Jesus did not become the Son of God by virtue of the resurrection.

He became the Son of God with power by virtue of the resurrection,

which I think means before the resurrection, the Son of God was in a limited human, weak form.

He got hungry.

He got sleepy.

He got mocked.

He got slapped.

He got misunderstood.

And finally, he got crucified.

But now, by virtue of a resurrection through a Holy Spirit, he moves into a new phase of his messiahship

and sonship, namely power.

I think we're quick to say Jesus rose from the dead, but maybe too slow to ask, what

kind of power does he now have?

I'm Dan Kruver. In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper turns to Romans 1 verses 1 to 4

to show how the risen Christ began a new phase of power that affects everything.

This message was originally delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on May 3, 1998.

This son, this great, glorious, pre-existent divine son, it says, was born, verse three, of a descendant of David according to the flesh.

Two observations.

One, this means that the son of God became a man.

That's obvious. God became a man. That's obvious.

He became a man.

He's now in the line of David.

...