Rather, I think vv 4-6 are summaries of the person of Jesus (i. e. descended from David, declared to be the Son of God, etc...). The gospel is about this Jesus, but we are not told exactly what the gospel is. That exposition launches in v 16.
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