Passage

Romans 1.3-4

"concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord," (Romans 1:3-4, NASB95)

Romans 1:3-4 is widely recognized as a pre-Pauline confessional formula, a creedal fragment Paul cites at the very opening of his letter to a church he had not yet visited, banking on the confession's pre-existence in the wider Christian community as common ground. Its content is dynamite for the historical case for early high Christology: a very early statement that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah according to the flesh and the Son-of-God-in-power by virtue of the resurrection. The verse pair is regularly invoked by Habermas, Hurtado, Bauckham, and N.T. Wright in arguments for the early dating of high Christology.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2. which he promised afore through his prophets in the holy scriptures,"

"3. concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 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,"

"5. through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake; 6. among whom are ye also called to be Jesus Christ's:" (Romans 1:1-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God, 2. which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,"

"3. concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, 4. who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,"

"5. through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake; 6. among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;" (Romans 1:1-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2. (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)"

"3. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4. And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: ^{declared: Gr. determined}"

"5. By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: ^{for obedience: or, to the obedience of faith} 6. Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:" (Romans 1:1-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, having been separated to the good news of God, 2. which He announced before through His prophets in holy writings --"

"3. concerning His Son, (who is come of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4. who is marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the rising again from the dead,) Jesus Christ our Lord;"

"5. through whom we did receive grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, in behalf of his name; 6. among whom are also ye, the called of Jesus Christ;" (Romans 1:1-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle (Paul the Apostle)
Audience: Christian believers in Rome, a church Paul had not founded or yet visited
Location: composed in Corinth; addressed to Rome
Time period: composed c. AD 57; the creedal fragment itself is widely dated to within 10-15 years of the crucifixion, putting it in the AD 30s-40s
Letter context: Romans opens with this unusually long, theologically-loaded greeting (1:1-7); the creedal content does the work of credentialing Paul's gospel as nothing new.

Theological reading

Why scholars judge it pre-Pauline. Several features mark Romans 1:3-4 as a quoted formula Paul did not compose for the occasion:

Parallelism. Two structurally matched clauses, each pivoting on "according to" (kata sarka / kata pneuma hagiōsynēs).
Non-Pauline vocabulary. Pneuma hagiōsynēs ("Spirit of holiness") is a Semitic idiom Paul never uses elsewhere; his normal phrase is pneuma hagion. The Semitism suggests a Hebrew/Aramaic original predating Greek Pauline diction.
"Spirit of holiness" / pneuma hagiōsynēs. A Semitic construction Paul does not use elsewhere; his ordinary phrase is pneuma hagion. The Semitism suggests Hebrew/Aramaic origin predating Pauline Greek diction.
Adoptionist-sounding language (horisthentos, "declared / appointed") that Paul takes care to embed in a frame that pre- commits Christ as already Son in 1:3 ("concerning his Son, who was born..."). Paul cites the formula and bookends it; he does not invent the bookending.
The Davidic-flesh / resurrection-Spirit two-stage structure is not Paul's usual christological idiom (compare Phil 2:6-11, Col 1:15-20, where the structure is preexistence / incarnation / exaltation).

Hurtado (Lord Jesus Christ, 2003), Bauckham (Jesus and the God of Israel, 2008), Habermas (The Risen Jesus and Future Hope, 2003), and N.T. Wright (The Resurrection of the Son of God, 2003) all treat Rom 1:3-4 as among the earliest Christian confessional material, alongside 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 and Philippians 2:6-11.

Davidic descent according to the flesh. "Of the seed of David according to the flesh" affirms Jesus' historical, genealogical, human Messianic credentials. The Davidic-messiah expectation (2 Sam 7:12-16, Ps 89, Isa 11:1-10) required a real bloodline. The flesh-clause locates Jesus inside Israel's history, not above it. Matthew 1 and Luke 3 work out the genealogy in detail; Paul simply asserts the fact.

Declared Son-of-God-in-power by the resurrection. The verb horizō (here passive horisthentos) means "to mark out, to appoint, to designate." The grammar carries a Christological question: is Jesus made Son at the resurrection (adoptionism), or is he publicly declared / installed as the Son-in-power that he already was? The orthodox reading, and the one demanded by 1:3's "concerning his Son" (already Son before the resurrection clause), is the second. The resurrection is Jesus' enthronement as the Messianic king with cosmic power, what was hidden in the incarnation is openly demonstrated in the empty tomb. Cf. Acts 13.33 and Hebrews 1.5 for the same idea via Psalm 2.

The resurrection as the Christological hinge. For Paul, the resurrection is not an addendum to the cross; it is the moment at which Jesus' identity is publicly vindicated. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless" (1 Cor 15:17). The creedal fragment in Romans 1:3-4 places the resurrection at the structural center of the gospel as the event that demonstrates Jesus is the Son of God in power. This is why Habermas's "minimal facts" case keeps coming back to this verse and to 1 Cor 15:3-7: both predate Paul, both anchor the resurrection in earliest Christian confession.

Apologetic force. The 1980s-1990s objection that "high Christology evolved over centuries of legend-development" cannot survive Romans 1:3-4. Within fifteen years of the crucifixion (and likely within five) the church was already confessing Jesus as Son of God, Lord, and the resurrection-vindicated Davidic Messiah, in formulaic Semitic-flavored Greek that pre-dates Paul. The hypothesis of legendary accretion has no time to do its work.

Key words

G5207 - huios, huios, "Son"; here in the loaded "Son of God" sense.
G5547 - christos, christos, "Christ / Messiah"; the Davidic anointed king.
H1121 - ben, ben, Hebrew "son"; the OT background, especially Psalm 2:7.
horizo, horizō, "to mark out, designate"; the key disputed verb.
G4983 - soma (compare), body / flesh background, cf. sarx here.

Theological themes

Pre-Pauline tradition. Earliest Christian creedal material; primary evidence for early high Christology. See Pre-Pauline Creeds.
Davidic messiahship. Jesus' historical, genealogical claim to the messianic title. See Davidic Covenant.
Resurrection as vindication. The empty tomb as Jesus' enthronement, not merely his rescue. See Resurrection of Jesus - Theological Significance.
Two-natures hint. The flesh / Spirit-of-holiness contrast anticipates the later hypostatic union formulation. See Hypostatic Union.
Anti-mythicism. Earliness of confessional material defeats the legendary-development hypothesis. See Mythicism Refutation.
Anti-Nicaea-invention thesis. Trinity-pattern Christology long predates Nicaea (325). See Trinity Invented at Nicaea Objection Defeater.

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 15.3-7, the parallel pre-Pauline creed, dated to within 5 years of the crucifixion.
Philippians 2.6-11, the Christ-hymn, often classed with these creedal fragments.
Psalm 2:7, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"; the OT background for the resurrection-as-enthronement reading.
Acts 13.33, Paul applies Psalm 2:7 explicitly to the resurrection.
Hebrews 1.5, Psalm 2:7 again applied to Christ.
2 Samuel 7.12-16, the Davidic covenant promise of an eternal Son-king.
Romans 10.9, "Jesus is Lord" + belief in the resurrection; the gospel summary.
Galatians 4.4, "born of a woman, born under the law"; near-formulaic phrasing.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.